DISCOVER CHINESE MINORITIES

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DISCOVER CHINESE MINORITIES - ZHUANG PEOPLE

Ethnic minorities in China are the non-Han Chinese population in the People's Republic of China (PRC). China officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority.

Picture source: Wikipedia; Ethnolinguistic map of China

The Chinese-language term for ethnic minority is 少数民族; shǎoshù mínzú; literally: 'minority race'. In early PRC documents, such as the 1982 constitution, the word "minzu" was translated as "nationality", following the Soviet Union’s use of Marxist – Leninist jargon. However, the Chinese word does not imply that ethnic minorities in China are not Chinese citizens, as in fact they are. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, governmental and scholarly publications have retranslated "minzu" in the ethnic minority sense into English as "ethnic groups". Some scholars, to be even more precise, use the neologism 族群; zǔqún to unambiguously refer to ethnicity when "minzu" is needed to refer to nationality.

The largest ethnic group, Han, according to the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2010), (updated  this month on https://guides.lib.unc.edu/china_ethnic/statistics),  constitute over 92 % of the total population. The next largest ethnic groups in terms of population include the  Zhuang (16,926,381), Manchu (10,387,958), Hui(10,586,087), Uyghur (10,069,346), Miao (9,426,007), Yi (8,714,393), Tujia (8,353,912), Tibetans (6,282,187), Mongols (5,981,849), Buyei (2,870,034), Yao(2,796,003), and Koreans (1,830,929). Minority populations are growing fast due to their being unaffected by the now ended One Child Policy.

Today we will tell you a little bit about the Zhuang People!

China’s largest minority group (about 17 million), the Zhuang, have persisted through centuries of unification attempts, helping to create the landscape of Guangxi through their unique agricultural practices. Virtually indistinguishable from Han Chinese, they live primarily in western Guangxi Province, where they make up a third of the province's population, and rule their territory through a system based on village chiefs in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. They are closely related to the Bouyei, Maonan and Mulam.
According to historian Huang Xianfan, who was the first scholar to examine the history of the Zhuang people, the Zhuang date back to the Paleolithic period. The first archaeological evidence of the peoples, however, dates to the Warring States period and comes in the form of rock paintings.

According to “Creating the Zhuang” by Katherine Palmer Kaup "The Zhuang are a group of peoples concentrated almost exclusively in western Guangxi and eastern Yunnan, with small patches of communities in eastern Guangxi and western Guangdong…
The peoples of western Guangxi and eastern Yunnan used a variety of terms to describe themselves, which corresponded to smaller ethnic groups that the government now declares are part of the greater Zhuang nation." The Zhuang evolved from Tai-speaking peoples that lived in southern China for centuries and were described by Chinese historians when the Chinese made their first major push into the region in 211 B.C. There is reference to the crushing of a Zhuang uprising in the Tang dynasty (618-907). From that time on the Zhuang have been assimilated by the Han Chinese. They adopted many of their customs and agricultural methods and were governed under the Chinese tusi system. The Zhuang actively supported the Communists in their fight against the Kuomintang.

NAMES AND LANGUAGE

The Zhuang are also known as Buban, Budai, Budong, Bulong, Buman, Bumin, Buna, Bunong, Bupian, Bushuang, Butu, Buyang, Buyue, Gaolan Nongan, Tulao. Among the terms Zhuang people use to describe themselves are Buzhuang, Butu, Bunong, Buman, Buyue, Buyi, Budai and Buna.  After the Communists came to power in 1949, they were unitarily called Zhuang.

The Zhuang speak a Sino-Tibetan language with eight tones. Related to Thai, Dai and Lao, the Zhuang language belongs to the Dai language branch of the Zhuang-Dong language group in the Chinese-Tibetan language family. They have their own written language which first appeared in Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1279). Today their language is written with Chinese characters. The Chinese government helped them standardize their written language. A Latin script was introduced in the 1950s but is not widely used. Mostly the Zhuang language is written with Chinese characters. Zhuang, Tibetan, Uighur and Mongolian are official minority languages that appear on Chinese banknotes.

The old Zhuang written language was based on Chinese characters and was used locally within limited areas mainly to record place names and mountain songs. The Zhuangs wrote in the Han script until 1955, when the central government helped them create a writing system based on the Latin alphabet. The Romanized script has been used in books, magazines and newspapers. About 70 percent of Zhuang can neither read nor speak Mandarin.

HOMELAND

Picture source: Wikipedia; Qiaojian town, a Zhuang town in Long'an County, Guangxi

An estimated 90 percent of Zhuang people live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, located in south China on the border with Vietnam. The area has been a part of China on and off since the country's unification in 221 BC, but it has always been considered a 'wild' province. Guangxi is incredibly popular with international travelers, due in part to its iconic, geologically karstic landscape, which is featured on the RMB20 bill, as well as the cultural shows that some Zhuang perform in their home villages.
The remaining 10 percent of Zhuang people are scattered across the other southern provinces of Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Hunan.

