The Zhuang people in Guangxi Province
2 min readHaving the largest population among all ethnic minority groups in China, about 16.17 million intotal, most of the Zhuang people live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, some seen in Yunnan, Guangdong and Guizhou provinces.
Their vast homeland is also called “the sea of songs.”All of them are good singers and on festivals, they sing to communicate and to express themselves. They hold a singing festival every year, called”ge xu,”attended by hundreds of people. The festival has day singing and night singing, both following age-old rules. The day singing is held outdoor, by jade mounts and rivers, attended mostly by young people with a hope to find a date. The night singing, however, is held inside the village, meant to teach the younger generation the knowledge about farming, local life and history.
The singing festival falls twice a year, in spring and autumn, but the one on the third day of the third month by Chinese lunar calendar is much larger. By their custom, the third day of the third month is an occasion to mourn the dead, also an occasion for the old to tell the young their family history and rules. After the lecture,a picnic follows, then singing and amusement. This day singing has oecome a local holiday with well-organized festivities attended by the whole village.
Every year, before this festival, every one is busy preparing, five-color glue-rice and colorfuleggs made in each household and beautiful brocade balls made by young girls. On the festival, every one is in his/her best for a ceremony to memorize their singing goddess “Third Sister Liu,”in the hope to get her blessing and a better singing skill. To them, the sister was an epitome of sincerity, beauty, love, wisdom and capability. After the ceremony, young people release their voice into duet singing,”talking”to the opposite sex to find a date.
Besides exciting Zhuang Opera performances, small but enjoyable commercial activities add much festivity to the occasion. However, the most fruitful in the wake of a singing festival is of course the happy marriage lock forged between those in love.
The Zhuang women are smart and handy. Because of them, the local Zhuang brocade enjoys an equal fame with the other three best kinds in China. Unique in making and over 1,000 years old, Zhuang brocade features very bright colors and superb skills, perfect for making clothes, quilt or hand oags.
The Zhuang people prefer raised wooden houses by mounts and rivers. Due to the local rainy weather, their houses sit on one-meter-high wood stakes, floored inside with boards. The space below the house is to keep domestic animals and also serves as storage. These raised wooden houses were a marvelous invention from their ancestors, perfectly good for local environments.
