Zhuang customs and culture

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The Zhuang have a rich variety of customs and culture.

Contents

Festivals

"Sam Nyied Sam" celebrations: Zhuang pole dance Zhuang dance.jpg
"Sam Nyied Sam" celebrations: Zhuang pole dance

"Sam Nyied Sam" the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the Chinese lunar calendar is one of the main festivals of the Zhuang celebrated by singing, dancing, games, and special food. At this time traditionally young men and women sing antiphonal songs to each other.


Stories

The Zhuang peoples of Yunnan and Guangxi have a rich tradition of written and unwritten stories. [1] Zhuang folk stories often take the form of songs. There are various folk tales, myths, legends, and historical poems and chants. For over one thousand years they have used Sawndip to write a wide variety of literature, including folk songs, operas, poems, scriptures, letters, contracts, and court documents. [2]

Zhuang bronze drum Bronze drum with frogs.jpg
Zhuang bronze drum
Zhuang stilt houses Zhuangzu shanzhan.jpg
Zhuang stilt houses

There are many stories that are a thousand years old, or older. One, a fairy tale which has attracted much attention in recent years, is "The orphan girl and the rich girl." It is an early version of the story Cinderella (Zhuang "Dahgyax Dahbengz" Dah - indicates female, gyax means orphan and bengz means rich). It is found in Zhuang opera scripts. A 9th century Chinese translation of a Zhuang story entitled Ye Xian was written in the Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang [3] and the Sawndip versions we now have are quite similar. Analysis suggests these versions took shape no later than the 10th century. [4] "The house-raising song" has been sung for over a thousand years. [5] This song has two parts. The first part describes the construction of a traditional stilt house, and the second part describes customs to ward off evil from the new home. [6] "The Origin of the Bronze Drum" tells of the origins of bronze drums that are like "stars" (such drums have a star in the middle of them), that they are as many as the stars of the sky and like stars can ward off evil spirits. [7]

The Zhuang have their own scriptures written in poetical form such as the Baeu Rodo about the creation of the world. [8] [9]

As well as indigenous stories many stories from other peoples such as the Han Chinese have become part of the Zhuang literary tradition. Whilst the original Chinese opera of "The Legend of Wenlong" has been lost, the story has been preserved in Zhuang texts. [10]

Folk arts

Zhuang folk arts include music and dance: [1]

Music

Dances

There are many types of Zhuang dance.

Handicrafts

Traditional Zhuang folk handicrafts includes the following. [1]

Religion

Most Zhuang follow traditional animist practices known as Mo or Shigong which include elements of ancestor worship. [11] The Mo have their own sutra and professional priests known as Bu Mo who traditionally use chicken bones for divination. In Mo, the creator is known as Bu Luotuo and the universe is tripartite, with all things composed from the three elements of heaven, earth, and water.

There are also a number of Buddhists, Taoists, and Christians among the Zhuang. [12]

Language

The Zhuang languages are a group of mutually unintelligible languages of the Tai family, heavily influenced by nearby dialects of Chinese. [13] The Standard Zhuang language is based on a northern dialect but few people learn it, therefore Zhuang people from different dialect areas use one of a number of Chinese varieties to communicate with each other. [14] According to a 1980s survey, 42% of Zhuang people are monolingual in Zhuang, while 55% are bilingual in Zhuang and Chinese. Whilst according to some semi-official sources "In Guangxi, compulsory education is bilingual in Zhuang and Chinese, with a focus on early Zhuang literacy. [13] " in fact only small percentage of schools teach written Zhuang. Zhuang is traditionally written using logograms based on Chinese characters ("Sawndip"), and Standard Zhuang, which was written in Latin script, with a few added Cyrillic letters for tone, between 1957 and 1982, and is now officially written using only Latin letters, even though Sawndip are still more often used in less formal domains. [15] Its Wikipedia is za.wikipedia.org.

Traditional medicine

Assorted Zhuang snacks, incl. colored sticky rice and Zhuang style zongzi. Zhuang cuisine.jpg
Assorted Zhuang snacks, incl. colored sticky rice and Zhuang style zongzi.