HISTORY

China’s Han majority knew little of the Zhuang before the first emperor, Qin Shihuang, invaded their lands. He and his contemporaries referred to them as the ‘Hundred Yue’, a term which encompassed several ethnic groups, not just the Zhuang. In an attempt to reach Canton, Qin Shihuang built a canal linking the Xiang and Li rivers, inadvertently connecting the Zhuang to the ‘national’ consciousness. Not long after, Sinification was pushed on the Zhuang under the guise of ‘unifying’ the Hundred Yue. The Zhuang pushed back, however, and their culture remained unique.

The Zhuang and their lands continued to be at times part of and at other times separate from the subsequent dynasties until Guangxi’s final designation as an autonomous region in 1958 under the Communists. Its status as an autonomous region means that its local government has more legislative rights than those of the standard provinces.

CULTURE

Cultural singularity includes the Zhuang’s agricultural practices, which consist of the cultivation of wet rice and the use of buffalo and oxen, as well as their architectural style of building houses on pilings instead of directly on the ground. Traditionally, Zhuang people are animists, meaning that they attribute spiritual significance to objects, animals, and places. Along with that, both ancestor worship and sorcery are still practiced by some modern Zhuangs. As mentioned, it is popular for tourists to observe Zhuang cultural shows when in Guangxi, a practice which has revived the use of the bronze drum.

RELIGION

Zhuang religion is similar to Han Chinese religion. It incorporates elements of ancestor worship, Buddhism and Taoism. Zhuang ancestor worship differs in that it embraces kings and mythical and historical heroes and heroines. Most homes have altars where names of ancestors are written on strips of red paper. Important gods include the Mountain Spirit, the Dragon King and She Sheb, the village tutelary spirit. Christian missionaries didn't have much success in Zhuang areas. Zhuang honor ancestors during Chinese New Year and the Festival of the Dead in the summer. Their biggest celebration is Antiphonal Singing Day.

The Zhuang mostly revere nature, natural spirits and gods and their ancestors. Many Zhuang family homes have shrines for worshipping their ancestors. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, both Buddhism and Daoism spread in Zhuang areas and many Buddhist and Taoist temples were built. In 1858 Catholicism was introduced to the Zhuang people, and in 1862 Protestantism was introduced, but neither made much headway. In recent times, Both Catholicism and Protestantism spread again to the Zhuang community.

Picture source: Culture Trip; Zhuang Musicians

According to the Chinese government: “The Zhuangs are polytheists, worshipping among other things giant rocks, old trees, high mountains, land, dragons, snakes, birds and ancestors. Taoism has also had a deep influence on the Zhuangs since the Tang Dynasty. In the old days, there were semi-professional Taoist priests in the countryside, and religious rites cost a lot of money. Foreign missionaries came to the area in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but their influence was limited to cities and towns.
Female diviners treat sickness and communicate with ancestors while in trances. Male shaman are skilled at reading the Zhuang written language. They maintain the texts with histories, songs and myths; are consulted for advise on various matters; and preside over funerals, local festivals and the sacrifices of chicken, oxen and other animals, a portion of which is given to them as a fee. In some places Taoist priests perform the same duties as shaman and also read fortunes, perform feng shui and exorcize ghosts.

ZHUANG FESTIVALS

Picture source: China Daily; Zhuang People celebrating Longduan Festival

While sharing many festivals with the Hans, the Zhuangs have three important festivals of their own: 1) the Devil Festival, 2) the Cattle Soul Festival and 3) the Feasting Festival. The Devil Festival, which falls on the 14th day of on the seventh lunar month (usually in August on the Western calendar), is an important occasion next only to the Spring Festival. On that day, every family would prepare chicken, duck and five-colored glutinous rice to be offered as sacrifices to ancestors and ghosts. The Cattle Soul Festival usually follows the spring ploughing, when every family would carry a basketful of steamed five-colored glutinous rice and a bundle of fresh grass to the cattle pen. After a brief sacrificial rite, they would feed the cattle with the grass and half of the rice. They believe that the cattle have lost their souls because of the whipping during the spring ploughing and that the ritual would call back the lost souls. The Feasting Festival is celebrated only by people who live near the Sino-Vietnamese border. Legend has it that a group of Zhuang soldiers, having repulsed the French invaders in the late 19th century, returned in late January and missed the Spring Festival. To pay tribute to them and celebrate the victory, their neighbors prepared a sumptuous feast for them.

Information sources
factsanddetails.com
theculturetrip.com
guides.lib.unc.edu
Wikipedia