MENTAL-SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF THE CULTURE OF THE BURYATS OF INNER MONGOLIA OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA BASED ON FIELD RESEARCH MATERIALS
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6119-2018-4-117-123
The article is devoted to the description of the mental component of the culture of the local ethnic group of Buryats living in China. The project used records of field research that were made in the IMAR of PRC over several years. Based on the analysis of this data, the main mental-spiritual aspects of Buryat culture were revealed. The oral folklore tradition of the ethnic group of the Buryats of Inner Mongolia allows to reveal, to a certain extent, the mentality of the entire Buryat people, to characterize social experience and knowledge accumulated in the past by previous generations. Despite being isolated from the maternal ethnos, the Buryat diaspora in China managed to preserve its cultural potential, not to lose its language and traditions. The ethnopsychology of the pastoralists outside the native nomadism was based on the idea of the need for homecoming, which contributed to the formation of mental attitudes and shaping a special way of thinking, regulating the livelihoods of several generations of migrants. The main stereotypes of the national character of the Chinese Buryats are rooted in indissoluble ties with the mother ethnic group and adherence to the traditional values of ancestors, which are based on a certain way of life – the traditional form of husbandry (cattle breeding), nomadic lifestyle, natural habitat (endless steppes). This explains their characteristic behavioral features: extreme restraint in expression of emotion, deliberation in everyday life, balance of actions, deliberation of action, philosophical perception of the world, special mental makeup in terms of time and distance – they are vague, spaced out, non-concrete. The mentality of the Buryat Diaspora in China is closely associated with belonging to the Buddhist religion, determining the basis of education and worldview – compassion for all living things, observance of moral and mental purity, respect for family customs and traditions.
Keywords: mindset, mentality, Buryats of China, traditional culture, values, sociocultural attitudes, oral folklore tradition
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Issue: 4, 2018
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: ANTHROPOLOGY
Pages: 117 — 123
Downloads: 889