Zhuang folk medicine has a history of over one thousand years. In Sawndip texts thousands of Zhuang medical terms have been identified and some terms have entered into Chinese medical dictionaries, and in Southern China some hospitals have Zhuang Medicine departments. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhuang people</span> Tai-speaking ethnic group of Southern China

The Zhuang are a Tai-speaking ethnic group who mostly live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. Some also live in the Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Hunan provinces. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. With the Bouyei, Nùng, Tày, and other Northern Tai speakers, they are sometimes known as the Rau or Rao people. Their population, estimated at 18 million people, makes them the largest minority in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhuang languages</span> Various Tai languages used by the Zhuang people of southern China

The Zhuang languages are any of more than a dozen Tai languages spoken by the Zhuang people of Southern China in the province of Guangxi and adjacent parts of Yunnan and Guangdong. The Zhuang languages do not form a monophyletic linguistic unit, as northern and southern Zhuang languages are more closely related to other Tai languages than to each other. Northern Zhuang languages form a dialect continuum with Northern Tai varieties across the provincial border in Guizhou, which are designated as Bouyei, whereas Southern Zhuang languages form another dialect continuum with Central Tai varieties such as Nung, Tay and Caolan in Vietnam. Standard Zhuang is based on the Northern Zhuang dialect of Wuming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture</span> Autonomous prefecture in Yunnan, Peoples Republic of China

Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in southeastern Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China, and is the easternmost prefecture-level division of the province. It borders Baise, Guangxi, to the east, Vietnam's Hà Giang Province to the south for 438 kilometres (272 mi), Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture to the west, and Qujing to the north.

Zhuang studies is an interdisciplinary intellectual field concerned with the Zhuang people – their history, anthropology, religion, politics, languages, and literature. The majority of such research is being carried out in the People's Republic of China. Huang Xianfan (黄现璠) is considered by many to be the father of Zhuang studies.

Buyang is a Kra language spoken in Guangnan and Funing counties, Yunnan Province, China by the Buyang people. It is important to the reconstruction of the hypothetical macrofamily Austro-Tai as it retains the disyllabic roots characteristic of Austronesian languages. Examples are "to die", "eye", "head", and "eight".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funing County, Yunnan</span> County in Yunnan, China

Funing County is located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in the east of Yunnan province, China. It is the easternmost county-level division of Yunnan, bordering Guangxi to the north, east and southeast, and Vietnam's Hà Giang Province to the south.

The Kra languages are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family spoken in southern China and in northern Vietnam.

The General History of the Zhuang Nationality is a history book by Huang Xianfan and his students Huang Zengqing and Zhang Yimin on Zhuang history. Published in 1988 after the first draft was completed in 1981, it covers the history, culture and language of the Zhuang ethnic group, one of China's 56 ethnic groups. This book covers a period from the presumed date of the emergence of the Zhuang ethnic group to the modern era, including prehistory and antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dai Zhuang language</span> Tai language spoken in China and Vietnam

Dai Zhuang or Thu Lao is a Tai language spoken in Yunnan, China and northern Vietnam. In China is it spoken in Yanshan, Wenshan, Maguan, Malipo, Guangnan counties of Wenshan Prefecture. It is also spoken in Honghe Prefecture. The largest concentrations are in Wenshan and Yanshan counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nong Zhuang language</span> Tai language spoken in Yunnan, China

Nong Zhuang is a Tai language spoken mainly in Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan, China. In Wenshan Prefecture, it is spoken in Yanshan, Guangnan, Wenshan, Maguan, Funing, Xichou, and Malipo counties, and also in Honghe Prefecture and Vietnam. The heaviest concentrations relative to other Zhuang groups are in Xichou and Malipo counties.

The Buyang people are an officially unrecognized Kra ethnic group living in Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan and Napo County, Guangxi in China. They are closely related to the Laha, Qabiao, Gelao, and Lachi. The Buyang language is spoken, although many Buyang are now shifting to Zhuang and Southwestern Mandarin. In Yunnan, the Buyang are classified by the Chinese government as Zhuang, while they are classified as Yao in Guangxi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Tai languages</span> Tai language branch of China and Southeast Asia

The Northern Tai languages are an established branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. They include the northern Zhuang languages and Bouyei of China, Tai Mène of Laos and Yoy of Thailand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Standard Zhuang</span> Standard variety and register of the Zhuang Tai (Kra-Dai) language cluster

Standard Zhuang is the official standardized form of the Zhuang languages, which are a branch of the Northern Tai languages. Its pronunciation is based on that of the Yongbei Zhuang dialect of Shuangqiao Town in Wuming District, Guangxi with some influence from Fuliang, also in Wuming District, while its vocabulary is based mainly on northern dialects. The official standard covers both spoken and written Zhuang. It is the national standard of the Zhuang languages, though in Yunnan a local standard is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sawgoek</span> Mythological ancient script of the Zhuang people of southern China

Sawgoek or sawva was a mythological ancient script mentioned in the Zhuang creation epic Baeu Rodo. The primordial god Baeu Ro was said to have brought sawgoek containing four thousand glyphs along with fire to the Zhuang people. However, in their unfamiliarity with fire, the people stored the fire under a thatched roof, causing the house to catch on fire. The sawgoek was consumed in the ensuing conflagration, and knowledge of writing was lost. Some Zhuang scholars believe that this myth stems from a vague remembrance of sawgoek in the collective consciousness of the Zhuang people long after knowledge of the writing system had been forgotten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mo (religion)</span> Religion of most Zhuang people

Mo or Moism is the religion of most Zhuang people, the largest ethnic minority of China. It has a large presence in Guangxi. While it has a supreme god, the creator Bu Luotuo (布洛陀), numerous other deities are venerated as well. It has a three-element-theory. Mo is animistic, teaching that spirits are present in everything.

