雲南民族生態誌 : 生態論理と文明論理(<特集>雲南およびその周辺)

Abstract

Most minor ethnic groups of Yunnan province have retained their traditional life styles and value systems, which are considerably different from those of the unity-oriented Han civilization, and greatly different from the logic of modern civilization. They live in separate villages under different ecosystems, engage in different forms of livelihood, and maintain their own languages by which they communicate within each domain under different cultural framework. Their logic may be identified as pertaining to the logic of natural world. Spontaneous systems of the natural world never tend to large-scale unity. Biological creatures, for example, tend to evolve toward diversification : distinct habits, different foods, different structures of the individual body and of society. The evolution of the biological domain lies in the achievement of a higher degree of diversification. This paper aims to elucidate the situation in which this logic survives among the minor ethnic groups of Yunnan, in spite of the earnest efforts to assimilate them by the Han civilization. The most powerful ecological barrier against the Han assimilation is the climate and the related endemic diseases, particularly malaria and other febrile diseases. This paper also argues the viewpoint that the pre-modern history of adjacent Asian countries is connected with the pulsation of the Chinese Empire through the migration of the minor ethnic groups via Yunnan, who sought the safety and independence through trans-border migration.