Tea, Gift-giving and Social Relationships’ Production of De’ang people in southwest China

Authors

  • Quanmin Li Yunnan Minzu University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18733/C3ZW2G

Abstract

 

De’ang 德昂people are an ethnic minority officially-recognized in China who are tea planters and tea drinkers mainly living in the upland areas of southwest Yunnan on the border between China and Myanmar. This paper demonstrates that how De’ang use tea as a gift in gift giving with outsiders and insiders to produce their social relationships in their lives, and from the viewpoint of anthropology argues that tea giving among the De’ang not only can reflect the basic principle of reciprocity in gift exchange, but also can reveal their identity both inside and outside their own community through different social relationships.

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Published

2015-11-04

Issue

Section

Articles