Access and sampling

Based on my prior experience working in the area, it was relatively straightforward for me to gain good access to Jiuzhaigou. In Jiuzhaigou, I had several close contacts. Apart from this, I had friends and relatives working and living in Jiuzhaigou and surrounding areas. Two friends are residents of Jiuzhaigou and Tibetan Bon believers. As Jiuzhaigou is not open to outsiders, I needed to apply for a permit from JAB. I presented JAB the information sheet for my research, my student identity and the confirmation letter of my scholarship status from the Chinese Scholarship Council. I also verbally introduced myself and explained my research. I was accompanied by my cousin to process the whole application, which helped make the process faster. Then I was issued a permit allowing me to freely enter Jiuzhaigou during my fieldwork. I was asked to directly

contact the Department of Science and Research of JAB if I had any problems and inquiries in my fieldwork. In exchange I was asked to work on a small cultural planning project. I spent seven days in the department conducting this project, during which I established close relationships with some JAB officials and locals. Through these acquaintances, I was introduced to more local people, monks and officials.

In relation to Anbei Village, I did not have prior acquaintances with people there before the fieldwork. I asked two of my participants in Jiuzhaigou to introduce me to their friends in Anbei and in Gami Monastery. They did so, and I was treated in a friendly and welcoming way. I succeeded in finding a local family to live with. Through this family, I had opportunities to get to know more local people and to attend local events. This snowball method is potentially well suited for gaining trust of the potential interviewees, particularly when aspects of the research can be sensitive.

However, there were also various difficulties in being fully accepted by the local people. Firstly, my Tibetan dialect differs from theirs. This created some distance between us. In order to be better embraced by the community, I learnt some local expressions and used them in my conversations with local people. It appeared that this was a successful strategy. Secondly, during the fieldwork I attended many get-togethers with local people to establish rapport. Social relations sometimes are established through close interactions. To be accepted by the young people, I was invited by my friends to attend informal settings of local people, such as dinners and karaoke parties. Sometimes local people’s hospitality made drinking (barley wine or beer) unavoidable (as it would have been perceived as rude to decline). Thirdly, political tensions made them cautious to talk to any stranger. As I mentioned in Chapter 3, it is not encouraged that religious issues be talked about openly in China. In Tibet, the religious professionals (i.e. monks and nuns) are the main force in support of independence. Cases of self-immolation conducted in the name of Tibetan independence and appeals for the return of the Dalai Lama made religious topics even more sensitive to discuss. In order to alleviate their suspicion, I always stressed the social scientific side of my research and my interest in Tibetan culture rather than the issue of Tibetan independence. Considering my safety and my participants’ safety, I rarely initiated talk about issues such as self-immolations (which had not taken place in Anbei or Jiuzhaigou) with my interviewees.

The sample of informants I developed included Bon monks and Bon laypeople living in the research sites. They provided direct insight into their daily lives and religious practices. In order to obtain a full picture of the same “reality”, different people’s perspectives were considered based on characteristics such as gender, age, and occupation. Other people who work or temporarily live in Jiuzhaigou and Anbei, such as

tourists, government officials, migrating monks, Han Chinese etc. were also investigated. They provided some background information and their opinions about religious practices and beliefs in the study areas.

When sampling participants, I sought to include both men and women of diverse ages. Using purposive sampling approach rather than random sampling approach was largely determined by my research concern on intergenerational transmission of religion and the nature of different patterns of religious practices and beliefs between people with different genders, generations and occupations. For example, local people who work in JAB might have different attitudes toward tourism and religion, because of their particular education background, personal interests and relations to government. Although it was not a random sample, my participant observation helped corroborate the findings from the interviews.

Specifically, I have conducted 71 semi-structured interviews in Jiuzhaigou and 26 semi- structured interviews in Anbei from three generations (see Table 4.1; I break these down in greater detail in Section 4.3.2). Originally I had hoped to capture generational change by conducting interviews based on the family unit, which means to interview a grandparent, a parent and a child from each family. In practice, however, this proved to be difficult because firstly there are not many families with three generations and secondly for various reasons (language, shyness, unwillingness etc.) it was hard to get all three generations together to participate. Thus, I instead included a range of younger, middle, and older generation in the sample to explore the generational nature of change. This strategy meant that people who did not live in a household with grandchild, parent, and grandparent present were not excluded, nor were people who wanted to participate excluded if other members of the family were not interested, willing or able to be interviewed.

Table 4.1 Interviewees by location, gender and generation group

Jiuzhaigou

Lay women: 23

Older: 4; middle: 8; younger: 11

Lay men: 28

Older: 4; middle: 9; younger: 15

Monks: 15

Older: 1; middle: 8; younger: 6

Government officials: 5

Anbei

Lay women: 7

Older: 2; middle: 2; younger: 3

Lay men: 7

Older: 2; middle: 2; younger: 3

Monks: 10

Middle: 4; younger: 6 (including 3 young novices)

Government officials: 2