Tibetan Minzu Market: The Intersection of Ethnicity and Commodity

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Documents

In downtown Chengdu a pocket of Tibetan culture has sprung up: a Tibetan market where Tibetans and Han Chinese meet to buy and sell ethnic minority products. Pointing to how Tibetan migration to Chengdu has contributed to the growth of a vibrant ‘minzu market’ attracting Tibetan and Han Chinese merchants, customers, Buddhist devotees, and voyeurs, this article presents novel understandings of the ethnic goods market in urban Chengdu. The article first explores the growth of the market, which is the result of a history of political and economic reforms, increased mobility, and religious revival. Second, it maps the market infrastructure according to the ethnicity of the shopkeepers and the commodities that are traded. Although there is still a clear ethnic division in the market, this article also documents the emergence of Han Chinese market participation in forms of trade that have historically been dominated by Tibetans.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAsian Ethnicity
Volume18
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)1-21
Number of pages22
ISSN1463-1369
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk


No data available

ID: 179352599