Course:CONS370/Projects/The traditional culture and forestry practices of the Bai Ethnic Minority in Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Dali, Yunnan Province, China

This wiki page discusses the case study of the traditional culture and forestry practices of the Bai Ethnic Minority in Dali, Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province of China. Yunnan has been the place where ethnic minorities gather from ancient times. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, several autonomous counties and prefectures were established. Dali is set as Bai Autonomous Prefecture, where Bai People have been living there for years, and developed a unique forest management system under the influence of their traditional culture. This wiki page will demonstrate the conventional forestry practices, and discuss current status under the national autonomy policy in terms of relevant rights, power distribution, and possible conflicts.

Description

Dali city, autonomy by Bai ethnic people, is the capital of the prefecture-level administrative region of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture (Figure 1).As it located in the southwest of China. the complexity of ethnic formation formed a diverse and mixed Bai culture.

Figure 1. Location of Bai Autonomous County, Dali City, Yunnan Province, China (source: Google maps).

Location

Dali city, which is subtropical plateau monsoon climate, is a basin near mountains and rivers with abundant natural resources (especially land resources, mineral resources, water resources, and biological resources). Originating at the Red River basin and located at the transition zone between warm and humid areas along the southeast coast and Tibetan alpine regions in the northwest inland, there is diverse and complex ecological environment.

Culture

Geographical impacts

Locating at the ‘cultural junction’, Dali city has a diverse and integrated culture. The western area of Dali city is the eastern edge of Indian culture, at the southern area is the northern edge of Marine culture, and the boundary of the northwest area is the southern edge of Tibetan culture.

Historical impacts

Dali city is a multicultural city since it was formed. In the Pre-Qin Period, it concentrated the Qin Shu Culture at the northern region, the ancient Dian (the shortened form of the Yunnan province) at the southern region, and the Jingchu Culture at the eastern region. After the Han and Jin Dynasties, there were four main kinds of culture: Mahayana Buddhist Culture (western region), Confucian culture (eastern region), Taoist culture (northern region), and Theravada Buddhist Culture (southern region). The Han culture, the culture of the ethnic majority in China, was developed quickly in eastern and central regions until the Western Han Dynasty and Wei-Jin Period.

The Tang Dynasty at the reign of Emperor Xuanzong pushed the course of foundation of Bai culture. Xicuan, an ethnic nationality absorbing abundant Han culture, was governed by Nanzhao, and there were about 200,000 families of the Xicuan Bai barbarians migrated to the Erhai region during the Tianbao War (746 AD). As time went by, there gradually formed a complete Bai cultural system around 877 AD.

Agriculture and Forestry Practices of the Bai Ethnic Nationality

Agriculture

The colossal irrigation system of Bai ethnic minority along the Red River is not only the foundation stone of the terrace agriculture, but also the symbol of the agricultural civilization there.

The three stages of the agricultural development of the Red River Basin:

1. Arbitrarily cutting trees for extensive farming.
2. The relatively fixed phase of mountain agriculture – cultivated arable land on hillsides with fixed range.
3. The terraced agriculture stage – formed terraces with water irrigation.

Agriculture of the ethnic minorities including Bai ethnic nationality in the Red River Basin is an ecological pattern that combines natural conditions with human wisdom, as the terrace is an efficient agricultural method with high-tech.

Forestry - Landscaping

Aside from the forestry management practiced by administrative departments, landscaping is one of the most important forestry practices for the Bai ethnic nationality.

The Bai ethnic nationality is good at applying natural environmental conditions to construct landscapes, and they also emphasize the elegance and neatness of residential environment. Diverse religious beliefs caused by its special geographic location are integrated in Bai landscape.

The meaning of 'landscaping' in the Bai folk custom

As the main artificial forestry method of local people, three factors are focused in ‘landscaping’: considering architectural style and architectural art, reflecting the regional historical traditions and spiritual world, and integrating ethnic culture into local landscapes.

The ‘landscaping art’ of the Bai folk custom also has its unique meaning. Firstly, both the beauty of nature and the beauty of human life should be expressed by real natural materials. Secondly, appearance, climatic factors, and site environment should be considered, as well as various factors of natural and social conditions intersecting and penetrating each other should be considered. Finally, local style, the characteristics formed by the unification of the subjective factors of the gardeners (ideological, emotional, interesting cultivation, etc.) with objective factors of local natural conditions, social life, and cultural traditions, is emphasized.

The culture and early landscapes of Bai ethnic nationality

In the Han and Jin Dynasties, the Han culture and folk culture directly affected local social life, and the form of stilt style architecture and pavilion building were constructed in their residences.

