Abstract: As social changes in southwest China characterized by marketization and urbanization intensify, the tension between the dispute-settling mechanism of the minority ethnic groups and the strategy of rule of law becomes increasingly obvious. It is imperative that such mechanism be innovated and legalized. When analyzing the rationality of and the contradiction within the dispute-settling mechanism of the minority ethnic groups, a dialectical attitude is desirable. Common practices of the above mentioned ethnic groups should be analyzed and discriminated to identify more aspects in agreement with the laws of the State, so as to promote legalization of the aforesaid mechanism and construct a diversified dispute-settling mechanism to suit the needs of social governance of southwest China in the New Era.

Key words: social change, minority ethnic group of southwest China, mediation, legalization, transform