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The Achang ethnic minority
 More than 90 percent of the 27,700 Achangs live in
Longchuan, Lianghe and Luxi counties in the Dehong Dai-Jingpo
Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern Yunnan Province. The rest live
in Longling County in the neighboring Baoshan Prefecture.
These areas are on the southern tip of the Gaoligong Mountains. The
climate is warm; the land fertile, crisscrossed by the Daying and
Longchuan rivers and their numerous tributaries. The river valleys
contain many plains, the Fusa and Lasa being the largest of them.
Dense forests populated by deer, musk deer and bears cover the
mountain slopes. Natural resources, such as coal, iron, copper, lead,
mica and graphite, abound. Achangs speak a language
belonging to the Tibetan-Myanmese language family of the
Chinese-Tibetan system. Most Achangs also can speak Chinese and the
language of Dais. Their written language is Chinese.
Achangs treasure their oral culture of ballads, stories and folk
tales. Singing alternating duets is a favorite evening
recreation of young men and women. Musical instruments used by Achangs
include the bamboo qin (a stringed plucked instrument), the bamboo
flute, the gourd-shaped sheng (a wind instrument), the sanxian (a
three-stringed plucked instrument), the elephant-leg drum and the
gong. Drum and monkey dances are among the most popular. Handicrafts
include embroidery, lacquering, dyeing, weaving, engraving and
silverware making and are known for their elaborate patterns and
detail. Achang engraving is extraordinary and can best be seen on
furniture, buildings and Buddhist shrines, on which workers have
etched vivid forms of animals and plants. Customs
 Achang men tend to wear blue, white or black jackets which button down
the front, although on the Lasa plain many men wear jackets with
buttons toward the left side. Achang women like to wear silver objects
on festive occasions. Their clothes vary somewhat depending on where
they live, but in general married women wear skirts and jackets with
tight sleeves and wrap their heads with black or blue cloth that may
go as high as three decimeters. Unmarried women wear trousers and tie
their pigtails on top of their heads. Although the habit is
disappearing, young men and women used to chew areca, blackening their
teeth. For food, Achangs eat rice as their staple and prefer sour
dishes. They live in courtyard houses of brick or stone with wood beam
supports. Achang villages are connected by gravel paths or roads paved
with stone slabs. The basic unit of the Achang society
is the patriarchal, monogamous family. Young men and women are free to
choose their spouses. Courting rituals are quite specific. When dusk
falls, young men go to bamboo groves near the homes of the young women
they desire and play the sheng to win their favor. In some places,
groups of young men and women gather around a bonfire, where couples
flirt by singing alternate verses. This can go on until dawn. The
Achangs have a strict incest taboo: people with the same surname do
not marry each other. But intermarriage with Hans and Dais has always
been permitted. Under the Han influence, Achangs
generally practice ancestor worship. Most Achangs on the Fusa plain
believe in Hinayana, a branch of Buddhism. Achangs
generally bury their dead. In Buddhist areas, funerals are scheduled
on holy days and follow the chanting of scripture by monks. One monk
leads the funeral procession. As he walks, he holds a long strand of
white cloth tied to the coffin, as if he were guiding the dead into
the "Heavenly Kingdom." The coffin is to be carried above the heads of
the close relatives of the dead, figuratively providing the deceased
with a "bridge" to cross the river to another world. The dead are
buried without their metal ornaments; even the gold coatings on false
teeth must be removed to make sure nothing will contaminate their
reincarnation. Those who die of infectious diseases or
childbirth are cremated. |
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