I n this eloquent and eye-opening adven- ture narrative, Colin Legerton and Jacob Rawson, two Americans fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Uyghur, throw away the guidebook and bring a hith- erto unexplored side of China to light. They journey over 14,000 miles by bus and train to the farthest reaches of the country to meet the minority peoples who dwell there, talking to farmers in their fields, monks in their monasteries, fishermen on their skiffs, and herders on the steppe. In Invisible China, they engage in a heated discussion of human rights with Daur and Ewenki village cadres; celebrate Muhammad’s birthday with aging Dong- xiang hajjis who recount the government’s razing of their mosque; attend mass with old Catholic Kinh fishermen at a church that has been forty years without a priest; hike around high-altitude Lugu Lake to farm with the matrilineal Mosuo women; and descend into a dry riverbed to hunt for jade with Muslim Uyghur merchants. As they uncover surprising facts about China’s hidden minorities and their complex posi- tion in Chinese society, they discover the social ramifications of inconsistent gov- ernment policies—and some deep human truths as well. Colin Legerton (right) graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Chinese language and literature. He spent a year in Urumqi studying Uyghur and mentoring western China’s only baseball team and later produced Diamond in the Dunes, a documen- tary film that tells their story. He has worked as a Chinese- English translator and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Central Asian studies at Indiana University, with a focus on Uyghur literature. Jacob Rawson (left) has lived and studied in Yokohama and Beijing. After graduating from Lewis and Clark College with a degree in Chinese and Japanese languages, he taught at a high school in rural South Korea as a Ful- bright fellow. Now back in the United States, he has given presentations on China’s ethnic minorities and the Korean minority in Japan. He is working toward a master’s degree in Chi- nese and Korean linguistics at the University of Washington. Jacket design: Monica Baziuk Front and back cover photos: Jacob Rawson Author photo: Matt P. Jager Printed in the United States of America “ He’s singing about how happy he is to be home,” Teacher Ye explained as we sidestepped together. She had given up her cymbals to one of the children, and now was in the circle with the rest of us, leading the singing with her powerful voice. “He’s a postman in the county seat. He and the others just came back from there on the electric mule.” We swung our joined hands as we circled around the postman. “They aren’t able to come home very often, so they’re always very excited when they do get here. This song is very loose, so he can sing about any- thing he wants, and then the rest of us respond to him. That way the song is always from the heart.” Finishing his song of joy, the postman invited us to join the music. He took a drum from his friend and a pair of cymbals from one of the children, and gave the instruments to us. Demonstrating on the gong, he encouraged us to imitate his rhythm. We struggled to keep the beat, but the dancing circled around us anyway. The children continued their refrain unaffected even when the percussion paused for a quick lesson. “Just keep trying,” the postman encouraged. “You’ll get it.” d A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands Invisible China C olin L egerton a nd J ac ob R awson d d $24.95 ( c an $ 27.95 ) travel / asian studies Invisible China legerton & rawson d d Invisible China A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands Invisible China C olin L egerton and J acob R awson Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Legerton, Colin. Invisible China : a journey through ethnic borderlands / Colin Legerton and Jacob Rawson. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-55652-814-9 1. Minorities—China. 2. China—Description and travel. I. Rawson, Jacob. II. Title. DS730.L36 2009 305.800951—dc22 2008043666 Interior design: Monica Baziuk Map design: Polly Fossey © 2009 by Colin Legerton and Jacob Rawson All rights reserved First edition Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated 814 North Franklin Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 ISBN 978-1-55652-814-9 Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments ~ vii Authors’ Note ~ ix Introduction ~ 1 I The Northeast 1. Hunters of the Hinterlands: The Oroqen, Daur, Ewenki, and Hezhen [17] 2. Immigrants and Emigrants: The Koreans [43] 3. The Windswept Kingdom: The Mongolians [61] II The Southwest 4. Fishermen of the South Sea: The Kinh [79] 5. Valley of the Headhunters: The Wa [99] 6. Selling Ethnicity: The Naxi [115] 7. The Country of Daughters: The Mosuo [129] III The Northwest 8. Left Behind: The Dongxiang [147] 9. Prayers on the Plateau: The Tibetans [161] 10. The Sweltering Oasis: The Uyghurs [177] 11. Yaks and Yurts: The Tajiks [195] IV The East 12. Chinese Jews? [211] 13. Final Thoughts: A Day at the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park [219] Afterword ~ 227 Selected Suggested Reading ~ 233 Index ~ 235 vii Acknowledgments The authors wish to express their thanks to the scholars whose expertise on Chinese minorities, helpful suggestions, and patient fact checking have proved invaluable during the completion of this manuscript: Professor Magnus Fiskesjö at Cornell Univer- sity, Professor Chas McKhann at Whitman College, and Professor Keith Dede at Lewis & Clark College. We would also like to thank Professor Dru Gladney, whose scholarship on Chinese minorities has served as an inspiration and a source of countless ideas. