摘要
The Gesar Epic is not only a literary work and cultural icon of the Tibetan people but a symbol of maintaining ethnic boundaries.In particular,in the community mixed with both Hor and Tibetan residents,the cultural memory of Gesar is considered as one of the greatest distinguishing factors to tell the Self Group from the Other-Group.Khre-Tse Sde-Bzhi(referring to the four villages),a marginal group in Tibetan-inhabited area of Rebgong,is called Hor or DorDo by local Tibetans.When it comes to ethnic identification,the ethnic group is commonly recognized as Tu ethnicity.In fact,in the community of Khre-Tse Sde-Bzhi,local residents are distinguished by whether they are Hor(a branch of Mongolian language family)or Bod(Tibetan);moreover,there remains a relatively obvious sense of ethnic identity.And yet,in addition to the dominant characteristics of local languages,it is the Gesar culture that has become one of the main features to differentiate between Bod and Hor.More importantly,people of Bod and Hor identify themselves by whether the others tell the complete version of the Gesar Epic or whether they have the authentic King Gesar enshrined,in order to determine their cultural identity.
基金
This paper is financially funded by the Belief Mechanism of“Harmony and Co-existence”and Survival Strategy of Tu Ethnic Groupsunder the Impact of Sino-Tibetan Culture(19MZWT07),a special fund project for Research Center for studies of Ethnic groups in Northwest China of Northwest Minzu University in 2019.This paper is the phased achievement of Research on Religious Diversity Dialogue Symbiosis and Gesar Belief of Hor People on the Sino-Tibetan Marginal Areas(17xmz073)funded by Annual National Social Science Fund Project in 2017,and is the phased research on the Multi-ethnic Epic and Oral Tradition(31920180110)funded by basic scientific research business of central universities.
