Fieldwork Connections: The Fabric of Ethnographic Collaboration in China and America

15. The First International Yi Conference, 1995

15 THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL YI CONFERENCE, 1995 ma lunzy A t the beginning of 1995, I received Stevan Harrell’s invitation to attend the International Yi Studies Conference being held at the University of Washington in March, and I was extremely happy about it. Even though I had never asked Muga to his face if I could attend the conference—to the point that I avoided talking about it altogether— partly because I didn’t want to pressure him and partly because I didn’t want to be seen as exacting a quid pro quo for my “horse leading,” nevertheless , to be able to go to America and see it for myself was something I really wanted to do. I was motivated all along by the attitude “Just hearing about it is empty; being able to see for oneself is real.” I really wanted to see the paper tiger that we had cursed when we were little Red soldiers, to see the democratic country that was in the thoughts of today’s youth. To be able to fulfill this desire through Muga’s Yi studies conference was an exciting prospect. I needed to prepare. Among my old academic paper drafts I found two to submit as papers for the conference. One was richly challenging: “A superficial discussion of the naming system of the Liangshan Yi, along with a discussion of the mistaken concept of the father-son linked name system.” The other I had written with Qubi Shimei: “Homicide and homicide cases within the clan in the old society of the Liangshan Yi.” Even though 209 the points being made and the evidence presented in the two papers were relatively solid, I still felt that the force of the writing was insu‹cient, like two loaves of insu‹ciently baked bread—valuable things and regrettable things were mixed together. I really wanted to make some eªort to revise them, but because the time was short and the paperwork required to leave the country was voluminous, I couldn’t do anything but put the revisions aside and use the drafts as my ticket to the conference room. I met the other conference participants from China (Yu Hongmo, Wu Gu, Bamo Ayi, Li Yongxiang, and Qubi Shimei) at the Beijing airport , and we boarded China Eastern Airlines flight 583 via Shanghai and Los Angeles, arriving at the Seattle airport around noon on March 15. Muga and Wu Ga met us at the airport. Muga greeted everyone in Yi, and the participants from Yunnan and Guizhou looked at me incredulously and asked, “He understands Yi?” “When did he learn it?” Thinking about this afterwards, after Qubi Shimei and I returned we wrote a short article published in the Liangshan Daily News: We were fortunate to be able to attend the International Yi Studies Conference held at the University of Washington. When our plane touched down at noon on March 15 at the Seattle International Airport in Washington State, everybody was a bit exhausted from the long trip, mingling with the American crowds walking toward the exit. Then we were met by the chair of the University of Washington Anthropology Department, saying to each one in fluent Yi, “Honored guests, honored guests! Are your families well?” Hearing this mouthful of standard Yi, we felt very close and very moved; everybody thought that it was no simple feat for him to learn even this little bit of Yi on the other side of the Pacific. Two days later, he asked all the conference participants to his house to chat, and after everyone had sat down, he cleared his throat, and said simply , in Yi, “Honored friends, you’ve come here from far away, how can I not be pleased. Let’s raise our glasses together, and toast everyone’s health and good fortune, and wish that our friendship will be with us forever.” Then all the Yi friends seated there stood up, very moved, and without reservation began talking with him in Yi about daily household things. The next morning scholars from five countries (China, the US, Germany, 210 ma lunzy France, and Australia) were in a lively discussion of an article on “The double cross-cousin marriage of the Yi of Liangshan” when Stevan Harrell took a piece of chalk and smoothly wrote several pertinent Yi words on the blackboard . At this time, not only scholars who came from other countries...