Source: Visual China.
For someone like me who has lived in the plains for a long time, the Great Southwest is distant and mysterious because of its cascading mountains. It wasn't until recently that I read three books related to the southwest in a row, and my impression of this area became fuller. These three books, Qu Xiaoling's Southwest Society and Modern Changes in the Late Qing Dynasty: A Study of the Notes of the French Expedition to China (1892-1910), Luo Anping's The Stage and the Camera: National Geographic and Southwest China, and Zhuang Xueben: The Shadow of the Westward Journey (1934-1941), edited by Ma Xiaofeng and Zhuang Jun, are wonderfully connected into ideological coherence and cognitive commonality, allowing readers to touch the southwest of China more realistically.
Difference and mystery: the "southwest" as opposed to the "Central Plains".
Ever since Ma Qian's work "Historical Records: The Biography of Southwest Yilie" by Taishi Company, "Southwest" has been incorporated into the mainstream narrative as a geographical and cultural space opposite to the "Central Plains". After more than 2,000 years, the geographical scope and cultural connotation of "Southwest" have undergone many changes, but it is interesting to note that its differences and mysteries have not been dissolved by the mainstream narrative, but have continued to grow and penetrate into the public perception. Take the "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" series as an example, this set of networks that were popular all over the country at the beginning of this century**, there are actually four stories set in the southwest. This shows that in popular culture, "Southwest" has become a symbol that creates a suspenseful atmosphere. As soon as this symbol appears, the audience's adrenaline will be secreted automatically.
This is related to the unique location of the southwest. Sima Qian's southwest includes Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou, which constitutes the southwest in a narrow sense. If you add ** and Guangxi, counting Xiangxi and western Hubei, it is southwest in a broad sense. This vast area is located exactly west of the famous "Hu Huanyong Line". Hu Huanyong line is also known as "Aihui - Tengchong line", in the 30s of the 20th century, geographer Hu Huanyong found that from Heilongjiang Aihui to Yunnan Tengchong to draw a line, its east side of the landform is dominated by plains, water networks and hills, suitable for farming, and 96% of China's population is distributedThe west side is mostly mountainous, grassland, desert, and snowy area, sparsely populated, and only 4% of China's population is distributed. The average population density ratio on the east and west sides is 426∶1。
The Hu Huanyong Line reveals the demarcation between China's population development level and economic and social pattern, and also highlights the characteristics of the southwest region, whether it is the natural landform, climate and ecology, or the way of life and human environment, it is very different from the east of the Hu Huanyong Line, that is, the Central Plains. This heterogeneity gives it its own aura of mystery. More importantly, the existence of Hu Huanyong's line may be the main reason why the historical memory of Southwest China has not been dissolved by the mainstream narrative. You must know that under the material conditions of ancient times, geographical barriers were difficult to erase. It is precisely for this reason that when Westerners first enter the southwest, they will have the impression of coming to "another China".
We know that since the implementation of the "one-port trade" policy in the 22nd year of Qianlong (1757), Western merchants could only operate in a corner of Guangzhou. In this regard, foreign businessmen were unwilling and did everything possible to break through the forbidden area. After the First Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was forced to sign a treaty with Britain to open up Shanghai and other five ports to trade, and foreign merchants finally got what they wanted. Based on these ports along the southeast coast, they continued to expand, and soon weaved the entire southeast region into a global trade network. However, the exploration to the southwest encountered many difficulties. First, it is very inconvenient to start from Shanghai and enter the southwest along the Yangtze River;The second is that the Qing Dynasty does not want Westerners to stretch their hands too far, so they set up many obstacles to do so, causing them to slow down.
By the end of the 19th century, the situation had quietly changed. At that time, Britain and France accelerated the pace of colonization of Southeast Asia. Britain completed the total colonization of Burma, and France completed the colonization of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Southeast Asia borders Yunnan and Guangxi, and Westerners use this passage to travel to the southwest. The arrival of Westerners has allowed Southwest to break free from the single filter of traditional mainstream narratives and gain an external perspective.
First-timers: Business visits by the French.
The primary motivation for Westerners to visit the Southwest was to open up markets and obtain commercial benefits, in the words of Professor Luo Anping, to "integrate the Southwest and even China into the colonial market system of the East."
Nowhere is this more evident than in the French. According to the research of Qu Xiaoling, a professor at Sichuan Normal University, in order to open up sales channels for domestic industrial products, France is eager to open up overseas markets, and southwest China is locked as an important target. Since the end of the 19th century, the French have organized many expeditions to the southwest for research. In the book "Southwest Society and Modern Changes in the Late Qing Dynasty: A Study of the Notes of the French Expedition to China (1892-1910)", Qu Xiaoling combed through relevant historical materials and vividly reproduced the course of these expeditions.
