Zhuang people

The Zhuang people (Chinese: 壮族; pinyin: Zhuàngzú; Zhuang: Bouxcuengh) are a Tai-speaking East Asian 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 Buyi, Tay–Nùng and other northern Tai speakers, they are sometimes known as the Rau, or Rao. Their population, estimated at 18 million people, makes them the largest minority in China.

Zhuang people
壮族
Bouxcuengh
Zhuang people in ethnic clothes, Guangnan, 2008
Total population
18 million
Regions with significant populations
 China (Particularly Guangxi)
Languages
Zhuang languages, Cantonese, Mandarin, Pinghua
Religion
Indigenous Zhuang Shigongism (Moism)
Minority Christianity, Buddhism and Taoism
Related ethnic groups
Buyei
Tày, Tai/Dai and Nung (Vietnam)
Zhuang people
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese壮族
Traditional Chinese壯族 or 僮族[1]
Hanyu PinyinZhuàngzú
Sawndip autonym
Chinese佈僮
Hanyu PinyinBùzhuàng
Zhuang name
ZhuangBouxcuengh (pronounced /pou˦˨ ɕueŋ˧/)

Chinese character names

The Chinese character used for the Zhuang people has changed several times. Their autonym, "Cuengh" in Standard Zhuang, was originally written with the graphic pejorative Zhuàng 獞 (or tóng, referring to a variety of wild dog[2]). Chinese characters typically combine a semantic element or radical and a phonetic element. John DeFrancis calls Zhuàng 獞, with the "dog radical" 犭 and a tóng 童 phonetic, an ethnic slur and describes how the People's Republic of China removed it.[3] In 1949, after the Chinese civil war, the logograph 獞 was officially replaced with a different graphic pejorative, Zhuàng 僮 (or tóng "child; boy servant"), with the "human radical" 亻and the same phonetic. Later, during the standardization of simplified Chinese characters, Zhuàng 僮 was changed to a completely different character Zhuàng 壮 (meaning "strong; robust").

Customs and culture
Main article: Zhuang customs and culture

Language

The Zhuang languages are a group of mutually unintelligible languages of the Tai family, heavily influenced by nearby varieties of Chinese.[4] The Standard Zhuang language is based on a northern dialect, but few people learn it. Therefore, Zhuang people from different dialect areas use Chinese to communicate with each other.[5] According to a 1980s survey, 42% of Zhuang people were monolingual in Zhuang, while 55% were 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,"[4] only a small percentage of schools teach written Zhuang. Zhuang has been written using logograms based on Chinese characters ("Sawndip") for over 1,000 years. Standard Zhuang, the official alphabetical script, was introduced in 1957, and in 1982 the Cyrillic letters were changed to Latin letters. However, the traditional character-based script is more commonly used in less formal domains[6] and in June 2017 just over one thousand of these characters were added in Unicode 10.0 .

The Zhuang have their own scriptures written in poetic form such as the Baeu Rodo.[7][8]

Sawndip literature
Main article: Sawndip literature

The literate Zhuang had their own writing system, Sawndip, recording folk songs, operas, poems, scriptures, letters, contracts, and court documents.[9] The works include both entirely indigenous works and translations from Chinese, fact and fiction, religious texts and secular texts.

Names

While most Zhuang people have adopted standard Han Chinese names, some have distinct surnames only found amongst those of Zhuang descent such as "覃" (pinyin: Qín), usually pronounced "Tán".

When comes to places, some village names in China have the suffix "板" (pinyin: bǎn), which means "village" in Zhuang (e.g. 板塘, 板岭乡, 板帽, 板罕).

Religion
Qiaojian town, a Zhuang town in Long'an County, Guangxi

Most Zhuang follow a traditional animist faith known as Shigongism or Moism, which include elements of ancestor worship.[10] The Mo have their own sutra and professional priests known as bu mo who traditionally use chicken bones for divination. In Moism, 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.[11]

Food

Zhuang cuisine includes many salty and sour dishes such as pickled cabbage, pickled vegetables and pork, and dried fish. A common Zhuang drink is "oil tea", tea leaves fried in oil with rice grains brewed and drunk with peanuts or a rice cake.

