The Hmong of China : : context, agency, and the imaginary / / by Nicholas Tapp.

• Superior document: Sinica Leidensia ; 51
• VerfasserIn: Tapp, Nicholas, 1952-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, The Netherlands ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2003]; ©2003
• Year of Publication: 2003
• Language: English
• Series: Sinica Leidensia.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

This first ethnography of the Hmong in China is based on Nicholas Tapp's extensive fieldwork in a Hmong village in Sichuan. Basing his analysis on the concepts of context and agency, Tapp discusses the "paradoxical ambivalence at the heart of Hmong culture." A paradox arises in the historical and ethnographic construction of the identity of the Hmong by conscious contrast with, and in opposition to, a majority Han Chinese identity at the same time that large parts of Hmong culture are shared with the Chinese and may be the results of historical processes of adoption, absorption, mimesis, or emulation. Tapp examines the Hmong rituals of shamanism, ancestral respect, and death and provides details on livelihood, kinship, local organization, and intellectual culture. The book is enhanced with thorough accounts of ceremonies, rituals, and folktales, with translations of Hmong songs and stories. This publication has also been published in paperback (no longer available).

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Diagrams, Figures, Illustrations and Tables -- Acknowledgements -- Note on Orthography -- Foreword -- Part One: Contextualising the Hmong -- Part Two: Walnut Village -- Preamble -- Chapter One : The Village -- Chapter Two : Some Identity Problems -- Chapter Three : Han Endogamy -- Chapter Four : Shamanism as Hmong/Han Practice -- Chapter Five : The Primacy of Death Rituals -- Chapter Six : Ancestral Worship -- Chapter Seven : Lineage Composition of the Yang Village -- Chapter Eight : The Family of Yang Junming -- Chapter Nine : Other Hmong Clans -- Chapter Ten : The Wangwuzhai Weddings -- Chapter Eleven : History and Conflict -- Part Three: Notions of Heroism and Agency -- Appendix I : Weixin Wedding Song -- Appendix II : How Rwg Ntxais Became a Tiger -- Appendix III : The Orphan and the Emperor's Daughter -- Appendix IV : The Wooden Fish and the Hanging Drum -- Appendix V : The Orphan Who Carried Coal -- Appendix VI : How the Orphan Killed the Tiger -- Appendix VII : Kinship Terms -- Appendix VIII : A Structural Analysis of the Legends -- Appendix IX : A Note on Context -- Appendix X : List of Households -- Bibliography -- Index -- Abbreviations -- Illustrations.