Lijun Zhang (editor) - Chinese folklore studies today : discourse and practice

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To many generations of folklorists

who contribute to the disciplinary development

of folklore studies in China.

F OLKLORISTICS AS A DISCIPLINE OF CHINESE ACADEMIA INITIATED from Peking University about a century ago. Through its hundred-year history, Chinese folkloristics experienced several shifts of its academic center, now known as the PKU Era, the Sun-Yet San University Era, the Hangzhou Era, the Yanan Era, and so on. During its history, Chinese folkloristics experienced hard times in which classes were cancelled, professors were dispersed, and enrollment ceased. Through their academic practices, generations of Chinese folklorists instilled special characteristics into folklore studies in China and formed Chinese folkloristics as a discipline. China is a country with rich historical documents; Chinese scholars of the humanities intend to develop a tradition of tracing history, and they value historical profundity in academic works on Chinas folklore. Professor Zhong Jingwen proposed that historic folkloristics should be part of Chinese folklore studies. China is a multiethnic country, and ethnic minorities folklore has always been the object of its research. Besides, Chinese folklore studies since its birth has been influenced by foreign folkloristics. Therefore, interaction and dialogue between Chinese and international academia within a global framework has been another characteristic of Chinese folklore studies. The main influences from abroad have been Western Europe, North America, Russia, and Japan. The influence of these regions in terms of theory and methodology can be observed when examining the hundred-year history of Chinese folkloristics. This active participation in international communication is at its peak nowadays. And Chinese folkloristics finds new sources of development in this communication. Today, Chinese folkloristics has spread more broadly within Chinas humanistic studies. It has more students gaining masters and doctorate degrees every year. In some colleges and research institutes, it also has its own faculty, curriculum, and academic programs. In the states political system, folklore study also finds a role as a source of reference, especially in the recent trend of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. Of course, different voices exist. Some scholars believe working closely with the government risks academic independence. However, UNESCOs call for cultural diversity and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage has gained powerful support from the Chinese government and entertains active participation of Chinese scholars, and it is warmly welcomed among the Chinese people, especially in rural areas and ethnic regions. It is thus observed in contemporary China that communities, academia, the government, and individuals all have their respective pursuits while working toward shared goals at the same time. Therefore, ideas and voices start to intertwine around the discussion of Chinese folk culture. The blossoming of folklore studies in China makes depicting Chinese folkloristics accurately and thoroughly an extremely difficult task. Therefore, this book, in briefly profiling recent developments in Chinese folklore studies in certain subfields, is a practical project. I appreciate the timeliness and transdisciplinary senses in this volume edited by our young scholars of folklore, Lijun Zhang and Ziying You. Their endeavor is much cherished, and, sans doubt, their evaluation of the discipline of folkloristics in Chinese academia is to be listened to with a thoughtful mind and caring heart.

Chao Gejin

CHAO GEJIN is Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Institute of Ethnic Literature at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and Member of CASS. He is the author of Oral Poetics: Formulaic Diction of Arimpils Jangar Singing and Selected Papers on Epic Studies, and the editor of Annual Review of China Folkloristics.

T HIS BOOK WAS INITIATED BY CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN CHINESE and American folklorists at the forum China and US Folklore Collaborations: A Progress Report at the 2015 American Folklore Society annual meeting held in Long Beach, California. Timothy Lloyd chaired the forum, and Chao Gejin, Gao Bingzhong, Song Junhua, Bill Ivy, and Michael Ann Williams were invited speakers. At the forum, Chao Gejin, the president of China Folklore Society, commented on the unequal communication between Chinese and American folklore societies and said: We know more about you than you know about us. Audiences agreed that there was a need to introduce scholarship on Chinese folklore studies for American folklorists. We would like to thank their great vision that inspired us in the work of bridging the gap between Chinese academia and American academia. Gary Dunham, director of Indiana University Press, was at the forum, and he perceived the significance in scholarship exchange and publication. With his support and encouragement, we started to work on this edited volume on Chinese folklore studies. This project was also enthusiastically supported by Jason Baird Jackson, Mark Bender, and many other folklorists. We would like to express our gratitude to them. This volume would not have been possible without the commitment and contribution of the authors. It has been a great privilege, honor, and pleasure for us to work with Yongyi Yue, Junxia Wang, and Levi S. Gibbs. We would like to thank all the brilliant contributors for their hard work and support. Among them, we want to thank Levi in particular for proofreading all the English manuscript chapters before we submitted them. We also want to thank Wenyuan Shao and Yuanhao Zhao, who translated Yongyi Yues article from Chinese into English. Last but not least, thanks are due to three anonymous reviewers of the book manuscript who provided many precious comments and suggestions. Finally, we are thankful to Janice E. Frisch and her colleagues at Indiana University Press for shepherding the project to fruition. There are other colleagues and friends whose names are not listed here; we are grateful for their advice and help.

CHINESE FOLKLORE STUDIES TODAY