Culture in Guangxi Province

Yangshuo and Guangxi Culture

Zhuang minority

Zhuang Language
The Zhuang have their own indigenous language that used to be written with logograms based on Chinese characters for over a thousand years. However, now it is officially written in Roman letters.

Zhuang Religion
Most Zhuang follow a traditional animist/ancestor-oriented religion, however, there are a number of Buddhists, Daoists, Christians, and Muslims in Guangxi as well.

Zhuang History
The Zhuang are of Tai origin, a people who migrated south from central China roughly 5000 years ago. The Zhuang settled in what is now Guangxi while other Tai peoples moved to Yunnan. It is suggested the Tai people migrated for food purposes and as the culture evolved they developed a unique irrigation system which was designed for growing rice. Due to the relative infertility of the soil in Central China, the Tai sought out more fertile plains. However, it is highly probable that struggles with emerging Chinese states that rapidly gained power with Mesolithic (Bronze Age) weapons had something to do with their migratory patterns. Long struggles with China around 1100 AD led the Tai people to migrate further south to create the Lao, Thai and Shan peoples of Indochina.

Zhuang Food
As the Zhuang are mostly comprise of farmers, rice and corn tend to constitute their staple food. Glutinous rice is particularly eaten in the south of Guangxi.

Zhuang Houses
In today’s society most of the Zhuang people generally live in modern houses similar to the Hans. The traditional styles however still prevail in many areas of Guangxi. For example the traditional houses in the north of the province have two floors. The first floor is used for living in and the ground floor is where animals such as pigs and chickens are kept. This way any leftovers from meals can be thrown through a trap door to the animals below! Other traditional styles such as those in Yangshuo County are made from mud bricks wood and bamboo and the animals have barns outside.

Zhuang Clothes
The clothing tradition has been in steep decline for some time and the Zhuang mostly wear modern clothes that tend to be in China’s popular culture. However, for traditional occasions they often wear their traditional dress which includes collarless, embroidered and trimmed jackets buttoned to the left together with baggy trousers, embroidered belts and shoes and pleated skirts for the women. The Zhuang also wear big silver jewellery around their neck, ankles and wrists.

Zhuang Music and Dances
The Zhuang people like to sing, dance and celebrate. They especially use songs as a means to tell their loved ones about their feelings. Typical Zhuang musical instruments include Suona (Chinese cornet), bronze drum, cymbal, gong, sheng (Chinese wind pipe), xiao (vertical bamboo flute), di (Chinese flute) and huqin (a stringed instrument) made of horse bones. The Zhuang Opera is famous and originated from religious rites in the Tang Dynasty. Zhuang dances are playful and always tell a story that is lighthearted and humorous.

Customs
The Zhuang have a very distinct custom regarding marriage. On their wedding day the bride is lead by her girlfriends to the husband’s house where they will celebrate the wedding. After that she returns back home to live with her parents for the next few years and only visits her husband occasionally on holidays or farming seasons.

Zhuang Festivals

The Devil Festival, July 14th of lunar calendar
A significant occasion second only in importance to the Spring Festival. On this day families usually prepare chicken, duck and five-colored glutinous rice to be offered as sacrifices to ancestors and ghosts.

The Cattle Soul Festival
This 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 rite, they 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 will call back the lost souls.

The Feasting Festival
This 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 which is celebrated to this day.

Art & Craft in and around Yangshuo

Fans
Hand-painted, decorative fans are one of the most popular souvenirs to take home, especially for those visiting Fan Street in Fuli, where many local artisans specialize in this ancient art.

Chinese Landscape Painting
Yangshuo has always been a magnet for painters and a very definitive style has evolved over the years. They use silk paper and paint the karst formation by hand with black ink. Who could head home without at least a couple of delicately brushed scrolls in their case to liven up the office wall?

Embroidered Decorative Balls
Hugely popular in Japan where they are known as Temari, these delicate balls of thread actually originated in China. Sometimes made for ornamentation, the Zhuang people usually used them as love tokens.

Music & Dance in Yangshuo

Guangxi is very well known within China for its folk songs and dances. The most popular singers were probably Third Sister Liu (Liu San Jie) whose story was put into a musical by the very same director who composed the opening ceremony for Beijing Olympics 2008. The Liu Sanjie Lightshow takes place every night on a natural stage of the Li River and is presenting the farm work and traditional life of Zhuang people.

Yangshuo and Chinese Festivals & Events

As there are so many different minority groups within Guangxi there are many curious folk customs, as every ethnic group has its distinctive cultural traditions and festivals. Below are some of the major festivals in Yangshuo:

		Fishing Festival This local Yangshuo Festival takes place in November. It originates back to wishing fish farmers on the Li River fortune and to thank them for passed catches. In Yangshuo there is a fair with clothes and food stalls around West Street. Before midnight there is a big fireworks display on the shores of the Li River in town.

		Mid Autumn Festival The Mid Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar which is normally between middle of September and the beginning of October. The custom to worship the moon can be traced as far back as the ancient Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty of China. Both, the Han Chinese and minority cultures celebrate this day. People are making round moon cakes (Chinese: yuèb_ng), as gifts to their relatives in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as: Eating moon cakes outside under the moon Putting pomelo rinds on one's head Carrying brightly lit lanterns Putting pomelo rinds on one's head Burning incense in reverence to deities Planting Mid-Autumn trees Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members Lighting lanterns on towers

		Qing Ming Festival. Meaning “Clear and Bright Festival”, is a traditional Chinese festival on the 104th day after the winter solstice (or the 15th day from the Spring Equinox), usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar. Every leap year, Qing Ming is on April 4. Its name denotes a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime and also to tend to the graves of departed ones. It is an official public holiday in the People's Republic of China. For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and honor their ancestors. Typically the young and old pray before their ancestors graves, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, paper and accessories. The rites are very important to most Chinese and especially the minority cultures place large significance on the event. Some people carry willow branches, or put willow branches on their gates and front doors. The willow branches are there to help ward off the evil ghosts that wander on Qing Ming. Also on Qing Ming, people go on family outings, start the spring plowing, sing dance and young couples often start courting as well. Kite flying is another popular activity around this time so watch out for a huge range of kites in the shape of animals and even characters from Chinese opera.

		Duan Wu/Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat Festival, Duan Wu Festival or Tuen Ng. Festival is held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar. In the early years of the Republic of China, Duan Wu was also celebrated as "Poets' Day," due to Qu Yuan's status as China's first poet of personal renown. Today, people eat bamboo-wrapped steamed rice dumplings called zongzi (the food originally intended to feed the fish) and race dragon boats in memory of Qu Yuan's death.