History

Prehistory
Further information: Austro-Tai languages, Tai peoples, Peopling of Thailand, and Dong Son culture

While Chinese scholarship continues to place the Zhuang–Dong languages among the Sino-Tibetan family, other linguists treat the Tai languages as a separate family. They have been linked with the Austronesian languages, which dispersed from Taiwan after a migration from the mainland. However, the Austro-Tai hypothesis uniting these families is now supported by only a few scholars.[12]

Genetic evidence points out Zhuang possesses a very high frequency of Haplogroup O2 with most of them being subclade O2a making it the most dominant marker, one that they share with Austro-Asiatic. The other portion of O2 belongs to subclade O2a1. Zhuangs have prevalent frequencies of O1 which links them with Austronesian, but O1 is at much lower rate compared to O2a and only slightly higher than O2a1. Haplogroup O2 in Taiwan aborigines is almost completely non-existent, but they exhibit very high frequencies of O1. This suggests that in the event that the Austro-Tai hypothesis is correct, Tai-Kadai speakers would have assimilated mostly Austro-Asiatic people into their population after the separation of Tai and Austronesian.[13]

Chinese empires

The Zhuang are the indigenous peoples of Guangxi, according to Huang Xianfan.[14][15] The Zhuang's origins can be traced back to the paleolithic ancient human,[16] as demonstrated by a large amount of contemporary archaeological evidence.[17][18]

The earliest historical records of the Zhuang so far discovered are among the Rock Paintings of Hua Mountain, dating from to the Warring States period (475–221 BC).

Chinese historical documents are minimal, simply referring to the lands south of the Yangtze as the "Hundred Yue". Qin Shihuang's southern invasions are detailed in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. The initial thrust south of the Nanling proved disastrous, with the general Tu Sui falling in battle around 218 BC, but his engineer Shi Lu completed the construction of the Ling Canal, which linked the Xiang and Li rivers. By 214, Zhao Tuo and Ren Xiao had returned and pacified the Western Valley Yue, opening up Guangxi and the south to the immigration of hundreds of thousands of his subjects.

At the fall of the Qin Dynasty a decade later, Zhao Tuo, using his position as the commander of the Nanhai Commandery, formed a state centered on Panyu called Southern Yue (Nanyue). Alternatively submissive to and independent of Han control, this Kingdom expanded colonization and Sinification under its policy of "Harmonizing and Gathering the Hundred Yue" (和集百越) but was supported by the Zhuang until its collapse in 111 BC.

Zhuang's Women Artists in Longzhou

The Han Dynasty reduced local authority and established military posts at Guilin, Wuzhou, and Yulin. An uprising in Vietnam led by the Trưng sisters was put down in AD 42 by general Ma Yuan, who is recorded as helping to pacify the regions by improving its irrigation networks and improving various Han laws.[19] Despite his efforts, immigration of the Yao from near Changsha unsettled the region.

Under the Tang, the Zhuang moved to support the Tai kingdom of Southern Zhao (Nanzhao) in Yunnan which successfully repulsed imperial armies in 751 and 754. Guangxi was then divided into an area of Zhuang ascendancy west of Nanning and an area of Han ascendancy east of Nanning.

After the collapse of the Southern Zhao, Liu Yan established the Southern Han (Nanhan) in Guangdong. Although this state gained minimal control over the Zhuang, the Southern Han were plagued by instability and annexed by the Song Dynasty in 971.

Harassed by both Song and the Jiaozhi in modern Vietnam, the Zhuang leader Nong Zhigao led a revolt in 1052 for which he is still remembered by the Zhuang people.[20] His independent kingdom was short-lived, however, and the tattooed Song general Di Qing returned Guangxi to China.

The Mongolian Yuan Dynasty established control over the Southern Song following the Battle of Yamen in 1279 and annexed the Kingdom of Dali in Yunnan. Rather than ruling Lingnan as a subject territory, the Mongols established Guangxi as a proper province, but the Miao coming from Guizhou and Hunan kept the region from being totally controlled.

The area continued to be unruly, leading the Ming Dynasty to employ the different groups against one another. One of the bloodiest battles in Zhuang history was that at Big Rattan Gorge against the Yao in 1465, where 20,000 deaths were reported. Parts of Guangxi were ruled by the powerful Cen clan (岑). The Cen were of Zhuang ethnicity and were recognized as tusi or local ruler by the Ming and Qing.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty left the region alone until the imposition of direct rule in 1726, but the 19th century was one of constant unrest. A Yao revolt in 1831 was followed by the Taiping Rebellion and Da Cheng Rebellion in 1850. The execution of St. Auguste Chapdelaine by local officials in Guangxi provoked the Second Opium War in 1858 and subsequent French interference in its interior. Guangxi Army saw a great deal of actions in the 1884 Franco-Chinese War, even Brière de l'Isle was unable to invade their depot at Longzhou,and They was able to repulse the French from China at the Battle of Zhennan Pass, thus won the Franco-Chinese War.

Distribution

By county

(Only includes counties or county-equivalents containing >0.1% of China's Zhuang population.)

