Source: School of Sociology and Anthropology
Written by: Department of Anthropology, Sun Yat-sen University Press

The research project of “Ethnic Groups in the Wildland of the Southeast Tibetan Plateau”, hosted by Professor He Guoqiang (his Tibetan name: Jianzan Caidan) in the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Sun Yat-sen University, was selected into the “Key Publishing Project of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan” in 2011 and the “National Publication Fund” in 2012. Sun Yat-sen University Press is the unit of application and associate senior editor Ji Chunxia is in charge of the planning and application of the project.

A series of seven books to be published by Sun Yat-sen University Press in 2013, namely, A Study of Polyandry in the Southeast Tibetan Plateau (co-authored by Jianzan Caidan and Xu Shaoming), Subsistence Modes at the Foots of Biluo Mountains (co-authored by Li Hechun and Li Yafeng), General Scarcity and Cultural Adaptation: Pacuo, Nyingma Buddhism and the Folkway in Sanyan (co-authored by Xu Shaoming and He Guoqiang), A Cultural Survey of Dulong River: the Study of Social Change in Qiu People and Their Neighbours (co-authored by Zhang Jingfu and Luo Bo), The Soul Returns to Homeland: A Study of Funeral System in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau (authored by Ye Yuanpiao), Where Is the Women? Gender Politics in the Canyon of the Three Parallel Rivers (authored by Wang Tianyu), The Religious Conflict in the Canyon of Lancang River (co-authored by Wei Leping and Wang Xiao), will turn out as the academic outcomes of the research project.

The southeast of Tibetan Plateau, the intersection area of the Himalaya mountains and the Hengduan mountains, is broad and vast, covering areas in Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan and Tibet, where several rivers are originated or going through. Meanwhile, it has been an important national corridor since ancient times and it gives birth to many domestic ethnic groups such as the Tibetan, Naxi, Lisu, Nu, Dulong and some overseas ethnic groups like the Khmer, Kachin, Thai and so on. With the Three Parallel Rivers Area listed as the World Heritage, people both at home and abroad are thirsty to know the ethnic cultural changes in the area. The title of the book series is named “Ethnic Groups in the Wildland of the Southeast Tibetan Plateau”, and it is committed to cultural study of the area. It has collected numerous first-hand data by combining fieldwork with practical theory and methods, in an effort to reveal the cultural types, connotation and inheritance, which are unknown to most people. The series is not only valuable for the study of southwest China, but also of great significance to excavate and rescue the nearly extinct primary aboriginal cultures. Furthermore, it will provide information for decision making in the development of the western region, promote national research for cultural preservation, and possess high value for collection.

Professor He Guoqiang is committed to his research fields, focusing on political anthropology, social and cultural theories, ethnic regional culture (especially on social cultural systems of ethnic groups in the southeast of Tibetan Plateau and The Hakka peasants located in the coastal regions of Guangdong Province). He has chaired several research projects of the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of the Ministry of Education and the National Social Sciences Foundation; he has authored, translated or edited more than ten academic books, as well as published over 30 articles and investigation reports in the past two decades.