Intra-regional social systems: cases of the Maritime Silk Road around the South China Sea Rim

• Published in: International journal of anthropology and ethnology 2017-12, Vol.1 (1), p.1-18, Article 7
• Main Author: Ma, Guoqing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anthropology; Ethnic groups; Ethnicity; Ethnography; Humans; Inter/intra-regional social systems; Maritime Silk Road; Regional studies; Regions; Social Anthropology; Social interaction; Social Sciences; Social systems; South China Sea Rim; Structural Anthropology; The belt and road initiative
• ISSN: 2366-1003; 2366-1003
• DOI: 10.1186/s41257-017-0005-8

The South China Sea Rim is a core area of the Maritime Silk Road, ranging from South and Southwest China to Southeast Asia. It has developed a cultural landscape in which all parties are interdependent through very complex processes of ethnic communication and social interaction. In this temporal-spatial process, the cultural exchanges occurring in this area are not only shaping the cultural ecologies of those involved but also integrating their societies. The networked inter/inter-regional social systems lay a methodological foundation on which the South China Sea Rim is dealt with as a whole. These social systems can be defined as a social unit, transcending the lower levels of family, community, ethnic group, nation and transnational region and making up a significant component of the global society. This concept presents a new research pathway to the interpretation of “community of a shared future for mankind” and the “Belt and Road Initiative”.