社会伦理语境下的民族乡村旅游演进与反思--基于贵州西江苗寨的个案研究

The Evolution and Reflection of Ethnic Rural Tourism within the Context of Social Ethics——Based on a Case Study of Xijiang Miao Village in Guizhou

在政府行为和经济政策双重力量作用下,西江苗寨的乡村旅游业取得了跨越式的发展,在给村民带来可观经济利益的同时,也对传统村落的社会文化带来了不容忽视的影响。这些影响包括旅游景观的人为塑造与村民传统互动方式产生对抗,民族传统文化商品化,村民日常生存方式前台化,传统的禁忌伦理难以执行,各类噪音对村民生活造成干扰等。针对上述问题,从社会伦理的角度提出三项对策:一是培育村民的文化自觉,增强村民的文化自信,提高村民的跨文化交往能力;二是设置前台与后台的区域隔离,保护传统文化核心以及村民日常生存方式免受破坏和骚扰;三是加强乡村生态环境保护,守住地方感吸引游客,留住乡愁圈住本地人。

Xijiang Miao village is the largest village inhabited by Miao people in China,or,at present,even in the world.It is a settlement in which a man-made landscape blends harmoniously with nature,and is regarded as a museum of Chinese traditional Ganlan style(stilt style architecture)architecture and art.The tourism development of Xijiang Miao village is linked with the leadership of the government and it steering of economic policy.At the end of last century,Xijiang Miao village was granted three different titles by the People s Government of Guizhou Province.These titles acquired a certain social reputation and their spread via word-of-mouth influenced the development of tourism industry of Xijiang.However,by the end of 2007,tourism in Xijiang Miao village had not improved,although the village did receive some additional honorary titles.The main reason for this was that there was only one road from the outside going to Xijiang.Furthermore,the road was not only very long,and it was also in poor condition.So,because of this,most tourists stayed away.The faulty road transport and infrastructure are often the disadvantages that restrict the development of rural tourism in ethnic minority areas.It was the third Guizhou Tourism Industry Development Conference held in Xijiang in 2008 that really enabled the tourism of Xijiang Miao village to experience a big change in quality and develop dramatically.The Guizhou Tourism Industry Development Conference was a policy decision made bythe CPC Committee of Guizhou Province and the People s Government of Guizhou Province for the purpose of accelerating the pace of development of the entire province s tourism industry,and for turning tourism into a new pillar industry of the province.It has been held once every year since 2006 by rotating prefectures and cities in Guizhou Province.The CPC Committee and the People s Government of Leishan County provided a loan of more than 80,000,000 RMB to support the development and construction of Xijiang Miao village together with the support of the higher level financial department.As a result,26 projects,including the Ethnic Song-Dance Performance Site,Xijiang Miao Museum,west and north gates of the village,the Langxi road,etc.have been remodeled and constructed within a little more than half a year.The distance,both in space and time,from Xijiang to the outside world has been greatly shortened after a 35-kilometer asphalt road from Langli to Xijiang was completed and opened to traffic.Xijiang has been pushed to the fore of modern society by the convenience of its road communication.The tourists who come to Xijiang doubled in growth;the tourism industry achieved a“leap forward”development;the tourism economy entered a new stage,and the tourists and tourism revenue increased year by year.Xijiang has achieved a remarkable turn around from a small unknown village to a national famous scenic spot after being actively promoted by the government and guided by related economic policies.Although the villagers in Xijiang now enjoy considerable economic income brought about by tourism development,they also have to face all sorts of annoyances and confusion brought by tourism development.The problems are as follows:1)The tension between the man-made tourism landscapes and the villager s traditional ways.In order to charge the tourists and supervise them,the Xijiang Travel Service built the north village gate at the Nangui junction,and the west gate at Yehao junction whichfenced off Xijiang tourist attractions and forming a quasi-enclosed landscape for those with admission tickets.The village gates were closed artificially for the construction needs of tourism landscape.This led to strict inspections that greatly affected the villagers traditional mode of interaction.The life and ritual space of the villagers changed significantly.Restricted by the arrangements of the modern tourism landscape,the traditional space for ritual activities differed from its original traditional boundaries.Some changes have taken place with regard to the villagers understanding of their ways of living.Their traditional way of life,which has lasted for generations,is no longer the everlasting truth the villagers believed in.2)The commercialization of ethnic traditional culture and pushing the villagers daily lives onto a front stage.The trend of commercialization of ethnic traditional culture is the inevitable result of the development of rural tourism.Festivals are the happiest and the most joyful time for the villagers.However,they feel constrained and uncomfortable when tourists are there.To the tourists from the“other”culture,Miao people s life rituals are one kind of essential commodity to be“consumed”.They become the object of photographs,and movies.Tourism has turned the sacred traditional festivals,even religious festivals into goods to be sold.Local villagers traditional culture and their way of life have been mercilessly pulled from the“Back Stage”to the“Front Stage”;it has become the landscape for the visitors to watch directly within the context of tourism development.Because of the tourists gaze,traditionally solemn ritual processions have been secularized