Province Prefecture County Zhuang Population % of China's Zhuang Population
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Yongning District (邕宁区) 766,441 4.74%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Laibin City Xingbin District (兴宾区) 600,360 3.71%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Wuming County (武鸣县) 524,912 3.24%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Jingxi County (靖西县) 452,399 2.8%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guigang City Gangbei District (港北区) 424,343 2.62%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Yizhou District (宜州市) 405,372 2.51%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Du'an Yao Autonomous County (都安瑶族自治县) 399,142 2.47%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Liujiang District (柳江区) 383,478 2.37%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Pingguo City (平果市) 350,122 2.16%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Heng County (横县) 323,428 2.0%
Yunnan Province Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Guangnan County (广南县) 315,755 1.95%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Laibin City Xincheng County (忻城县) 315,354 1.95%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Chongzuo City Tiandeng County (天等县) 307,660 1.9%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Chongzuo City Daxin County (大新县) 306,617 1.9%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Chongzuo City Fusui County (扶绥县) 305,369 1.89%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Mashan County (马山县) 302,035 1.87%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Long'an County (隆安县) 301,972 1.87%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Tiandong County (田东县) 301,895 1.87%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Shanglin County (上林县) 297,939 1.84%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Chongzuo City Ningming County (宁明县) 270,754 1.67%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Debao County (德保县) 268,650 1.66%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Dahua Yao Autonomous County (大化瑶族自治县) 261,277 1.61%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Tianyang County (田阳县) 261,129 1.61%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Chongzuo City Jiangzhou District (江州区) 245,714 1.52%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Youjiang District (右江区) 244,329 1.51%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Chongzuo City Longzhou County (龙州县) 242,616 1.5%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Shijiao District (市郊区) 242,049 1.5%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Laibin City Wuxuan County (武宣县) 237,239 1.47%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County (环江毛南族自治县) 231,373 1.43%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Jinchengjiang District (金城江区) 219,381 1.36%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Donglan County (东兰县) 212,998 1.32%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Laibin City Xiangzhou County (象州县) 212,849 1.32%
Yunnan Province Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Funing County (富宁县) 211,749 1.31%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Qinzhou City Qinbei District (钦北区) 209,460 1.29%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Luzhai County (鹿寨县) 208,262 1.29%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Liucheng County (柳城县) 186,720 1.15%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Longlin Various Nationalities Autonomous County (隆林各族自治县) 180,172 1.11%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Fangchenggang City Shangsi County (上思县) 179,837 1.11%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Nandan County (南丹县) 162,944 1.01%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Binyang County (宾阳县) 160,893 0.99%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Xixiangtang District (西乡塘区) 152,606 0.94%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Napo County (那坡县) 151,939 0.94%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Bama Yao Autonomous County (巴马瑶族自治县) 151,923 0.94%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Tianlin County (田林县) 140,507 0.87%
Yunnan Province Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Yanshan County (砚山县) 130,146 0.8%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Luocheng Mulao Autonomous County (罗城仫佬族自治县) 122,803 0.76%
Yunnan Province Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Qiubei County (丘北县) 120,626 0.75%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Qingxiu District (青秀区) 112,402 0.69%
Guangdong Province Dongguan City Urban area (市辖区) 98,164 0.61%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Rong'an County (融安县) 97,898 0.6%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Fengshan County (凤山县) 93,652 0.58%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Laibin City Heshan City (合山市) 93,456 0.58%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guigang City Guiping City (桂平市) 93,271 0.58%
Yunnan Province Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Wenshan City (文山市) 91,257 0.56%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Shijiao District (市郊区) 90,263 0.56%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Xilin County (西林县) 88,935 0.55%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Chongzuo City Pingxiang City (凭祥市) 85,603 0.53%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Fangchenggang City Fangcheng District (防城区) 84,281 0.52%
Guangdong Province Shenzhen City Bao'an District (宝安区) 81,368 0.5%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hechi City Tian'e County (天峨县) 79,236 0.49%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Leye County (乐业县) 71,739 0.44%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Liunan District (柳南区) 63,470 0.39%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Yufeng District (鱼峰区) 62,870 0.39%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Baise City Lingyun County (凌云县) 58,655 0.36%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Qinzhou City Qinnan District (钦南区) 58,571 0.36%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Laibin City Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County (金秀瑶族自治县) 58,539 0.36%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Liubei District (柳北区) 57,290 0.35%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Rongshui Miao Autonomous County (融水苗族自治县) 56,770 0.35%
Yunnan Province Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Maguan County (马关县) 54,856 0.34%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Jiangnan District (江南区) 54,232 0.34%
Guangdong Province Foshan City Nanhai District (南海区) 50,007 0.31%
Guangdong Province Qingyuan City Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County (连山壮族瑶族自治县) 44,141 0.27%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guilin City Lipu County (荔浦县) 41,425 0.26%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hezhou City Babu District (八步区) 40,532 0.25%
Yunnan Province Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture Mengzi City (蒙自市) 37,938 0.23%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning City Xingning District (兴宁区) 36,418 0.22%
Yunnan Province Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Malipo County (麻栗坡县) 33,250 0.21%
Guangdong Province Zhongshan City Urban area (市辖区) 31,666 0.2%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guilin City Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County (龙胜各族自治县) 30,358 0.19%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guilin City Yangshuo County (阳朔县) 29,632 0.18%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guilin City Yongfu County (永福县) 25,564 0.16%
Yunnan Province Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Xichou County (西畴县) 24,212 0.15%
Guangdong Province Shenzhen City Longgang District (龙岗区) 22,708 0.14%
Yunnan Province Qujing City Shizong County (师宗县) 22,290 0.14%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guilin City Pingle County (平乐县) 21,744 0.13%
Guizhou Province Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture Congjiang County (从江县) 21,419 0.13%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Hezhou City Zhongshan County (钟山县) 20,834 0.13%
Guangdong Province Foshan City Shunde District (顺德区) 18,759 0.12%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou City Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County (三江侗族自治县) 18,335 0.11%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Qinzhou City Lingshan County (灵山县) 17,715 0.11%
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Fangchenggang City Dongxing City (东兴市) 16,651 0.1%
Other 780,897 4.83%