After the formation of Nanzhao (the unified government of all ethnic groups centered on Erhai Lake) in the early Tang Dynasty, the elements of four cultures (Confucian culture, Taoist culture (“a balance of Yin and Yang”, “fusion of heaven and earth”, etc.), Buddhist culture (temples), and local culture (local deity worship)) were combined in landscape. While there were five basic principles in landscaping: Firstly, the landscape must be good at the use of natural topography landform, soil, rock sand, etc.; Secondly, the imperial court of the whole landscape has a central axis (axisymmetric), and it is a form of the royal court in front and resting place on behind; Thirdly, the landscape must obey some Feng shui principles, such as “locating above and facing below, the principal and subordinate are ordered”; Fourthly, the gate building is likely to face the pond generally; Finally, there should be fish, turtle, and shrimp shuttling back and forth in the pavilion pool.

In the Song Dynasty, the landscape in the Dali city absorbed more Buddhist culture. Besides, the Ficus alpine (Ficus altissima) is regarded as the god tree for the Bai ethnic minority, so they would worship this kind of tree. The adornment of landscape adopted the traditional Blue and White Porcelain and marble and other shapes and styles.

From the Yuan Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, the landscape of Bai ethnic nationality was increasingly characteristic over time. In the Yuan Dynasty, marble had flourished as an industry, and people started to use marble ornamented bedroom. Meanwhile, the establishment of Confucianism has promoted the integration of Bai culture and Han culture (especially Jiangnan culture (focusing on the wall, grey stone, etc. in landscape)). In the Ming Dynasty, pavilions and other buildings aimed to enjoy natural beauty had been increased with the staggered temples and developed landscape. In the Qing Dynasty, there were increasing number of private garden landscapes such as the Yang Yuke residence, considering the layout of rockery, flora, pavilions, etc (Figure 2).

Figure 2. The sketch of the Yang Yuke residence park near the West Cloud Academy.

Development of modern Bai ethnic nationality landscapes in Dali city

Landscapes of the Bai ethnic nationality in Dali city are still famous and attract abundant of tourists currently in terms of its regional folklore, landscape application, plants, sketch sculpture, and aesthetic orientation.

The landscape in the Dali city combined Han culture with Bai culture. Dali city has the most obvious characteristics of Bai landscape such as blue bricks, white walls, traditional Blue and White Porcelain, and blue decorations. those independent colors are similar to costume characteristics of the Bai ethnic nationality in Dali city. The architectural form of landscape follows the traditional shape of the Han-style pavilions, reflecting the folklore of Han-style buildings (Figure 3). The utilization of local topography makes the landscape has dual function of defense and landscape. And the architectural painting decoration of landscape is based on ethnic songs and dances, ethnic relations, Han history and mythology, ethnic worship, flowers, landscapes, etc.

Figure 3. The sketch of Xizhou Private House, Yan House, in Dali city.

As for the landscape application, temple view and landscape can be well integrated with natural surroundings such as mountains, water, megaliths, etc.

The Bai ethnic nationality cares for flowers and trees, and they would worship holy trees. There is a saying that ‘every family grows flowers and orchids’ in the Bai ethnic nationality, and regular activities such as flower festivals will be held for that reason. Apart from flowers, the fruit trees are prone to be planted near the village house and willows are prone to be planted by the pool for both Feng shui and aesthetic reasons.

Some sketch sculptures along with the landscape stones making up from marble materials, pebbles formed the screens and pavements in Bai landscape, most of which are local master status, original totem sculpture, national figure, etc.

The aesthetic orientation of the traditional Bai landscape shows their emotional and spiritual preference of nature. Firstly, the landscape should advocate the beauty of nature and the love of natural mountains and river, and the north mountain should face the water with spectacular scenery. In addition, the surrounding mountains should be named as gods with religious shrines, their diverse religious beliefs are reflected by the relations between the worship of the Lord, the concept of Feng shui of Taoism, the Buddhist figures, etc.

Tenure arrangements

As the economic development triggered the changes in social structure in China, the tenure issue and forestry management have been transformed since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (Table 1).

Table 1. Three periods of forestry transformation period in People's Republic of China

Forestry transformation period	Features
Initial period of China (1949-1950s)	Autonomous cooperation - private ownership of land and forest
People community stage (1956-1976)	High collectivization - all land and forest are under collective ownership
Since the Reform and Open (1978-now)	Reorganization stage - ensure the right of contracted management and ownership of forest land of farmers

Currently, there are three kinds of forestry property in China: state property (guoyou lin) (13.44%), communal property (shenyou lin) (85.82%), and freehold or individual property (0.74%).

