西南地区文化多样性时空格局

Spatiotemporal pattern of cultural diversity in Southwest China

我国西南地区少数民族类别众多,各民族在历史发展中形成了许多优秀的文化传统和独特的生态意识。本研究以县级行政区为基本研究单元,基于民族类别及其人口定量测度了西南地区的文化多样性指数,并比较了1990年、2000年与2010年的动态变化。西南地区文化多样性指数具有明显的空间异质性,整体上呈现西北低东南高的格局。虽然文化多样性指数在时间序列上有一定程度的增加,但总体上县域尺度的文化多样性水平偏低。此外,随着空间尺度的扩大,文化多样性指数逐渐增加,即西南地区整体上表现为"大杂居,小聚居"的分布格局。省域尺度上,文化多样性的差异总和与各组分差异均随时间的推移而减少,同时,其民族构成的相似性趋于增加,表明西南地区各民族人口的分布更加融合,民族交融成为趋势。在西南地区的生态环境背景下,文化多样性的空间分布与平均坡度密切相关。研究探讨了民族融合的社会历史背景,分析了阶梯过渡带具有较高文化多样性的原因,并呼吁加强对西南地区优秀传统文化的重视与保护。

Cultural diversity is just as essential to humankind as biodiversity is to nature, and ethnicity can be used as a rich and concise measurement of cultural diversity. There are a variety of ethnic minorities in Southwest China. During the long history of complex ecosystem development, the ethnic groups in Southwest China have formed many excellent cultural traditions and unique ecological awareness. However, with the deepening modernization of ethnic areas, as well as rapid social transformation, population migration, and cultural changes, ethnic culture that is rooted in social history and traditional customs is suffering from unprecedented change and erosion, which has resulted from the excessive pursuit of economic growth and short-term benefits. Accordingly, studies of cultural diversity in Southwest China have attracted the attention of interdisciplinary scholars. In the present study, the cultural diversity of county-level administrative regions was quantitatively measured using the Shannon-Wiener Index, and dynamic changes among the regions in 1990, 2000, and 2010 were compared to characterize the spatiotemporal distribution of cultural diversity. The cultural diversity of Southwest China exhibited clear spatial heterogeneity, with lower diversity observed in the northwest part of the region and higher diversity observed in the southeast part. In addition, even though cultural diversity increased to a certain degree in the time series, cultural diversity was relatively low at the county scale. However, cultural diversity also increased with the expansion of spatial scale, which demonstrated that ethnic groups tended to live together at large scales but were inclined to cluster together at small scales. Spatial differences in cultural diversity were also observed when using the Theil Index at the province scale, with total and local differences among provinces decreasing over time, and the modified Morisita-Horn Index, which was used to assess similarities of ethnic composition, revealed that the similarity of provinces increased over time. Together, these results indicated that the distribution of ethnic groups in Southwest China was more blended and that ethnic integration has become a trend from 1990 to 2010. Further analysis, using ArcGIS 10.2, also indicated that the distribution of cultural diversity was closely related to the average slope of the distribution areas of ethnic groups in context of Southwest China＇s ecological environment. The social history and main causes of ethnic integration, reasons for the high cultural diversity of the stepped transition zones, and protection of Southwest China＇s traditional culture were discussed as well. The present study investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of cultural diversity underlying ecological factors in Southwest China and highlighted the importance of preserving and promoting the splendid cultural traditions of ethnic groups under the premise of respecting the nature. Thereby, it provided a useful reference for the sustainable development of the ecological environment and the construction of ecological civilization in Southwest China.