| Summary/Abstract |
In China, ‘heritage’ as a terminological construction was shaped within specific discursive and organizational frames over the course of decades. As an outcome, UNESCO’s heritage discourse, universal by intention, was definitively redefined in China to adjust it to an ideology that would legitimize Chinese authorities’ cultural control over ethnic minorities. The heritagization of the genealogy writing tradition of the Chinese Sibe ethnic group as an integral part of this process, promotes the nation-building aspirations of powerholders. Taking the case study of an unpublished book as its starting point, this article examines the role performed by Sibe intellectuals in influencing how ‘common Sibe people’ think about their genealogy writing ‘heritage.’ It explores this process in its historicity with a focus on the textual strategies adopted by Sibe intellectuals who had to adjust to particular political and socio-cultural contexts.
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