In 2005, the administrative department in Dali city started to reform the collective forest tenure to tackle the long-term system and mechanism obstacles that seriously restrict the development of forestry. In four years, there were 1.792 million ha of state forest have been clarified property rights within total state collective forest property (1.803 million ha), with 843.1 thousand issued forest tenure certificates and equity certificates.

Administrative arrangements

Chinese Government Departments

The Chinese government departments play a role in macro-control and guidance of forestry during the forestry transformation period in China.

"Three preventions" policy

The “three preventions” policy, meaning the prevention of fire, plant diseases and pests, and deforestation, was considered as a basic forestry policy in 2003 for promoting the development of forestry in China. Followed this policy, the forestry in Dali city significantly decreased the fire, plant diseases, and deforestation by monitoring the forests with devices (such as the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and etc.) since 2017.

The People Representative Congress of the People's Republic of China

In 2001, the People Represent Congress has amended the Law of the People’s Republic of China on regional national autonomy, which acknowledged two main rights. Firstly, the ethnic minority in China, such as Bai ethnic nationality, has the right to maintain their traditional practice and religion if it only abides by law. Secondly, the local government has right to determine the tenure and rights of the lands.

Forestry Bureau of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture

To actively implement natural forest protection projects, the Forestry Bureau of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture held two conferences on September 19-20, 1999, at which participants (the Forestry Bureau of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, leaders of State Forestry, and directors of County and City Forestry Bureau) reached six main implementable decisions, through consensus, that are still in place now.

Implement by consensus the following natural forest protection projects:

1. Earnestly organize the study, publicity, and implementation of the important instructions of Premier Zhu on the implementation of natural forest protection projects.
2. Unswervingly implement the policies such as “returning farmland to forestland” (or grass), mountain closure, forest cultivation, grain replacement, and individual contracting.
3. Highlight forest resource management following the law and increase forest resource protection.
   • a). Continue to thoroughly control the deforestation, reclaiming unauthorized occupation of forestland.
   • b). Strengthening the management of the timber circulation area.
   • c). Crackdown on illegal and criminal activities that destroy forest resources and wildlife resources.
   • d). Pay attention to preventing and controlling forest pests and diseases.
4. Strengthen the work of mountain closure and forestation.
5. Continue to pay attention to supervise and administrate the areas where natural forests are prohibited from felling.
6. Implement energy development in rural areas.

Local Administrative Department

The local administrative departments adhere to the principles of forest management, universal forest protection, vigorous afforestation, combination of harvesting and breeding, and sustainable use, and implemented classified management of forest resources. Besides, they attach importance to the protection of natural forests and the construction of ecological public welfare forests, and rationally develop and utilize forest resources.

The local administrative departments monitor and supervise the state property, collective property, and individual property to develop and construct forestry industries, with the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of investment managers to encourage the development of non-public ownership forestry and commercial forests.

In order to further consolidate the reform achievements, the local administrative department comprehensively promoted the reform of the collective forest rights system in 2009. Firstly, there established and improved a forest tenure circulation management service center, accelerating the construction of forest tenure management information system and actively carrying out forest tenure registration management and forest circulation work at forest lands, while county-level forest tenure circulation management service center set up a forest tenure mortgage window to carry out audit, registration, and supervision of forest tenure mortgage. Secondly, the problem of financing difficulty and difficulty in loans of forest farmers had been considered as the focus of supporting reform of collective forest rights, and the provincial administrative department had launched new measures about economic forest (fruit) warrant mortgage loans. Besides, full play was given to the role of forest resource asset assessment centers in prefectures, counties, and cities to provide services for forest land circulation, forestry financing, and judicial appraisal in the whole state. Finally, the construction of forestry cooperation organizations and “three preventions” organizations were strengthened.

Affected Stakeholders

Affected stakeholders in Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Dali are the social actors whose long-term welfare is likely to be dependent or subject to the effects of the activities or has an emotional/lived connection with care.

Table 2. Affected Stakeholders

Stakeholders	Primary Relevant Objectives	Relative Power (High-Low)
Bai Ethnic People	- Emotional and lived connection with the Dali forests - To gather the products from the forest for living - forest dependent	High
Local Han Ethnic Residents	- Living connection with the Dali forests - To maintain suitable and natural resourced management and utilization	Medium
Local people who want to protect the Dali forest environment	- Emotional connection with the Dali forests (care) - To preserve the environment of Dali forests	Relative Low
Local Travel Agency	- Organized by local residents who is living in Dali forests. - To get profits from outside tourists through tourism prcatices in the Dali forests	Low

Interested Outside Stakeholders

Interested Outside Stakeholders are the social actors who is linked in a transaction or an activity relating to the forests in Bai Autonomous, Dali. Bu they do not have a long-term dependency on this forest area.

