Tradition represents life wisdoms accumulated over generations by ancestors of a people. It is connected with a people’s experience and their reflection about how they and nature have coexisted. To consider sustainable life from the perspective of traditional culture is to find the road to development hand in hand with the community by beginning at the root of the community.

To explore our experience and that of the community, PCD has supported a project on “Traditional Community Organisation and Rural Sustainable Livelihood” in the Yao community in Liujiatun Village in Chang Dong Township at Jinxiu County of Guangxi. The project is co-organised with Guangxi Institute for Nationalities. Reviving traditional culture of the community is the main thrust of the project.  It is mainly achieved through revitalising traditional community organisation,which then has an important role to play in livelihoods and other aspects of community living. The project aims at helping the participants to improve its traditional community organization as a means to explore the road to a form of rural development that is based on traditional culture and community organization. For this purpose, the project helps the Stone Tablet Organisation to run programs, to enforce rules in community management (Rules of Stone Tablet), and to organize villagers in the community to inherit and pass on the traditional culture of Yao people.

Here below is the extract from an article written by our program partner, Shao Zhizhong on the experience of this program. (The full text could be found in “The Land is Meditating”, pp.152-157, only Chinese version is available.)

The stone tablet is a national mark which is unique to Jinxiu’s Yao people. It is the national soul engraved on stone, and it is that which Yao villagers are spiritually devoted to…Villagers voted solemnly to elect the chief of the Stone Tablet who, for them, was similar to a national leader. Night after night they could not sleep as they pondered on the sacred rules to be engraved on the Stone Tablet. When the tablet was finally erected, all villagers drank wine of blood……The Stone Tablet has existed as a form of national identity and ethnic identity of Yao people. The culture of the Stone Tablet is therefore an important bond for the survival and the development of Yao people.

The stone tablet has a long history which could be dated to mid-Ming Dynasty when stone tablets were first erected in Jinxiu. As a way to manage the society, to maintain production and social order, Yao people established special rules by which the whole people had to abide. These rules were engraved on stone tablets or copied on wooden boards. This was how the stone tablet system began.

The stone tablet system of Jinxiu was banned by the government in 1950 and the institution established by the stone tablet was replaced by government grass root institution. In 1990, Liujiatun reestablished the stone tablet organization, but it operated for only a short period of time after which it simply did not work. Since then, it is the village cadres instead of the chief of the stone tablet organization that plays the leading role in organizing activities during important festivals or occasions. The stone tablet organization exists only in name. On the other hand, even though the stone tablet with its rules still stands in the drying ground for crops, many of the rules engraved on the tablet are outdated and are no longer relevant in view of the development needs of contemporary society. Besides, the rules have little to do with issues concerning how the community should be run. Because of this, it does not have a very positive influence on the development of the village. It is actually rather difficult for a tablet organization to manage different types of affairs according to the rules engraved on the stone tablet. For this reason, the villagers no longer abide by the rules which have become historical relic. Even then, the stone tablet still has a deterring power over the villagers.

With the support of the project and the project staff as well as the support of the village government, a new tablet organization was elected in a meeting in which all villagers took part to establish rules that could be regarded as customary laws of the people. These rules serve to make up the short fall in the village management of the government and the absence of laws and rules in some aspects of community life. They can also help promote the development of democracy on the village level and complement “rural autonomy” as advocated by the government.

Since the new stone tablet organization was established, it has called numerous villagers’ meetings to discuss the project and also village affairs. Most of the people who take part in the meetings are elderly, women and young people who have not left the village to look for work elsewhere.

We asked Pang Wenxin, an old man who always sits on the front seats why he is so interested in taking part in the meetings called by the tablet organization. He tells us that the way a meeting is hold now is different from before. “Now we understand the content of the meeting and everyone can express his/her opinion in the meeting. If we had different opinions, we could expound our reasons and discuss until we come to a consensus.” He says, “It was different from before when it was only the village head who gave report or spoke. We could only listen and did not have an opportunity to take part or express our opinions.” He is very enthusiastic. “We also gain a lot of knowledge, such as knowledge on how to prevent the pigs from getting sick and ways to treat their sickness, and knowledge on growing herbs for Chinese medicine. Even women could speak on the meeting. This is something that never happened before.”

The change the meeting of the tablet organization has brought to the village is something the people have never imagined. The tablet chief, Chen Fei says, “The morale of the villagers has improved. They are more concerned about village affairs. They often go to the meeting place to read posters promoting knowledge on growing and breeding animals and with other information on farming.” Besides promoting matters on livelihood, in view of the lack of cultural activities in the village, the tablet organization organized a day of games for all villagers during the Spring Festival. The games were simple and include even chess playing, but the villagers said, “It’s been a long time that we have such fun.” It is true that the morale of the villagers have undergone tremendous change. Before when someone entered the village, few people would greet him/her of their own accord. This was especially the case with young people who were indifferent and would simply not respond to strangers’ inquiry. The elderly were more forthcoming and would ask someone curiously who he/she was looking for. A year after the project was launched, people who used to be indifferent to village affairs are becoming concerned with everything that is happening in the village. The project has brought about changes in both their opinions and behavior.

Chen Fei, the tablet chef said, “The villagers have more trust in our organization. Besides communicating with us on things related with the project, they also talk with us about other things, such as disagreements in the family, disputes with a neighbor, conflicts about land in the mountains, etc. They want us to help settle these conflicts. We and the village cadres have dealt with such contentious problems a few times and both sides are quite satisfied with the solution. The villagers will have more trust in our work in the future and the leaders of the tablet organization now have a rather high prestige in the village.”

Nowadays, many rural villagers are coming under the influence of urban culture. The popularity of television and other audio-visual products results in the traditional culture of many ethnic groups slowly disappearing, such as the singing and the dancing of Yao people, and their costumes too. Many young people do not want to wear the traditional costumes. Only in big festivals or weddings do you find Yao women and elderly in traditional costumes. They no longer wear them in ordinary days. We are concerned about this development. The external cultural characteristics of these ethnic groups are already vanishing. It is difficult to know how much of the internal cultural characteristics of these ethnic groups is disappearing without anyone being aware of it.

“What is that which Yao people must not lose?” To this question, every Yao would immediately reply, “The traditions and the culture, the customs and the habits of Yao people.” So what is Yao culture? “The stone tablet is one culture we are proud of. It is Yao’s tradition.” The tablet chief Chen Fei said, “We cannot lose our tradition. The stone tablet is the culture that makes up Yao tradition. It is the national soul engraved on the stone. It is the mark of our people. We cannot lose it!”

As we carry out our program, we have to think of the following questions: “What does the stone tablet represent? What does its revival bring to the villagers?” We do not have a clear cut answer now, but there is one thing we are certain of. That is, what the tablet system leaves behind for the people is not only the tablet which we can see with our eyes, or the writings on the tablet. It is that which the emotional devotion and spiritual cohesion of Yao people takes its form. It is a national mark unique to the Yao people of Jinxiu.