"The Legend of Wenlong" is an ancient folk story of Han Chinese origin, that was early on adopted by several people groups in Southern China including the Zhuang. It is also known by the name of the associated Chinese opera Liu Wenlong and the Water-chestnut Mirror. It is now a traditional song of the Zhuang people that is sung at the Dragon Boat Festival in some places.

Swandip literature consists of folk songs, operas, poems, scriptures, letters, contracts, and court documents written over one thousand years in the Sawndip language. The Zhuang people produced this literature. The works include both indigenous works and translations from Chinese, fact, fiction, religious, and secular materials. It gives insight into the life of the Zhuang and the people they have had contact with over two millennia. Only a small percentage has been published.

This article lists the various Zhuang customs and culture of Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sawndip</span> Ideographic writing system of the Zhuang language

Zhuang characters or Sawndip are logograms derived from Chinese characters and has been used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi and Yunnan provinces in China to write the Zhuang languages for more than one thousand years. The script is used not only by the Zhuang but also by the closely related Bouyei in Guizhou, China; the Tay in Vietnam; and the Nùng in Yunnan, China, and Vietnam. Sawndip is a Zhuang word that means "immature characters". The Zhuang word for Chinese characters used in the Chinese language is sawgun ; gun is the Zhuang term for the Han Chinese. Even now, in traditional and less formal domains, Sawndip is more often used than alphabetical scripts.

Nanning–Kunming high-speed railway is a high-speed railway connecting Nanning and Kunming, respectively the capitals of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province. It has a total length of 715.8 km (444.8 mi) of electrified double-track railway, built to the Grade 1 standard. Positioned as part of China's "long-term railway network plan", to improve the layout and the development of South-Western China with critical infrastructure, it was Yunnan Province's first high-speed transport corridor to the sea. With future Pan-Asian railways to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam planned or under construction, this railway will be seen as a crucial link between the economic powerhouse of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone and Indochina under the One Belt-One Road initiative.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Johnson & Wang 2008
  2. 壮文论集 Anthology of Written Zhuang by 梁庭望 Liang Tingwang 2007 Published by 中央民族大学出版社 Central Minorities University Press pages 153-158 ISBN   9787811084368
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  4. 壮族文学发展史 (上册)by 周作秋 page 416
  5. Liao Songs of Pingguo Zhuang Songs of March page 60 ISBN   978-7-5495-1097-9
  6. Liao Songs of Pingguo Zhuang Songs of March pages 56 ISBN   978-7-5495-1097-9
  7. 广西民间故事(二) pages 129-133
  8. David Holm, Recalling Lost Souls: The Baeu Rodo Scriptures, Tai Cosmogonic Texts from Guangxi in Southern China, White Lotus Press, Bangkok, 2004. ISBN   978-974-480-051-0.
  9. Luo Yongxian. 2008. "Zhuang." In Diller, Anthony, Jerold A. Edmondson, and Yongxian Luo eds. 2008. The Tai-Kadai Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press.pp.317-377, p.317. ISBN   978-0-7007-1457-5.
  10. 壮族长诗《唱文龙》源流及其变异 The origin and variations of the Zhuang long poem "Song of Wenlong by 罗汉田 Luo Hantian published in 《民族文学研究》 Ethnic Literature Research 1984 Volume 2 pages 123-133
  11. Cen Xianan(2003). On research to Zhuang's Mo Religion Belief. "Economic and Social Development",no.12. p.23-26.(in Chinese)
  12. Huang Guiqiu(2008). Zhuang 'beliefs and cultural characteristics of the Mo ceremony. Wenshan: "Wenshan College",no.4. p.35-38.in Guangxi.(in Chinese)
  13. 1 2 Li, Xulian; Huang, Quanxi (2004). "The Introduction and Development of the Zhuang Writing System". In Zhou, Minglang; Sun, Hongkai (eds.). Language Policy in the People's Republic of China: Theory and Practice Since 1949. Springer. p. 240.
  14. Muysken, Pieter (2008). From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics. John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 226, 247.
  15. 《广西壮族人文字使用现状及文字社会声望调查研究》 "Research into survey of the scripts used by Zhuang in Guangxi" 唐未平 Tang Weiping http://www.doc88.com/p-644582398739.html
  16. 《壮文论集》 梁庭望 pages 220,221 中央民族大学出版社 2007 ISBN   9787811084368