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The Yao ethnic minority
The Yaos, with a population of 2.13 million, live in
mountain communities scattered over 130 counties in five south China
provinces and one
autonomous region. About 70 per cent of them live in the Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, the rest in Hunan, Yunnan, Guangdong,
Guizhou and Jiangxi provinces.
Historically, the Yaos have had at least 30 names based on their ways
of production, lifestyles, dresses and adornments. The name "Yao" was
officially adopted after the founding of the People's Republic in
1949.
Half of the Yaos speak the Yao language belonging to the
Chinese-Tibetan language family, others use Miao or Dong languages. As
a result of close contacts with the Hans and Zhuangs, many Yaos also
have learned to speak Chinese or Zhuang language.
Before 1949, the Yaos did not have a written language. Ancient Yaos
kept records of important affairs by carving notches on wood or bamboo
slips. Later they used Chinese characters. Hand-written copies of
words of songs are on display in the Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County in
Guangxi. They are believed to be relics of the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). Ancient stone tablets engraved with Chinese characters
can be found in a lot of Yao communities.
Most Yaos live in beautiful, humid mountain valleys densely covered
with pines, firs, Chinese firs, Chinese cinnamons, tung oil trees,
bamboos and tea bushes. The thickly forested Jianghua Yao Autonomous
County in Hunan is renowned as the "home of Chinese firs." The places
inhabited by the Yaos also abound in indigo, edible funguses, bamboo
shoots, sweet grass, mushrooms, honey, dye yam, jute and medical
herbs. The forests are teeming with wild animals such as boars, bears,
monkeys, muntjacs and masked civets. Rich as they are in natural
resources, the Yao mountain areas are ideal for developing a
diversified economy. History Called the
"savage Wuling tribes" some 2,000 years ago, the Yao ancestors lived
around Changsha, capital of today's Hunan Province. Two or three
centuries later, they were renamed the "Moyao." One of China's
foremost ancient poets, Du Fu (712-770), once wrote: "The Moyaos shoot
wild geese; with bows made from mulberry trees." As time went on,
historical accounts about the Yaos increased, showing growing ties
between the Yao and the Han people. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279),
agriculture and handicrafts developed considerably in the Yao areas,
such that forged iron knives, indigo-dyed cloth and crossbow weaving
machines became reputed Yao products. At that time, the Yaos in Hunan
were raising cattle and using iron farm tools on fields rented from
Han landlords.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), farm cattle and iron
tools spread among the Yaos in Guangxi and Guangdong, who developed
paddy fields and planted different kinds of crops on hillsides. They
dug ditches and built troughs to draw water from springs for daily use
and irrigation. Sideline occupations such as hunting, collecting
medical herbs, making charcoal and weaving were pursued side by side
with agriculture.
Before 1949, the Yao economy could be divided into three types:
The first and most common type, with agriculture as the base and
forestry and other sideline occupations affiliated, was concentrated
in places blessed with fine natural conditions and the greatest
influence of the Hans. Here farming methods and social relations very
much resembled those of the Han and Zhuang ethnic groups.
The second type was centered on forestry, with agriculture as a
sideline. A few landlords monopolized all the forests and hillside
fields, while the foresters and farmers had to pay taxes and rents no
matter whether they went ploughing, hunting or fishing, built their
houses, buried their dead, collected wild fruits and herbs, drank from
mountain streams or even walked on the mountains. When the poor opened
up wasteland, for instance, they had to plant saplings between their
crops. As soon as the saplings grew into trees, they were paid to the
landlords as rent. These exactions caused many Yaos to be continually
wandering from place to place.
The third type, engaged in by a tiny percentage of the Yao population,
was the primitive "slash-and-burn" cultivation. Although most land was
owned by Han and Zhuang landlords, the Yao farmers had some of their
own. In such cases, the land belonged to ancient communes, each formed
by less than 20 families descended from the same ancestor. The
families in a commune worked together and shared the products equally.
The Yaos practiced an interesting form of primitive cooperation called
"singing-while-digging." This can still be seen in Guangxi today. At
times of spring ploughing, 20 to 30 households work together for one
household after another until all their fields are ploughed and sown.
While the group is working, a young man stands out in the fields,
beating a drum and leading the singing. Everyone sings after him.
Today hunting remains an important part of Yao life. On the one hand,
it provides them with a greater variety of food; on the other, it
prevents their crops and forests from being damaged by too many wild
animals. After hunting, the bag is divided equally among the hunters.
Sometimes portions are given to the children carried on the elders'
backs, but the hunter who caught the animal is awarded a double
portion. Sometimes, part of the bag is put aside for the aged people
back in the villages. |
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