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The Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is a multi-disciplinary and comprehensive research institution.In terms of disciplinary arrangement，the institute covers Marxist studies，history，linguistics，ethnology，socio-cultural anthropology，economics，religion，historical records，politics，law，international relations，video anthropology，folklore，and ancient scripts，as well as some special learning like Mongol studies，Tibetology and Turk studies. The disciplinary diversification forms the multi-disciplinary，comprehensive feature of the institute. All these disciplines have one thing in common，that is，they all study minzu（a general word in Chinese for people，ethnos，nationality，nation and ethnic group）phenomenon and their evolutionary law in the human society，with the emphasis on minzu communities in different historical stages and with different meanings，as well as on the interaction between various minzus. The institute is named with the term of ethnology and anthropology for the purpose to build a common academic platform for all disciplines it involves，to realize the mutual complementarity and integration of all the disciplines，to form the advantage of the comprehensive studies，and to foster the development of ethnology and anthropology in China.
The minzu phenomenon and the problems resulted from the phenomenon have been among the most widespread，most complicated，most prolonged and most important subjects in the human society. China is an Oriental country with ancient civilization that never discontinued. Also，it is a unitary country with ethnic plurality. In the course of several thousand years，the ethnic interaction was not only a social highlight in each historical dynasty，but also a motivator for the formation and continuous development of a unitary country with ethnic plurality. So，the minzu phenomenon and ethnic interaction in China's long history of several thousand years provide us with a full ancient model for understanding the minzu phenomenon and their law in the human society.
In China's Pre-Qin historical literature，there is a term of “wu fang zhi min”，literally，five-direction peoples. It comes from the following paragraph：
The material used for shelter must vary with different climate，cold or warm，dry or moist，and with different topography，such as wide valley or large river. And people living in different environment have different customs. They may have different character，behaving way，dieting habit，instruments and clothes. It is proper to civilize the people without changing their customs and to improve their administrative system without changing those suitable to them. Wu fang zhi min（people inhabiting in five directions），either in middle plain or in frontier，all have their own character，which can not be transformed. People in the east，known as Yi，grow long hair hanging down over the neck and have tattoos，and some of them have their food without cooking. People in the south，known as Man，tattoo their foreheads and cross their feet when sleeping，and some of them have their food without cooking. People in the west，known as Rong，grow long hair hanging down over the neck and wear pelt，and some of them do not have grain as their food. People in the north，known as Di，wear feather and live in caves，and some of them do not have grain as their food. Both people in middle plain and the Yi，Man，Rong and Di have their own shelter，diet，dress，instruments and carriers. The people in five directions can not understand each other and may have different desires. The way to make each other's ideas and desires understood is called ji in the east，xiang in the south，didi in the west and yi in the north.（cited from Liji，an ancient Chinese book.）
This may be regarded as the earliest record with ethnographical sense in China.
The citation suggests a lot for us to understand today's minzu phenomenon. For one thing，the cultural difference that usually constitutes the ethnic feature has its natural foundation in ecological environment. Human groups living in different ecological environment，like different climate（cold or warm，dry or moist）and topography（wide valley or large river），all depend upon their local resources and thus may have different customs. As mentioned above，the people in five directions varied in shelter，diet，dress and instrument，and people speaking different languages with different values can be communicated only through the medium of translation. Also，here is displayed the ancient political wisdom to deal with the relations of the people in five directions，namely，to civilize the people without changing their customs and to improve their administrative system without changing those suitable to them. So it shows that China is a country with ethnological tradition and rich ethnographical resources.
Now，old time has passed and the situation has been changed. Today，as an independent member of the international community，China is promoting the modernization with Chinese characteristics in order to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This development has revealed the prospect of the modern minzu process. And at the same time，it will also provide a pattern，that is，the successful example in which China deals with the minzu problem，for the minzu phenomenon and their evolution of the human society in the modern time. Of course，China still remains at the initial stage of socialism. So far as the minzu problem is concerned，we are now faced with not only the historical task of common development and prosperity for the 56 nationalities in China，but also the ethnically plural，complicated world in the time of globalization.
