Reflection Paper About Cultural Change 
Reflection Paper “Cultural Change and Persistence in China”
This article revolves about culture change and persistence in China. Since the 1949 Communist takeover in china, the central government has initiated variety of changes. Many of these changes were literally forced; people who resisted them were often resettled or jailed. Ancestor worship was also declared illegal. Some of the investigators did their studies about variability and similarity of Chinese family life. Most of them focused on the Han Chinese which dominated the Chinese population; investigators have also studied many of the 55 “recognized” minority cultures in China. Burton Pasternak, a U.S. sociologist, Janet Salaff, a Canadian sociologist and Chinese sociologists studied four communities of Han who had moved outside the Great Wall to colonize the Inner Mongolian frontier. The results of their study suggest that, despite strong pressures from the government, what changes or persists in a culture mainly reflects what is possible ecologically and economically. Although an increasing number of Han have become more like Mongols in their pastoral adaptations, many Mongols have adopted an urban way of life and moved away. As described by anthropologist William Janowiak, the result were not what the Chinese government intended. In many ways, to be sure, the urban Mongols had abandoned their traditional culture and assimilated to the dominant Han culture. Many Mongols in the city no longer speak the Mongol language. Parents find it difficult to get children to speak Mongol when they live among Han. The scarcity of housing makes it difficult for the Mongols to form an ethnic enclave, or even live near kin as they did in the past. As Han Chinese dominates the population of China, to be sure, it also dominates the culture in China. Mongols who went to the capital city of Hohhot abandoned their culture and assimilated to the dominant Han culture. Because of this, many of them in the city no longer
This article revolves about culture change and persistence in China. Since the 1949 Communist takeover in china, the central government has initiated variety of changes. Many of these changes were literally forced; people who resisted them were often resettled or jailed. Ancestor worship was also declared illegal. Some of the investigators did their studies about variability and similarity of Chinese family life. Most of them focused on the Han Chinese which dominated the Chinese population; investigators have also studied many of the 55 “recognized” minority cultures in China. Burton Pasternak, a U.S. sociologist, Janet Salaff, a Canadian sociologist and Chinese sociologists studied four communities of Han who had moved outside the Great Wall to colonize the Inner Mongolian frontier. The results of their study suggest that, despite strong pressures from the government, what changes or persists in a culture mainly reflects what is possible ecologically and economically. Although an increasing number of Han have become more like Mongols in their pastoral adaptations, many Mongols have adopted an urban way of life and moved away. As described by anthropologist William Janowiak, the result were not what the Chinese government intended. In many ways, to be sure, the urban Mongols had abandoned their traditional culture and assimilated to the dominant Han culture. Many Mongols in the city no longer speak the Mongol language. Parents find it difficult to get children to speak Mongol when they live among Han. The scarcity of housing makes it difficult for the Mongols to form an ethnic enclave, or even live near kin as they did in the past. As Han Chinese dominates the population of China, to be sure, it also dominates the culture in China. Mongols who went to the capital city of Hohhot abandoned their culture and assimilated to the dominant Han culture. Because of this, many of them in the city no longer