Dangdai Yizu Hanyu shige yanjiu [当代彝族汉语诗歌研究, Study of Contemporary Chinese Literature of the Yi Ethnic Group]
Luo Qingchun 罗庆春
Bejing: Minzu chubanshe (民族出版社), 2023
386 pages
Poets of the Yi (Yizu彝族 ) ethnic group are among the most active circles of literary production in contemporary China, with roots in socialist writing of the 1950s. The author of this study, Luo Qingchun (aka Aku Wuwu/Apkut Vytvu), is a unique figure in Yi writing, being the first to create a substantial body of poetry in the standardized Northern Yi, a script dating from the 1970s based on traditional Yi writing. Luo has also created a body of writing in Standard Chinese, which is the favored medium for most Yi poets, and many other ethnic minority writers in China. Among the writers from the 1950s were Wuqi Lada, Nienu Baxi, Tipu Zhibu and others whose works drew on traditional imagery mixed with themes common in socialist realism literature of the day. The big development in modern Yi literature occurred in the 1980s, with a young Jidi Majia from Butuo in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture(凉山彝族自治州) in Sichuan, home of the Nuosu Yi ethnic sub-group. He began writing poetry as a student at Southwest Minzu University and soon entered the national circles of poetic production, his work, which mixed traditional lyricism with a personal voice lyrical voice soon becoming a template for other young ethnic minority poets, including the Yi poets Luowu Laqie, Jimmu Langge (who found his own way into urban Chengdu poetry circles), Asu Yue’er, Bamo Qubumo, etc. Following these poets rooted in the 1980s, a third wave of younger poets emerged in the early 2000s, with poets such as Lu Juan, Sha Ma, Zhang Haibin (or Lama Itzot, who like Luo writes in Yi and Chinese), Sun Amu, Jiluo Daze (Jjinuo Dazzi), Luo Fengchun, and many others.
This history is well-covered in the text, intertwined with theoretical discussions focusing on the question of “mother tongue” (muyu) and hybridity, which Luo has explored in his earlier works Ling yu Ling de Duihua (灵与灵的对话:中国少数民族汉语诗论, Spirit to Spirit: Discussions of Modern Ethnic Minority Poetry in Chinese ) and Hunxue Shidai (混血时代, Age of Hybridity). A crucial question, which has implications for the fate of ethnic minority/local literature and culture in China is the use of Standard Chinese as the main medium for creative writing. Luo objectively assesses the situation, organizing the book in seven chapters focusing on the modernization of Yi literary classics, the development of a literary cohort, the convergence of multiple literary traditions, the adoption of Chinese as a “second mother tongue,” Poetic ethnography,”, regional poetics, and women’s Writing. Drawing on theory from literary anthropology (a key approach fostered by Xu Xinjian at Sichuan University, Ye Shuxian at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Peng Zhaorong at Xiamen University?), Ethnopoetics, eco-literature, and global indigenous literary studies, which have been available via translation beginning with “magical realism” theory in the 1980s, The study systematically examines how Yi poetry has developed in tandem with the use of Chinese characters in Yi culture since the 1950s, and how, within a globalized context, it has absorbed and localized Western literary theories and methodologies to foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding.
He argues that that utilizing Chinese is not incompatible with creating and sustaining a viable Yi culture, noting that there is room for creative writing in Yi script, but that writing in Chinese, characterized as a “second mother tongue” – at least for present generations – is inevitable as Yi culture shifts to less rural-life focused to more urban or sub-urban formats. This reasoning is in line with official goals for realizing the “China Dream” (Zhongguo meng,中国梦) which in terms of the welfare of the populace in Liangshan prefecture has seen positive results, weathering a transition from the former “caste society” to a socialist system in the late 1950s, and challenges brought by often rapid socio-economic changes since then. Luo further characterizes contemporary Yi poetry as “a transcription of Yi linguistic wisdom into Standard Chinese, from content to form,” and identifies two hybrid modes of “Yi-style Chinese”: vernacularized Chinese and poeticized Chinese. Vernacularized Chinese adapts the Yi oral tradition—rich in intonation, rhythm, and cultural imagery—into Chinese, producing an accessible yet ethnically distinctive poetic expression. Poeticized Chinese emerges from the negotiation between emotion and expression, resulting in a harmonious Yi-poetic writing style. By integrating cultural landscapes with Chinese syntax, Yi poets construct a cross-cultural and cross-linguistic poetics rich in complex imagery. They embed culturally and poetically potent Yi elements into Chinese language through tone, rhythm, and imagery, creating a hybrid poetic register in which Chinese and Yi thought converge. Luo argues that this convergence not only broadens the expressive capacity of contemporary Chinese poetry but also deepens our understanding of Yi literary creativity and its engagement with global literary discourses. This landmark work is essential for understanding the development of modern Yi poetry.
Mark Bender is a professor of Chinese literature and folklore at The Ohio State University. His interests include traditional oral and written literature of China, with a particular interest in contemporary ethnic minority poetry and traditional epics. Among his books are The Borderlands of Asia: Culture, Place, Poetry (Cambria 2016/2022).
Linghu Yaqi is a graduate student in Yi Studies at Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC.