NICHOLAS TAPP
Traditional kinship systems have been largely maintained despite the recent influence of the family planning programme, although there is evidence of a growing strengthening trend towards monogamization and patrilineality in the more settled villages, under Han influence, and a general rise in the status of women owing to increased educational and political opportunities. Periods of matrilocal residence after marriage have been greatly reduced among the Dai people and sections of the Zhuang (China's largest national minority). In the richer minority areas, it is still quite common to find households where generation has followed generation since pre-Liberation day (shi shi dai dai: ##). Shifting cultivation persists in many areas: even in the Yi areas of Lunan County, 128 km from Kunming, some dry rice was cultivated, while maize which is common at all altitudes can only be supported on the same soil for a limited number of years, after which it must be left fallow or alternated with winter wheat crops if it is to recover its fertility. Wheat with a small amount of barley is the staple diet in many of the highland areas, where potatoes also grow well, and can be exchanged for rice. In the valley regions maize is grown mainly as animal fodder and wet rice, which can be glutinous or semi-glutinous, remains the staple diet. Gourds, eggplant, sweet potato and leafy vegetables are commonly intercropped with the maize; other fields are devoted entirely to different types of beans, while tea, tobacco, sugarcane and chili are extensively cultivated by the minorities of southwestern Yunnan.
On the highlands pine and fir have been aerially planted in a great majority of the minority regions, which has reduced the acreage available for cultivation. At the same time many highland groups have moved down or been resettled at lower altitudes, while Han households have begun to cultivate areas in the foothills formerly reserved for the minorities. This has resulted in an intensification of the conflict over scarce resources. During the 1950's and 1960's large numbers of Han settlers moved into the Dai areas to cultivate rubber and this, combined with population increase among the Dai, has led to serious competition and rivalries.
The economic responsibility system, introduced into minority areas after 1980, has wrought great changes in minority regions as
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NICHOLAS TAPP
Traditional kinship systems have been largely maintained de- spite the recent influence of the family planning programme, al- though there is evidence of a growing strengthening trend towards monogamization and patrilineality in the more settled villages, under Han influence, and a general rise in the status of women owing to increased educational and political opportunities. Peri- ods of matrilocal residence after marriage have been greatly re- duced among the Dai people and sections of the Zhuang (China's largest national minority). In the richer minority areas, it is still quite common to find households where generation has followed generation since pre-Liberation day (shi shi dai dai: ## ). Shifting cultivation persists in many areas: even in the Yi areas of Lunan County, 128 km, from Kunming, some dry rice was culti- vated, while maize which is common at all altitudes can only be supported on the same soil for a limited number of years, after which it must be left fallow or alternated with winter wheat crops if it is to recover its fertility. Wheat with a small amount of barley is the staple diet in many of the highland areas, where potatoes also grow well, and can be exchanged for rice. In the valley regions maize is grown mainly as animal fodder and wet rice, which can be glutinous or semi-glutinous, remains the staple diet. Gourds, egg- plant, sweet potato and leafy vegetables are commonly inter- cropped with the maize, other fields are devoted entirely to differ- ent types of beans, while tea, tobacco, sugarcane and chili are extensively cultivated by the minorities of southwestern Yunnan.
On the highlands pine and fir have been aerially planted in a great majority of the minority regions, which has reduced the acreage available for cultivation. At the same time many highland groups have moved down or been resettled at lower altitudes, while Han households have begun to cultivate areas in the foot- hills formerly reserved for the minorities. This has resulted in an intensification of the conflict over scarce resources. During the 1950's and 1960's large numbers of Han settlers moved into the Dai areas to cultivate rubber and this, combined with population increase among the Dai, has led to serious competition and rival- ries.
The economic responsibility system, introduced into minority areas after 1980, has wrought great changes in minority regions as
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