Preamble
If you search for the Bai ethnic group on Baidu（ Chinese search engine), you get a bunch of objective descriptions, including a lot of accurate data. However, these can only let you know a nation’s basic situation; it is difficult to understand its greatness truly. In an age of rapid technological change, people tend to focus so much on the future that they forget about what they have.
Some time ago, I saw a brand with an exciting name, Ancient Blessing. They are part of the Indian tradition. The sales volume of this store is very hot, the products on the shelves are often wiped out, and customer satisfaction is very high. When I went to look around some ethnic minorities in China, I found many shops, but the sales of each shop were abysmal. What caused this? Is it because the Chinese worship foreign things?
I want to change this phenomenon, starting with my nationality.
I asked myself: do I have the ability to change this phenomenon? How can I save a dying culture? How to make Chinese traditional culture exciting and attractive?
Many questions, one after another, came to me. I know it will not be easy to achieve my goal. However, as my favourite basketball star, Ja Morant, said: I am way too far to turn back now, that is why I am all in. I know it gets rough, but you stay tough & keep sh*t solid.
Since I chose to do it, I will not give up before doing it well.
As a first step, I decided to start by understanding my ethnic group (Bai). I am incredibly grateful to my ethnic group to experience different cultures, live with people from different cultural backgrounds, celebrate our traditional festivals, and blend in with this ethnic group.
My hometown is a village with the Bai nationality as the main body, called Renli Yi Village. Almost everyone in the town is bai and knows our dialect, so we mainly communicate in Bai dialect, and we celebrate every traditional festival together. I had a perfect time here, although now studying in other places, the time back is rare, there has been a deep reflection in my mind.
However, in such a village, traditional culture is also declining. With the birth of new life in the village, villagers go to work in other places, and the number of people who can speak Bai is also declining. Many traditional festivals can be carried out by the significantly older adults in the village. It pains me very much, and I wish I could do something for the village and the people.
After much consideration, I decided to write an ethnography. It is more reliable to record it in a book than to pass it down orally from generation to generation. If I can do it well, I hope to publish this ethnography to see this colourful traditional culture. I will also use the form of the website, record the results I do, share them with interested people!
Every step we take will leave a trace, and every effort we make will be rewarded.
