灾难移民的心态、记忆与适应现状——基于中尼边境樟木夏尔巴人的研究

The Mentality,Memory and Adaptation of“Disaster Immigrants”——Based on the Study of Sherpa in Zhangmu on the Border between China and Nepal

灾难移民的重建与社会适应不仅关系到社会发展的公平正义,而且还影响着地区的稳定和繁荣,特别是对于有多种跨境关系网络的边境族群。本文基于多年对中尼边境夏尔巴人的调查研究,论述了夏尔巴人灾后移居生活中的社会心态和社会记忆,以及在就业、宗教仪式与丧葬方式等方面与移居社会所存在的张力、矛盾和困境。提出地方政府不仅应注重灾民经济层面的安置与救助,更应加大灾民的人文关怀,深入了解移民的文化传统,有针对性和实效性地逐步引导移民适应灾后生活。

Relocation and post-disaster reconstruction are a long and complex process.The Sherpas are border residents whose cultural traditions,life s logic,concepts and customs are the core elements that affect their lives as post-disaster migrants.Based on years of investigating and researching the Sherpa,this article discusses the post-disaster adaptation process and status of this group.The government has invested a huge amount of manpower and material resources to improve the living environment,and expand employment channels for the victims.However,overall,the Sherpas have not yet fully adapted to their life in relocation.In terms of their daily life,employment,religious ceremonies,and funeral ways and so on,there are various degrees of tension,contradictions and dilemmas in their newly resettled environment.The Sherpas concerned in this study have lived for generations in Zhangmu port,Nyalam County,Tibet,at the China-Nepal border between in the southern foothills of the Himalayas,and they have long survived on border trade.After having been affected by the April 25,2015 earthquake in Nepal,the Tibet Autonomous Region government resettled Zhangmu Town residents in Shigatse;this was done after considering Zhangmu Town s steep terrain,frequent earthquakes,and poor road conditions.Although the death toll and property losses in the town were relatively small,the people still experienced a lot of psychological trauma after the unexpected mishap and changes.“In the process of continuity,flow and transmission of memory,part of memory will be unconsciously inherited through physical practice and social continuation.”(Ma,2017)Poor adaptability of food had a certain impact on the Sherpa s health,and psychological trauma,and a physical discomfort of the environment also caused the emergence of many diseases.In the early days of their relocation,the Sherpas continued the experiences of their former border environment with regard to diet,daily life and medical treatment.In the process of post-disaster resettlement,the government implemented various preferential policies for the victims,and gave great care to all aspects of their lives.The monthly subsidies were non problematic for ensuring the basic living needs of the victims.However,the victims themselves were not optimistic.The transformation and reconstruction of livelihoods after the disaster were facing multiple difficulties.The causes are the following three aspects:Firstly,the language environment changed abruptly,and their interpersonal circles has not yet been established.A new social network is vital to the progress of livelihood and life.The Zhangmu Sherpas have always given the outside world the impression that they are good at doing business and are proficient in multiple languages.However,it was found that the business of most of the Sherpas was small-scale trade.Moreover,each of their stores had only one or two family members engaged in business,and most of the women only spoke their dialect and Nepali.It was noted in particular that some Nepalese women who were involved in cross-border marriages understood neither Tibetan nor Chinese at all,and they also had psychological issues such as a reluctance to speak or an unwillingness to communicate.The elderly were also not good at Chinese.Because most residents in the urban area of Shigatse are Han and Tibetans,the middle-aged and elderly Sherpas had communication difficulties when they go out to buy food or take public transportation.Secondly,the level of education of most Sherpas was low and they had no professional skills.The fact of their low level of education was not realized by the Sherpas themselves when they were border residents.Although most parents hoped that their children could study well and receive school education,they do not think that it is necessary for their children to receive higher education or understand that through this schooling the children could have employment opportunities.Even if some obtained advanced degrees,they will still choose to live in other small and medium cities in Tibet.Thirdly,Sherpas rely too much on their traditional living environment and got used to making a living using familiar ways.When they were in Zhangmu,their main source of income came from border trade,house leasing,or occasionally digging some cordyceps to sell,or also using the cross-border networks of acquaintances to do some business.They,themselves,did not exert much effort in making a living.Living as post-disaster victims required both strong psychological endurance and strategic adaptation.After the relocation,the various abilities and talents they had accumulated before could not be used in the new place.They were used to the way of earning a living at which they were good and with which there were familiar,and,furthermore,they lacked the corresponding urban life skills.As a result,many people were reluctant to take on a long-term job.If they encountered bad treatment or other unsatisfactory situations,they often chose to give up.The post disaster reconstruction and social adaptation of Sherpas are not only related to the fairness and justice of social development,butthey also affect the stability and prosperity of the region,especially for the border ethnic groups with their various cross-border networks.The local government should not only pay attention to the economic level of resettlement and assistance,but also increase the humanistic care of the disaster victims,deeply understand their cultural traditions,and gradually guide them to adapt to the post disaster life with pertinence and effectiveness.For example,the government should increase the input of medical resources,publicize health knowledge as well as medical knowledge coming from western medicine,guide the disaster victims to establish scientific medical concepts and medical methods,assist the disaster victims to expand new social networks,so as to obtain a platform for exchange and support,increase mutual trust and benefit with other ethnic groups,and alleviate the employment pressure;the government should rebuild the temples so that the Sherpas can restore their religious activities as soon as possible,and by doing so,decrease the sense of helplessness and improve their uneasy social mentality.This is because when the spiritual world has no place on which to rely,the immigrants sense of helplessness,and the insecurity of their social mentality will increase.