Table 3. Interested Stakeholders

Stakeholders	Relevant Objectives	Relative Power (High-Low)
Local Administrative Departments	- Local-based Control and Guidance - To maintain the local environment and economic	High
National Government Departments	- Policy publisher - Macro control and guidance	Relative High
Tourists	- Consumer of Dali forests NTFPs - Influence the local tourism development objects - To enjoy the beautiful scenery and good environment of Dali	Medium
Outside Researchers	- Academic reasons - To get research results from Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Dali	Relative Low
NGOs	- To provide volunteering supports for the local Bai People	Low

Discussion

As part of the nation's owners of the territories, Bai ethnic people have historically enjoyed and sustained the well-being of Dali Prefecture, and proceeded to play this role through their traditional knowledge of forests, waters, culture, and land. This case study intends to examine how the properties of Bai people have been protected in the decision-making process, what support has been done to improve their political voices by the national and autonomous government. Based on our assessment of local autonomous administrative departments and the national government - the stakeholders outside of their community, we observe that several regulations and laws have been published on improving the engagement of Bai people in terms of management and decision-making process. Some arrangements have been successful in Regulation publishing and policymaking, while some arrangements still need further improvement to meet the target.

Bundle of rights

Table 4. Bundle of Rights in Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Dali

Bundle of rights	Description of 'Bundle of rights'	Whose rights are you considering? The legal owner? The customary owner? The licence holder? The citizen?
Access rights	Operational level rights Farmers have access to their legally owned forest at any time	The legal owner supported by the State Council
Use rights for subsitence	Operational Level rights Farmers have rights to harvest timber and NTFPs The right to benefits, ensuring that farmers benefit financially from their forest Farmers can name all forest products and specify amounts and sell.	The legal owner supported by the State Council
Management or Co-management rights	Collective choice rights Farmers have fall right to make decisions about how they manage their non-commercial forest.	The legal owner supported by the State Council
Exclusion rights	Collective choice rights Legal owners have the rights to sell tickets for accessing the forests. Legal owners have the right to exclude someone from getting in the forests.	The legal owner supported by the State Council
Alienation rights	Collective choice rights Forest disposal rights, giving farmers the right to determine the transfer, lease and mortgage of their forests.	The legal owner supported by the State Council
Duration	Duration of rights A 70-year contract and the forestland still owned by the collectives.	The legal owner supported by the State Council
Bequeathe	Duration of rights To operate without a term limit	The legal owner supported by the State Council
Extinguishability	Rights to compensation Whether the law guarantees due process. Clarify tenure rights and ensure farmers ’ownership of forests and their rights to use forest land. With provision for adequate and prompt compensation if rights are reduced or extinguished	The legal owner supported by the State Council

Successful Changes Taken Place in Bai Autonomous, Dali

Timeline

1986 – The publish of Autonomous Regulations of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture by Standing Committee of Yunnan Provincial People's Congress

According to the Autonomous Regulation of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, the autonomous organs of the Bai autonomous prefectures can adopt particular policies and measures to accelerate the construction and development of the economic and cultural undertakings of the autonomous prefectures without violating the Constitution and laws. Moreover, if the resolutions, decisions, orders, and instructions of the higher-level state organs are not suitable for the actual situation of the Bai autonomous prefecture, they can report to the higher-level state organs for approval, and do not be executed.

The Autonomous Regulation also allows the autonomous organs of the autonomous prefecture formulate forestry development plans according to local conditions, focusing on supporting the production of tea, walnuts, pears, oranges, plums, Chinese herbal medicines and flowers, and actively developing economic forests, timber forests, water conservation forests, and fast-growing high-yield forests which guarantee the living conditions and commercial properties of local Bai Authority People. The forestry construction in autonomous prefectures implements various forms of management by the state, collectives, and individuals, protects the legal rights and interests of operators, strengthens guidance and services for forest planting, harvesting, processing, transportation, and sales, and increases people's income. The Responsible Mountain is managed by the contractor, and the results of afforestation and afforestation are linked, and a reasonable proportion of income is implemented. The procedures for felling trees must be handled according to law. The forests planted in private land, private mountain, in front of the house and in the designated place belong to the individual, and inheritance and transfer are allowed. The forest is harvested according to law, and the products are handled independently.

