2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Sustainability of environmental use in rural China: Application of ethno-science in practice
| Project/Area Number |
15401037
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 海外学術 |
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| Research Field |
Cultural anthropology/Folklore
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| Research Institution | National Museum of Japanese History |
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Principal Investigator |
SHINOHARA Toru National Museum of Japanese History, 研究部, Professor (80068915)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
OOBA Hideaki University of Tokyo, 総合研究博物館, Professor (20004450)
NISHITANI Masaru National Museum of Japanese History, 研究部, Associate Professor (50218161)
UMEZAKI Masahiro University of Tokyo, 大学院・医学系研究科人類生態学教室, Associate Professor (30292725)
YOSHIMURA Satoko National Museum of Japanese History, 研究部, Research Assistant (50332119)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2006
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| Keywords | slush-and-burn cultivation / cash-crops cultivations / market / market economy / rice cultivation |
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| Research Abstract |
The present research project aimed at clarifying the characteristics of environment use in rural China. The theory of ethno-science was utilized for the investigation of ecological and social sustainability. The target areas were located in Jinpin in Yunnan Province and Wuzhishan-city in Hainan Province, China.
In Yunnan, the surveys were conducted in the hamlets of five ethnic groups (Hani, Aru, Yao, Thai, and Kuzhon). Quickbird satellite images were used for making land use maps in each hamlet. Land use boundary and the crops grown in each garden, the stage of succession of secondary growth were recorded in the field and entered on ArcGIS software. Finally, the area for each land use type was calculated by the algorisms in ArcGIS. The recent government policy has forced the people to transform their subsistence from slush-and-burn cultivation to cash-crops cultivations, but the progress Kvaried by ethnic groups. Such transformation in subsistence accompanied the changes in lifestyle,
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which enlarged the inter-ethnic inequality in economic status. The development of regular markets along the major traffic road in the region contributed to level the economic inequality through the exchanges of crops grown by each ethnic group.
In Hainan, following the economic development policy of China since the 1980s, the indigenous food production systems of communities have also been transformed to a market economy. The introduction of cash crops has been the major developmental policy of China's rural areas. Despite the overall improvement of economic status among farmers over the last two decades, inequality among households has emerged as a new problem. In the present study project, we investigated the process of how cash crops were accepted in a Li hamlet, and how this has influenced the labor and dietary patterns of people. In examining this process, we focussed on inter-household differences. We also reconstructed the demographic changes and land use patterns of all the households of the hamlet for the period between 1985 and 2004. Reconstruction of the adoption process revealed two important factors that might contribute to current variation among households: (1) the success of pioneering households, which played an important role in triggering the hamlet-level adoption of cash crops, and (2) the availability of labor resources during 1995-2004, which explains the inter-household variation observed in 2004. The households that succeeded in cash cropping appeared to be able to afford further investment in cash cropping, which may have further enlarged inter-household variation. Inter-household variation in cash cropping in 2004partly explains inter-household variation in food consumption and labor hours. The intensification and maintenance of rice cultivation may alleviate the nutritional (initial phase) and work burden posed by the adoption of cash cropping. Less
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