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A Grassroots Association on the Sino-Tibetan Border: The Role, Agendas and Beyond*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2013

Jinba Tenzin
Jinba Tenzin*
Affiliation:
Yale University and Lanzhou University Email: tenzin.jinba@yale.edu.
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Abstract

This article investigates the role of the Moluo Tourism Association in Suopo township, Danba county, Sichuan. It examines its organization, internal structure and objectives, and explores the concerns of Tibetan elites and villagers and their strategies for advancing their political and other goals in an officially sanctioned framework. The research shows that the association resembles a “state-led civil society” as its membership and agendas exhibit the strong will of the local state; nevertheless, it still manages to carve a space for expressing negative opinions towards the local authorities, pursuing the “Eastern Queendom” cause and following its own agendas. The dynamic and nuanced interactions between the association and township show that state–society relations in China are situated in a complex and convoluted landscape which has not yet been fully explored in the China field. Furthermore, the article brings to light the divergent interests and positions of the association members as well as the heterogeneity of Suopo society proper. It concludes with a brief discussion of the prospects for an enhanced engagement of ethnic research with broader China studies.

Keywords

DanbaSino-Tibetan Bordergrassroots associationcivil societystate–society relationstourism
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 217 , March 2014 , pp. 99 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2013 

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Footnotes

*

This study has been funded by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars (46th Round), State Education Ministry of China and Social Science Division of Lanzhou University (Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, grant No. 12LZUJBWZD008), as well as the Cora Du Bois Charitable Trust. I take the opportunity to thank the Suopo people, especially the members of the Moluo Tourism Association, who remain anonymous or pseudonymous in the article. The findings presented here have been acknowledged by them, and I am indebted to every one of them for their openness and assistance. I am grateful to both The China Quarterly and the University of Washington Press for allowing this article to appear in my book, In the Land of the Eastern Queendom: the Politics of Gender and Ethnicity on the Sino-Tibetan Border.

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