The Regulation also helps strengthen the maintenance and management of nature reserves, water source forests, Fengshui forests, protective forests, and urban street trees. It helps protect precious and rare animals and plants.

2005 – The edition of Autonomous Regulations of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture by Standing Committee of Yunnan Provincial People's Congress

According to the new edited Regulation, the autonomous organs of the Bai autonomous prefectures adhere to the principles of forest management, universal forest protection, vigorous afforestation, the combination of harvesting and breeding, and sustainable use, and implement classified management of forest resources. Compared with the 1986 policy, it has increased the Emphasis on natural forest protection and ecological public welfare forest construction, vigorously developed commercial forests, and rationally developed and utilized forest resources, which considerably maintain the benefits of local Bai Authority people. Moreover, the management of forestry rights and interests has become more standardized. The autonomous agencies of the autonomous prefectures adopt various forms such as the state, collectives, and individuals to develop and construct forestry industries, encourage the development of non-public forestry and commercial forests, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of investment operators. The right to use woodland, forest ownership, and management rights can be transferred according to law.

Conflicts

Environmental Aspects - conflicts between outside tourists and local Bai people

The uncivilized behavior of outside tourists – the external interested stakeholder, has the most direct destructive effect on the environment of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. Some tourists are unaware of the historical relics and culture of the local Bai people, failing to realize the harm to their local culture caused by their actions, taking photos of cultural relics at will, and destroying the vegetation in the scenic area. Moreover, foreign tourists also have an impact on the local cultural environment that foreign tourists have brought new lifestyles and information, affecting the local Bai people in thought and behavior. In addition, the uncivilized behavior of tourists has impacted the traditional moral values and value standards of the Bai people.

Governance Aspects - landscaping or forest protection

In China, since ancient times, people are more concerned about landscaping works focus on aesthetic urban forestry design or commercial forestry, rather than forestry development in terms of environmental protection. Therefore, the current construction is more focused on landscaping, the research on forestry reservation is inadequate, and the government's measures on forest protection are not enough. As a result, the Autonomous Regulations of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture have only a general description of the conservation of Dali forests, but no specific projects for forest management and protection. The forest for the Bai people have not been well protected and their territories are not the major concern of the government.

Assessment

National Government Departments

National Government Departments provide higher-level control, and guidelines to local administrate and forestry practices. National Departments could promote the local forestry development by fiscal, tax, and financial measurement; and introduce basic measurement methods, such as the evaluation and assessment system. National departments also exercise the ownership of state forest resources, including transferring or leasing the right to use state forest resources. Also, department like the state council is in charge of “key forest areas” registration. The national government provides a high degree of autonomy under the laws.

Local Administrative Departments

The local administrative department, ranging from rural level to department above the prefecture or county level, has the right the manage forest tenures and rights under the law. The rural administrative department has the power to manage collective land and the timber produced, which are not used by contracts. The department above rural own the power to introduce regulations according to local conditions; and deal with disputes around the ownership of land, tenures, and rights.

Contractors

Forest owned by collectives or owned by the state but used by the collective under the law. The contractor has the managing right of the land and right of using the timber produced. Also, they could circulate relevant rights by methods like leasing or transferring according to laws.

Recommendations

Overall, the national autonomy policy has ensured the reasonable rights of local ethnic minorities in terms of sustaining their rights related to forestry resources and traditional practices. The majority part of administrative power is delegated to local governments so that departments could issue policies, which are strictly related to local conditions, and meet the economic and cultural needs of local society.

Nevertheless, possible issues might arise due to the decentralized authority. For example, there might be conflict related to the ownership of rights or tenure of woodland owned by different collectives. Also, contradictions between tourists and local people could reveal the development of tourism. Besides, traditional conservation practices might not be sufficient.

In this case, some improvements could be included in the policies and administration process. Initially, clearly determine the governments’ responsibility and establish a supervise system. Local departments should clearly define rights and ownerships to avoid potential conflict and set cross-level supervisory and feedback system, in case of possible administration failure like corruption. Moreover, local travel departments should implement civilized tourism education for tourists, such as introducing local customs and taboo to avoid conflict. Additionally, departments should comprehensively consider the status of forests, which are managed with traditional practices; and access the need for further conservation activities. The assessment and policy-making process should involve representatives from the ethnic minority groups, to respect their traditional culture, and combine conventional conservation practices with modern theories. Furthermore, organizations like NGOs should be assigned more power. They could play as the role between government and ethnic minorities with expertise, and provide neutral ideas about local conservation practices. On the other hand, they could be the supervisor for the government to assure the rationality of policies and administration; and implementation of policies by individuals and collectives as well.