Southwest Society and Modern Changes in the Late Qing Dynasty: A Study of the Notes of the French in China (1892-1910).
Written by Qu Xiaoling
Published by Guangxi Normal University Press.
First of all, they have a clear business purpose, and they can even be detailed to a certain segment. For example, the delegation of the Lyon Chamber of Commerce was led by the Lyon Chamber of Commerce and composed of chambers of commerce in six French cities including Marseille and Bordeaux. These cities are famous for their textiles, and Lyon is known as the "European Silk Capital", which determined that the delegation was most concerned with the textile industry, and its members were also textile experts. The delegation of the Lyon Chamber of Commerce lasted nearly two years, covering all parts of the southwest and finding out the basic situation of the local textile industry and light industry.
With the influx of more and more French delegations, various aspects of agriculture, water and land transportation, and public welfare undertakings in the southwest region have been revealed. In the process, the delegation inevitably came into contact with the locals, and the interaction became more and more frequent. All of this is included in the expedition notes.
It is worth mentioning that there are often one or two members with academic backgrounds in the delegation, who add the color of social science research to the investigation. How can a business delegation bring scholars?In fact, this is a tradition born in the modern colonial activities of the West - whenever you set foot in a foreign land, you have to collect materials in order to grasp the local history and culture. At the end of the 18th century, Napoleon went on an expedition to Egypt and brought with him 175 scholars, including archaeologists and naturalists, to collect sculptures, steles, and papyrus, which formed the basis of Egyptology. It can be seen that colonization will not stop at the economy, but will extend to ideological colonization and cultural colonization.
Of course, the French mission is still far from here. Their focus is on business, and the depiction of customs and customs is also to grasp the local business environment and business logic. But it's also precious. Due to the fact that it comes from a foreign land, under the observation of the "outside perspective", the landscapes, bridges, temples, churches, and markets in the southwest, as well as the horse gangs, porters, and residents of various ethnic groups who are active in them, all show different colors. In particular, their observations and records of daily life are rare in traditional Chinese narratives.
These outsiders also have a keen grasp of the impact of social change on a micro level. In Kunming, the delegation visited a businessman named Wang Chi. Wang Chi was born in poverty, but because he seized the opportunity to become the richest man in the local area through exports, he achieved a class jump. In 1901, the so-called "New Deal" was implemented in the Qing Dynasty, and there was a grand occasion of women's relaxation and women's schools in various parts of Sichuan, which was also noted and recorded by the delegation. They value the potential female market, but they also outline the changes of an old empire under internal and external shocks.
New Horizons: The Anthropological Value of the Great Southwest.
After all, the French delegation was focused on business, and it was inevitable that a lot of valuable information would be excluded due to its limited vision. In contrast, the American magazine "National Geographic" has explored the southwest much more comprehensively and deeply. This is inseparable from the purpose of National Geographic. Luo Anping, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Southwest University for Nationalities, explained this in the book "The Stage and the Camera: National Geographic and Southwest China".
Stage & Camera: National Geographic and Southwest China
Written by Luo Anping
Published by Social Sciences Academic Press.
Founded in 1888 as the official journal of the National Geographic Society, National Geographic is committed to disseminating popular geographical knowledge to the public, while "using a large number of breathtaking ** and visual descriptions to reflect this exciting world and its life clearly, accurately and vividly". When it comes to the selection of copywriters and photographers, National Geographic places a strong emphasis on their anthropological credentials. This means that copywriters and photographers should not just be spectators, but should also conduct fieldwork like anthropologists. As a result, National Geographic has developed a unique style that combines "geographical knowledge, travelogues, literary works and ethnography", which Luo Anping calls "anthropological writing".
A strong anthropological orientation prompted National Geographic to look to southwest China. This is inevitable because the Southwest is of unparalleled anthropological value. First, in modern times, the southwest is an important place where Eastern and Western civilizations meet and intersectSecond, the southwest itself is a multicultural collision place, bringing together 25 of China's 55 ethnic minorities, and the diversity of languages, religions, and Xi brought about by ethnic diversity is a central topic in anthropologyThird, the abundant flora and fauna resources have made the southwest an ecological hotspot that attracts anthropologists.