The ethnic problem in broad sense still remains to be a subject to which we should pay much attention，either in the management of internal affairs or in the merging to the international community. In contemporary China，the fundamental feature of or the widespread response to the ethnic problem is how to promote the economic and cultural development. This is determined by the current developmental stage as well as the fundamental contradiction of the contemporary Chinese society. At the same time，we are confronted with certain difficult problems，such as Taiwan's attempt for “independence”，the problem of the Dalai clique，the issue of “East Turkistan”，the international terrorism，as well as the influence of ethnic problems both in our neighboring countries and all over the world in general. The problems in the two larger respects put forth our duty-bound tasks for research. To perform this duty，we should make our efforts in many aspects，among which，disciplinary construction serves as the most important guarantee.
Disciplinary construction calls for scientific spirit，only with which can a discipline realize its development. China has its academic traditions of long standing，and a number of academic domains developed in the history. Since the influence of the Western learning went eastward，Western norm of science has been introduced and the disciplinary division in modern sense gradually came into being in China. And it is just in this process that ethnology and anthropology acquired development to large extent. Since the late 1970s when China began to take reforms and open up to the outside world，new development and remarkable achievement have been made in China's philosophy and social sciences through the exchange with foreign academia. The Party and the State highly appreciate the irreplaceable role of philosophy and social sciences in understanding the world，passing on civilization，innovating the theory，consulting for government and educating the young，and serving for the society.
However，the full play of the role of philosophy and social sciences involves many factors. And in this respect，disciplinary construction is of importance，such as in the guiding thought，fundamental concepts and categories，disciplinary theories，research methods and academic norm. The research achievements that represent these fundamental factors will not only be of vital importance in promotion of disciplinary construction，but also make up the indispensable inherent conditions for prospering and fostering philosophy and social sciences. The launch of the construction project for prior disciplines at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is a significant move for further prospering and fostering philosophy and social sciences. And the Series of the Construction Project for Prior Disciplines at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences our institute has put out is just an attempt to carry out the significant move.
As mentioned above，our institute is a multi-disciplinary and comprehensive research institution. Since the discipline adjustment and research department restructuring，most disciplines in the institute，such as ethnic theory，ethnic history，ethnic linguistics，phonetics and computational linguistics，ethnology（socio-cultural anthropology）and world ethnic-national studies，have been brought into the construction project for prior disciplines. So，the series and the content involved reflect the feature of multi-disciplines，too.Placing emphasis both on basic and applied studies，the series reflects recent research achievements either in the unit of a discipline or in a special topic. In accordance with the requirement from the agreement on the construction project for prior disciplines at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences，our institute will complete in the next few years a series of research projects both with important theoretical value and actual significance. So，the series mainly reflects the academic products at the current phase.
In 2003，China succeeded in bidding for the host for the 2008 Conference of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences（IUAES）. This will be a significant developmental opportunity，not only to China's ethnology and anthropology，but to ethno-national studies in general as well. Also，it will be an opportunity of widespread dialogue and unprecedented exchange with ethnologists and anthropologists from various countries in the world. At the same time，however，it means a challenge. We need to exhibit the developmental achievements of the nationalities in China，and moreover，we need to exhibit plenty of striking research achievements with a high level. Therefore，it will be the important task of China's ethnology and anthropology in the next few years to strengthen the disciplinary construction，integrate the disciplinary resources of traditional ethno-national studies，and make full academic preparation. In this sense，the publication of the series in succession can be regarded to some extent as the academic preparation made by our institute for the coming congress of IUAES.
Finally，we appreciate very much the vigorous support and sincere assistance of the Social Sciences Literature Press to the publication of the series. And we also expect the attention and criticism from the readers.
June 2004