THE ZHUANG OF SW CHINA

Yunnan Province.  Xishuangbanna is Southern Pont

Yunnan in Detail.


The Zhuang are one of 56 ethnic groups of China.  Their population in China is 18 million people, but at this time I don't know how many live in the province of Xishuangbanna.

Their language is considered by many to be
 among the Sino-Tibetan family.

The earliest historical records of the Zhuang so far discovered are among the Rock Paintings of Hua Mountain, dated to the Warring States Period (475-221BC) of Chinese history.

Many years of unruly history during the Han, Tang, Song and Mongolian Yuan Dynasties.  The 19th Century was one of constant unrest with the Taiping Rebellion, Second Opium War, and the Franco-Chinese War.  During the time of Sun Yat-sen, the Zhuang army became known as the "Flying Army" or "Army of Steel".  The Zhuang had a falling out with both Sun Yat-sen and Chaing Kai-shek, and then joined the American bombers to challenge Japanese control...

Zhuang cuisine includes many salty and sour dishes: 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.

The Zhuang follow traditional animist practices which include elements of ancestor worship.  Some have their own professional priests and traditionally use chicken bones for divination.