The Tu nationality (also called "Tu people" or "Tus" in the paper), one of the multiple ethnic minorities in the Hehuang Region (河湟地区) between Gansu (甘肃) and Qinghai (青海) Provinces in the northwest...The Tu nationality (also called "Tu people" or "Tus" in the paper), one of the multiple ethnic minorities in the Hehuang Region (河湟地区) between Gansu (甘肃) and Qinghai (青海) Provinces in the northwest China, has no written language of their own, but has already created the abundant and varied colorful literary genres. Since the 1980s, folktales, as the main literary product popular in the region, have received literary criticisms and reviews from scholars and researchers in China, based on the socialist realism dominant in China in the 20th century that emphasized more on contents, motifs and even ideological significance. So far, no breakthroughs have been made in their studies even if some young scholars have tried from the formalist viewpoints. Therefore, this paper attempts to make a morphological analysis of the Tus' folktales by adopting Propp's theories, trying to find out the morphological narrative model beneath the language level of the folktales. Through the studies, we can see that collective awareness bonded by kinship is more emphasized in Tus' culture, and almost all tales end with good defeating evil. Therefore, the studies of these folktales will help us deep understand Tus' psychological conditions and positive cultural life.展开更多
文摘The Tu nationality (also called "Tu people" or "Tus" in the paper), one of the multiple ethnic minorities in the Hehuang Region (河湟地区) between Gansu (甘肃) and Qinghai (青海) Provinces in the northwest China, has no written language of their own, but has already created the abundant and varied colorful literary genres. Since the 1980s, folktales, as the main literary product popular in the region, have received literary criticisms and reviews from scholars and researchers in China, based on the socialist realism dominant in China in the 20th century that emphasized more on contents, motifs and even ideological significance. So far, no breakthroughs have been made in their studies even if some young scholars have tried from the formalist viewpoints. Therefore, this paper attempts to make a morphological analysis of the Tus' folktales by adopting Propp's theories, trying to find out the morphological narrative model beneath the language level of the folktales. Through the studies, we can see that collective awareness bonded by kinship is more emphasized in Tus' culture, and almost all tales end with good defeating evil. Therefore, the studies of these folktales will help us deep understand Tus' psychological conditions and positive cultural life.