This thesis explores the mutual constitutions of visuality and empire from the perspective of gender, probing how the lives of China's ethnic minorities at the southwest frontiers were translated into images. Two sets of visual materials make up its core sources: the Miao album, a genre of ethnographic illustration depicting the daily lives of non-Han peoples in late imperial China, and the ethnographic photographs found in popular Republican-era periodicals. The study highlights gender ideals within images and aims to develop a set of 'visual grammar' of depicting the non-Han. Casting new light on a spectrum of gendered themes, including femininity, masculinity, sexuality, love, body and clothing, the thesis examines how the power constructed through gender helped to define, order, popularise, celebrate and imagine possessions of empire. In order to examine the visual transformations of images of non-Han, this study places the Miao albums and modern photographs side-by-side for comparison, revealing the different ways of seeing ethnic minorities when Han Chinese gender norms were de/reconstructed. The insights into the visual codes of gender also aim to place Chinese imperial models in a cultural context, testing how well the case of China fits into theories of empire generated mainly from European models. This thesis asks how imported imperial tools, in particular European technology and the science of human variations, were localised within the conceptualisation of nations in modern China. It also considers the relationship between text and image in historical analysis, uncovering the values of images to historians in novel ways. By taking an interdisciplinary approach, the thesis aims to contribute to the fields of gender, visual culture and imperial studies.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is comprised of fifty-six ethnic groups that inherent diverse cultural traditions. The largest of these ethnic groups is the 汉［Han］and the remaining fifty-five ethnic groups are given the name 少数民族, [ethnic minority]. The Communist government describes China as a unified multinational country. On the one hand, Chinese scholars and national policies advocate presentation of cultural diversity in China’s education system; on the other hand, they emphasized that diverse ethnic minorities contribute to a single united Chinese nationality as a whole, which is given the term Chinese nationality--中华民族. The purpose of this study is to examine the K1–9 music textbooks—a series of texts titled simply 音乐 [Music]—designed by the Curricula and Textbooks Designing Centre at the Ministry of Education of the PRC. The study aims to understand how China’s government and scholars frequently represent China’s ethnic musical traditions by these widely used music textbooks in the mainland of the PRC. This central issues are addressed by the research question include: 1. How are ethnic musical traditions introduced to students in the textbooks? 2. How are musical and cultural differences between ethnic minorities and Han-Chinese represented in the textbooks? 3. Whose cultural values and ideologies are signified in the selected ethnic musical materials and subjects of the textbooks? This study applies the methodology of document analysis; research findings are discussed based on relevant theories of liberalism along with authenticity in cultural representation. The study concludes that Communist China is very concerned by ethnic separatism so that Chinese nationality (as a whole) and political unity of the country is enforced in education. The curriculum reflects the core value of socialism and patriotism. The ethnic music materials represented in those nationally used, government-designed textbooks enhance ethnic integration and cultural unity of the Chinese nationality as a whole. As a result, the textbook contents mostly reflect values of moral education emphasized in many national education policies, which address patriotism and national unity rather than authentically present ethnic music and cultures. / 2017-10-02T00:00:00Z

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