Research on the fertility culture of the Dai ethnic group in China

Abstract

"During the 20th century, Dai people lived a traditional farm life, away from industry and business. However, there is no evidence that they bore such fertility characteristics of rural society as pursing high birthrate or favoring more boys, either from historical population data of the early 20th century or census data of Dai Nationality since the late 20th century. As for the reasons, firstly, the Dai society in the 20th century was largely influenced by Buddhism. Dai people learned from Theravada Buddhist philosophy the values of "treating all beings as equal", "taking things as they are" and "keeping oneself from greedy", and developed their communal values of life on "equality", "mutual respect", "giving", "following nature", "self-discipline" and "indifference". Secondly, blessed with pleasant climate and rich land, Dai families could get bountiful returns with a few family members farming, so that they cared little about seeking material comforts, but paid more attention to pursing spiritual enjoyment. It is adequate material resources, Buddhist values and property system that made Dai people have the traditions of helping each other and respecting the old, and shaped their fertility concepts of "gender equality" and "more children, more bitter mothers", so they do not pursue a high birthrate or have a preference for boy babies. In other words, the traditionally low reproductive behavior of Dai people results from their excellent living environment, Buddhist concept on fertility and equal right of inheritance. Based on the analysis of the formation mechanism of traditionally low reproductive behavior of Dai people living in rural society, this book establishes an interpretative framework by adopting an anthropological concept, cultural relativism, and a psychological concept, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and gives a deep thinking about the diversity of human fertility behavior"--