Notable Zhuang people
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See also

References

Citations
  1. 常用國字標準字體筆順學習網. Stroke-order.learningweb.moe.edu.tw (in Chinese). Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  2. 漢典. "獞". Chinese. Accessed 14 August 2011. 新华字典, via 中华昌龙网. 字典频道. "獞 Archived 30 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine". Chinese. Accessed 14 August 2011.
  3. Defrancis, John (1984). The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, p. 117. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0866-2.
  4. 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.
  5. Muysken, Pieter (2008). From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics. John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 226, 247.
  6. 道客巴巴 (22 September 2012). 广西壮族人文字使用现状及文字社会声望调查研究——以田阳、田东、东兰三县为例. Doc88.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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 978-7-81108-436-8
  10. Cen Xianan (2003). On research to Zhuang's Mo Religion Belief. "Economic and Social Development",no.12. p. 23–26.(in Chinese)
  11. Huang Guiqiu(2008). Zhuang beliefs and cultural characteristics of the Mo ceremony. Wenshan: "Wenshan College",no.4. p. 35–38.in Guangxi.(in Chinese)
  12. Sagart, L. 2004. "The higher phylogeny of Austronesian and the position of Tai–Kadai." Oceanic Linguistics 43.411–440.
  13. Li, Hui; Wen, Bo; Chen, Shu-Juo; Su, Bing; Pramoonjago, Patcharin; Liu, Yangfan; Pan, Shangling; Qin, Zhendong; Liu, Wenhong; Cheng, Xu; Yang, Ningning; Li, Xin; Tran, Dinhbinh; Lu, Daru; Hsu, Mu-Tsu; Deka, Ranjan; Marzuki, Sangkot; Tan, Chia-Chen; Jin, Li (2008). "Paternal genetic affinity between western Austronesians and Daic populations". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 8: 146. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-8-146. PMC 2408594. PMID 18482451.
  14. Huang Xianfan,Zhang Yiming, Huang Zengqing(1988). General History of the Zhuang. Nanning: Guangxi National Press, p. 1–47.
  15. General History of the Zhuang(1994). Beijing: National Press, p. 1–66.
  16. Zheng Chaoxiong(2005). Study of the Origin in Zhuang Civilization. Naning: Guangxi People's Publishing House, p. 1–73. ISBN 978-7-219-05286-0
  17. 二 月 节 - 文山政务. Archive.is. 5 August 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  18. Boulder shovel culture of the Zhuang//online at China Network TV Archived 14 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  19. Hou Hanshu. Chapter 24.
  20. Huang Xianfan,et:General History of the Zhuang. Nanning: Guangxi National Press, 1988. ISBN 978-7-5363-0422-2.

Sources

A Senior City Police Officer Pursues His Roots In China, By Marvine Howe, New York Times, 14 November 1985.

Further reading
  • Kaup, Katherine Palmer (2000). Creating the Zhuang: Ethnic Politics in China. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55587-886-3.
  • Barlow, Jeffrey G. (1989). "The Zhuang Minority in the Ming Era". Ming Studies. 1989 (1): 15–45. doi:10.1179/014703789788763976.
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