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the many readers who spent countless hours helping the authors fashion the initial mis- cellany of ideas into the current published form, especially the Rawson/Thornburgh family, the Legerton family, Katherine Raw- son, Anne Hilton, Shubha Jayaram, Paul Kafasis, Aimee Kessler, Adam Paiz, Chris Rufo, Adam Siegel, and Laura Silver. Enormous thanks are also due to Matt P. Jager, who provided us with materials, inspiration, suggestions, and companionship for part of the journey. We would also like to recognize our par- ents, grandparents, and teachers in both the United States and Asia, whose constant support enabled us to conceive and com- plete this project; our editor, Yuval Taylor, who believed in the manuscript and helped us mold it into a better book; and Polly Fossey and Jamie Northrup for their work on the lovely maps. viii Acknowledgments Finally, the authors wish to thank the many people who pro- vided their friendship, help, insight, and candor all along the journey through China’s borderlands. Although many of their names were changed, it is their enthusiasm that has given the authors a clearer picture of and greater appreciation for China’s ethnic landscape, and it is their stories that decorate the pages of this book. ix Authors’ Note This book documents two of the authors’ journeys around China. The fi rst three chapters recount a trip taken in the sum- mer of 2006; the remaining chapters provide the follow-up trip in the spring of 2007. All chapters appear in chronological order. Proper names in Chinese are given in the pinyin romanization system. The authors have attempted to notate names and words from other languages in the international or academic stan- dard, although due to the diversity and complexity of languages encountered, some inconsistencies inevitably remain. In the text of this book, Chinese as a language refers to the Mandarin dialect, the offi cial language of the People’s Republic of China. Likewise, unless otherwise noted, all transcribed conversa- tions took place in this language. All translations are the authors’ own. Currency is given in renminbi (RMB, colloquially called kuai). At the time of writing, one American dollar exchanged for approximately eight RMB. It is the authors’ intent to provide a faithful account of their travels. In some cases, however, names and facts were altered to protect the identities of the people we met. [...]... language of their own, but rather each Hui community has adopted the language of the local majority in its area As such, most Hui speak Mandarin or another dialect of Chinese, but those in areas dominated by Tibetans, Mongolians, or Dai have adopted their respective languages As the Hui are separated by land and language, they are often identified as a group by their adherence to Islam, and referred to as... the same language or eat the same food as Jackie Chan, Yao Ming, or Chairman Mao, but the three global Chinese icons, who are 10 Introduction all Han, do not speak the same language or eat the same food as one another either Chan grew up in Hong Kong, where the locals speak Cantonese and eat fresh seafood and dim sum Yao was raised in Shanghai, where they speak Shanghainese and eat sweet ribs and soup-filled... buses and trains it took me nearly six days to make the journey I’m returning home in a couple of months, and I can’t wait I make great money here, but I miss my family back home Two years is a long time to be away from your children.” He set down his fan and pulled a worn photograph from his wallet It was a quintessential Silk Road scene, a vibrant image of innocence in a Central Asian oasis His son and... author of the influential early twentieth-century novel Rickshaw Boy and the play Teahouse, Cui Jian is a Beijing resident whose work has had a profound impact on Chinese culture Lao She was a Manchu; Cui Jian is an ethnic Korean Both are important modern examples of China s ethnic diversity China s supposed five-thousand-year history of uninterrupted civilization is often touted as an example of Han... and daughter sat cross-legged on a thick geometric-patterned carpet In front of them lay a spread of snacks: flatbreads, almonds, walnuts, honeydew melons, pomegranates, figs, and dates The girl, perhaps eight years old, wore a colorful doppa and a flowing dress of atlas silk in bright yellow and blue The boy, a few years younger, sported a dark doppa as part of his much more understated ensemble His pants... Han cultural superiority, yet no records stretch back that far, and the land area currently claimed by China was only occasionally united under a single ruler The history of China, whether as a collection of unrelated kingdoms or a united country, has always been a multiethnic, not a Han, history Fourteen hundred years ago, the Tang dynasty used superior military prowess to bring much of Asia under its... into mainstream Han culture would strengthen the government’s claims to these marginal regions, but on the other hand the government can utilize the shared cross-border culture to provide stability in these delicate areas In addition to international issues, minority-prominent, usually “autonomous” areas are important domestically as well These areas make up more than half of China s total land and are... immediately familiar to anyone who has traveled in Asia With a large-zoom camera slung around his neck, a hefty rucksack borne on his shoulders, and Teva sandals strapped to his feet, all that was missing was an open Lonely Planet guidebook in his hand Like everyone else in town, we had assumed he was a foreigner, but he now introduced himself as a well-traveled Han from Beijing “Yeah, I’ve been all over this... southern China, carrying their regional identity with them One such southern emigrant was Dr Sun Yatsen Exiled after a failed coup attempt in 1895, he fled to Japan, where he saw the benefits of Japan’s ultra-nationalism based on ethnic unity Instilling a similar nationalism in the people of China, he realized, would greatly advance the effort to overthrow the Qing dynasty of the Manchu outsiders However, an... Under the ensuing stability, the Silk Road reached its golden age, stretching from Chang’an—the most cosmopolitan city in the world—to the banks of the Mediterranean Sea From the Arabian Peninsula and the Anatolian plateau over thousands of miles to the Yellow River Basin at the cradle of Chinese civilization, Muslim Central Asian merchants controlled the majority of the lucrative trade 6 Introduction . rawson d d Invisible China A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands Invisible China C olin L egerton and J acob R awson Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Legerton, Colin. Invisible China : a journey. especially the Rawson/Thornburgh family, the Legerton family, Katherine Raw- son, Anne Hilton, Shubha Jayaram, Paul Kafasis, Aimee Kessler, Adam Paiz, Chris Rufo, Adam Siegel, and Laura Silver. Enormous. insight, and candor all along the journey through China s borderlands. Although many of their names were changed, it is their enthusiasm that has given the authors a clearer picture of and greater