Abstract

The one hundred years （from 1912 to today） has witnessed China's ever-changing political patterns，dramatic social & cultural history transition.Defending the country's independence，sovereignty，and the pursuit of modernization is the nation's great topics.Guided by national discourse，Miao ethnic minority of Western Hunan，a minority located in the central China，has gone through great changes，With the historical Ethnology researching method，combining historical data with theory of Ethnology，historical background with realistic case inspection，based on the “State presence” theoretical framework，the paper explores the relationship between the cultural changes of our country and those of the Miao ethnic minority of Western Hunan in the one hundred years.

The cultural changes in the past century of Miao ethnic minority are represented in a number of aspects：in the way of life style，the profound changes toward modern trend has taken place；A wide variety of traditional folk beliefs are still maintained a strong vitality.The marriage based on the means of free love obtains its continuation while some of the traditional marriage ceremonies and taboos are gradually being abandoned.Traditional rural orders and rules are gradually being replaced by modern laws and regulations，although a small number of folk statues are still in effect.Miao language has been in a continuous state of development，and “bilingualism” and regional characteristics are very obvious.National force is the major motivation of the cultural development and change of Miao ethnic minority of Western Hunan.

In the past century，the state has controlled and guided the Miao traditional culture through a series of strategies，with the main ideas as Follows：

（1）KMD Government's policy of cultural assimilation.To speed up the modernized construction of the nation，KMD Government，by the means of changing Miao's addressing，of promoting national education，and of reforming its customs，infiltrated main ethnic cultural factors and concept of modernization to the Miao Ethnic，trying to transform and assimilate the Miao's culture.Cultural assimilation，to a certain extent，has promoted the spread of modernization and nation-state concept in the Miao community，but it has not executed great impact on Miao culture due to the lack of continuation of the policy implementation.

（2）A series of political movements launched by socialist state power during the total society.In collectivization campaigns，the life style of Miao ethnic minority of Western Hunan has been ideologized and the mode of production has been united.In the campaign of “eliminating the old and establishing the new”，the Miao folk beliefs were banned，cultural activities were banned and restricted，and traditional crafts were forbidden to produce or to sell.As a result，traditional culture of Miao were severely damaged and rapidly deconstructed.Meanwhile，country-guided socialist values and modern concepts have been fully infiltrated in Miao culture，and it laid the foundation for the modern construction of Miao culture in Western Hunan.

（3）Formulate system of regional ethnic autonomy.The state respects and protects the national culture in the form of law so as to provide a security of system and law basis for protection and development of Miao culture.

（4）Developing school education.Through the construction of schools，the improvement of school conditions，the teachers’ training，and stabilization of the contingent of teachers，the country provides the students of Miao ethnic minority with preferential terms to develop the school education of Miao ethnic minority of western Hunan.This initiative has exerted great influence on Miao's cultural changes：socialist culture entered the Miao community through the national education and has exerted great impact on the traditional knowledge systems of Miao culture；The spread of modern knowledge has promoted the modern Construction of Miao culture.

（5）Expropriating the Miao culture after the reform and opening up.In order to carry forward the Miao culture and promote its economic development，the country adopted a strategy of expropriating the Miao culture to realize social control of Miao Villages，such as the direct use of the traditional village of MiaoTransform the Miao culture to provide services for its economic development；Change the cultural implications of Miao festivals and shift the cultural scene of ceremonies，so as to realize the new development of the Miao culture.Include the protection of Miao culture into national task，to conform to the trend of attention to folk culture of the international community.Although these strategies to some extent deviated from the original content of the Miao culture，they provide the national support for the protection and development of the Miao culture.

（6）Ethnic unity policy.The country has always vigorously publicized and implemented the policy of ehnic unity，and it is not only conducive to alleviate the ethnic conflicts between the Miao and other ethnic groups and to eliminate the national barriers，but it gives the Miao an opportunity to exchange survival wisdom with other ethnics，to actively absorb and draw on Chinese culture and modern culture- factors.All these have promoted the renovation of the Miao culture.

Faced with strongstate presence，the Miao of Western Hunan has taken a lot of responses：

（1）Opposition.Openly oppose the state high pressure on the Miao culture.

（2）Compliance and cooperation.Invite the dominating ultural symbols into Miao community and form cooperative relations with the country's cultural strategy.

（3）Adjustments and defenses.The Miao's civil society defends and adheres to their spiritual home，although giving up on the surface.

（4）Borrowing.Apply with high-profile the national discourse which can contribute to the heritage of the Miao culture，so as to preserve and promote the Miao culture and fulfill the purposes of regional economic development.

（5）Introduction.Introduce the national image to the civil ceremony，to express its understanding and recognition of the country.The process of responding the state presence of the Miao culture is the process of its continuous adjustment，remodeling and Innovation.

In the last century，modernization is the country's magnificent discourse.Under the influence of the national strength，the Miao ethnic minorityreligion has also been swept into the wave of modernization and great changes have taken place there.The process of the changes of Miao culture of western Hunan in the past century is the process of continuous exchanges and competitions between modern culture and the Miao traditional culture.During this process，with the advocating of national discourse，the modernized factors have infiltrated into the Miao culture.The Miao ethnic minority of Western Hunan，bringing with it a unique traditional culture，has been embracing the modern culture，thus achieving a modern construction of the Miao culture.It is Mainly presented in several aspects：rationality and science and conflicting with the folk beliefs；the active consciousness of the Miao culture has increased；the openness of the Miao culture has become more obvious；the sense of national rights has strongly upheld.

Looking at the “State presence” in the process of changes of the Miao culture in the past century，generally speaking，the country has been the variable and the Miao culture has been the dependent variable.That is to say，the Miao community has changed following the changes of the country.Over-weakness or over-powerfulness of the State forces is harmful to the development of national culture.This gives us profound enlightenment：the state should have better understanding and good plan to Ethnic culture.In the development of modernization strategy on ethnic areas，the state should handle properly the state strength “measurement” and should plan well the “presence” and “absence”.A good balance between the goal of national modernization and traditional culture is an important way to form a good interaction between the State and the society.The goals of Modernization can lead the development of the ethnic society，and the ethnic culture can be protected，innovated and developed in the process of modernization.