and“landscaped”,making ethnic traditional culture and daily life of the villagers be“uncovered”by the eyes of visitors.During this process they are gradually losing the protection of“vei”and are being pushed onto the front stage.They have become the commodities and landscapes of the tourism,and have lost the sacredness and solemnity of the past.3)The conflict of the ethnics of taboo,and the noise which disturbs the villagers.The Song-Dance Performance Site established for tourism broke the taboo of when to use the Miao s Lusheng(a reed-pipe wind instrument)-Lusheng,bronze drums are played,banged twice a day in the performance site.The construction of the Happy Stay Farmer s Houses(农家乐)broke down the traditional,long-standing sex taboos held by Miao families.Because they allowed male and female tourists to sleep in the same room in the stilted style house.Now,few people come to help when someone s family conducts a wedding or funeral.This is because the young villagers involve themselves almost exclusively in making money by participating in the tourism industry.The cohesion of traditional blood ties is fading gradually in the face of the new interests,and relationships within the Miao community have changed in the process of tourism.It created major dilemmas within the context of the ethics of traditional taboos.After the tourism development conference,the loud music,the sounds of the Lusheng,drinking songs,and cries that come from the Happy Stay Farmer s Houses,shops,bars and KTV,the whole village lost its sense of nighttime tranquility and the village became steeped in the chaos of noise.Within the context of tourism,Xijiang Miao village has been swept into theeye of modern society.It has become a commodity for tourism development,and a landscape for tourists to visit and consume.For tourists,Xijiang Miao village has become a tourist commodity,so,they feel that the entire village should be displayed unreservedly as a landscape.For the local villagers,Xijiang Miao village is a home where they were born and grew up in.It is a wonderful gift presented to them by their ancestors.For them,the entire Miao village should belong to them as their own living space.The sacredness of the Miao village should be inviolable.So,the question is how to dispel this kind of tension between tourists and local villagers in an appropriate way so that tourism can become one of the keys for boosting a sustainable rural development in ethnic minority areas.This article provides following suggestions:1)Cultivating the cultural consciousness of the villagers,enhancing the cultural self-confidence of the villagers,and improving the villagers intercultural communication competence.The traditional culture of the Miao is the capital for Xijiang to use to develop tourism.Its distinctiveness is the charm that attracts the tourists.The governmental departments need to enable the people in Xijiang to recognise the important value of Miao culture,and the importance of protecting Miao culture via means of publicity and education,to cultivate the cultural consciousness of the villagers,enhance the cultural self-confidence of the villagers,and make them protect their own cultural conscientiously in their hearts.The villagers and developers should be aware of that,once a nation loses its own cultural individuality and ethnic features,there is no capital and charm to attract tourists,and then tourism will fall into decay.The villagers of Xijiang Miao village should communicate and interact with the outside tourists actively and positively based upon a foundation of cultural confidence and cultural consciousness,learn to reexamine their own cultural patterns from another perspective,and then consciously remould and change their own culture proactively.In this way,their own cultural patterns can more adapt to the new environment,and exist and develop in the process.2)Protecting the traditional cultural core and the way of the villagers daily life from being destroyed and distrubed by setting barriers between the front stage and the back stage.The cultural commercialization caused by tourism development causes the traditional culture of Miao village to lose its authenticity and connotation,modernizes traditional agricultural society in the“twinkling of an eye”,and impacts the traditional culture of Miao by modernity without safeguards.In order to protect the traditional culture and the daily life of the villagers,and prevent their lives from being further breached and molested by tourism,the tourism development departments should establish a separation between the front stage and the back stage in the Xijiang scenic area.Visitors should only be able to visit the front stage area,and the backstage area should be blocked or closed so as to protect the sacredness of the traditional culture and the privacy of the villagers lives.3)Promoting conservation of the rural ecological environment,upholding the sense of place to attract tourists,and holding local people through nostalgia.The traditional rural ecological environment of Xijiang Miao village is fertile ground for breeding a sense of place and accumulating nostalgia.Only if the ecological environment of Xijiang is well protected,the true features and cultural characteristics of the traditional village be maintained,and a strong sense of place and rich nostalgia be constructed,will the tourists come in droves,and will the natives be attached to stay.Only if the tourists are bound for it,and the local people are stationed in the village,the rural tourism industry in ethnic minority regions,including Xijiang,will experience a steady and sustainable development.