According to statistics, since its inception more than 130 years ago, National Geographic has published more than 300 articles related to China, and more than 40 articles directly written in southwest China, ranking first among all regions in China. The magazine's preference for the Southwest is evident. Luo Anping's "Stage and Camera" analyzes National Geographic's journey to the southwest for more than 130 years from four dimensions: plant collection, southwest roads, ecological civilization, and ethnic image.
Deconstructing the "gaze": the rewriting of Zhuang Xueben.
How to evaluate the relationship between National Geographic and Southwest China?Luo Anping believes that it should be acknowledged that it has greatly improved the understanding of the English-speaking world about southwest China. Joseph Locke's Naxi sorcerer and Tan Enmei's introduction to Dong Zhai and Dong Dage is not only a classic of anthropology, but also a "hit" for the English-speaking world to know these national treasures, and plays an important role as a bridge for cross-cultural communication and dialogue.
I think there is one more thing to add. As mentioned earlier, the southwest of the Sima Qian era has been incorporated into the mainstream narrative of our country. However, in this narrative routine, the southwest has never achieved the same status as the Central Plains, on the contrary, as the object of discipline, its subjectivity is lacking, and its richness is also diminished. The academic principle of "objectivity and neutrality" followed by anthropology gives Southwest China a stronger subjectivity and presents its richness in its original ecology. This can be seen as a kind of correction of traditional narratives by modern knowledge.
Of course, this should not be overestimated. As Luo Anping points out, even if it tries to remain objective, National Geographic inevitably looks at the objects it records with a sense of superiority. In fact, this was a common problem in anthropology at the beginning of the 20th century. Anthropologists at the time were keen to visit pre-modern societies, and even considered this to be worth studying—in essence, the "civilized" West gazing at the "barbaric" East. As a result, we see that the footage and text of "National Geographic" are often curious, as if intended to show some kind of "exotic wonder", compared with the French expedition, but lack ordinary daily scenes.
Obviously, the bias of Western-centrism needs to be corrected by the Easterners. This is to mention a legendary figure - Zhuang Xueben, a master of documentary photography and a pioneer of Chinese image anthropology.
Zhuang Xueben, born in Pudong, Shanghai in 1909, came from a poor family, dropped out of school at an early age, and went to Shanghai to work as a Xi student and a small clerk, during which he mastered photography skills. In 1930, Zhuang Xueben and several intellectual youths met to form a national walking group, from Shanghai to Beiping, all the way to conduct social investigations, shooting, and evidence collection. This grand tour ignited Zhuang Xueben's enthusiasm, and he was determined to visit the motherland in the way of "walking investigation + image recording" and invigorate the national spirit. The first choice is Southwest. From 1934 to 1941, Zhuang Xueben traveled all over the southwest, using a camera to photograph little-known border customs and people, and also drew maps, collected specimens, recorded oral legends, and left more than 10,000 first-hand information and millions of words.
Zhuang Xueben: The Shadow of the Westward Journey (1934-1941).
Ma Xiaofeng, Zhuang Jun, editor-in-chief
Published by Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House.
Ma Xiaofeng and Zhuang Jun edited Zhuang Xueben: Shadow of the Westward Journey (1934-1941), a selection of Zhuang Xueben's photographic masterpieces, also shows in detail his life's behavior. Reading this set of books, you can clearly perceive the difference of Zhuang Xueben. Compared with the mainstream narrative of traditional China, he does not have the arrogance of the Central Plains Dynasty overlooking the "outer land";Compared with Western observers, he has empathy based on national identity, thus breaking through the "gaze" of Westerners to a considerable extent.
In short, Zhuang Xueben's lens is level-headed and profound, and the text is inclusive and comprehensible. **This one**, perusing this note, is a warm and mixed feelings journey. **Zhu Jingjiang, a professor at Minzu University, accurately described my reading experience in a long introduction to this book. He wrote that Zhuang Xueben's images gave "a power of civilization and dignity to the border people he observed", so that whether it was a Kham youth or a Jiarong girl, a living Buddha of Guoluo or a Tibetan nobleman, they could transcend the boundaries of time and space, and through the edge of **, "meet our eyes and communicate with our emotions".
If we start with the first French delegation entering the southwest in 1892 and start with Zhuang Xueben's 1941 film festival in Chongqing and other places, the pace of time has passed exactly half a century, and the southwest has also completed the transformation from "exotic wonders" to "local images". Since then, the Southwest has received a new write-up.
Author: Text: Chi Cheng Editor: Jin Jiuchao Responsible Editor: Zhu Zifen.
*Please indicate the source of this article.