In this thesis, I explore how a floating population, "Shuishang" (people floating on water), construct themselves as a marginal group in Yuecheng, a small town along the Guangdong's West River in contemporary China....[ Read more ]

In this thesis, I explore how a floating population, "Shuishang" (people floating on water), construct themselves as a marginal group in Yuecheng, a small town along the Guangdong's West River in contemporary China.

The water network along the West River in South China has given people the opportunities to earn their living on the water for a long period of time. People engage in fishing and water transportation of goods and passengers. These people have built a regional network by linking the upper and lower reach, and among the branches of the West River. However, in the view of the land people, people on water are poor, crude and disgusting; they are treated as migratory and dangerous outsiders. Even through the social and cultural backgrounds of these floating population are not the same, they were considered as one homogeneous marginal population. In Yuecheng, religious ritual celebrating the birthday of Longmu (Dragon Mother) are also used as symbols to reinforce social status. The "Shuishang" people are excluded from economic as well as cultural resources.