Visit the Bouyei people in Yunnan Part II
Duoyi, is the home of the Bouyei people, one of the 55 ethnic minority groups in China. Watch the video and get to know their living environment and lifestyle.
Martial arts of the Zhuang people of Jinshan village, Guangxi
Jinshan village is located in Nameng township, Qinbei district, of Qinzhou prefecture, of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region.
The Zhuang are native to Guangxi and there is evidence of Zhuang people living in Guangxi going back over 2000 years.
Located in one of the historically poorest areas of China known for it's corrupt officials and bandits, martial arts have long been practiced in Zhuang villages.
Today they are still being practiced in Jinshan village where they have formed a village boxing troop to teach the children the traditional methods.
However this short documentary instead focuses on some of the older boxers in the area who are primarily farmers living in the old poorer areas of the village.
They recount some of the villages martial history and show some of the architectural features built into the village to stop bandits.
The Zhuang people are the largest minority group in China. Their language is part of the Tai language family and they have their own system of writing which developed from written Chinese over a thousand years ago.
The native Zhuang religion is called Moism (not the same as the warring states period sect of Mo Tzu).
It is the ancient religion of Zhuang people and has many similarities with Chinese folk religion.
The main god is the creator Bu Luotuo and his wife Me Hoa (the Flower Mother). They also share some of the popular gods of Chinese folk religion such as the Dragon Kings and Tudigong (local Earth God).
The Zhuang people have a long history of rebellions against local Han Chinese officials and have historically often allied themselves with various local kingdoms that have appeared in Yunnan, northern Vietnam and northern Burma.
They also have a long history of warfare with various Yao and Miao groups who during the Ming dynasty began invading southwards into Zhuang territories looking to expand their land holdings.
During the Ming dynasty Zhuang and Yao warriors from Guangxi and western Guangdong were hired to create special combat units known as Lang Bing Wolf Soldiers.
They were sent to the eastern and southern coastal regions to combat Wokou pirates.
They were very successful and continued to be used by the Ming to quell uprisings within China.
Half of World's New Cancer Cases occur in China.
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World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a report,
revealing all new cancer cases in China,
account for half the cases around the world.
China has the highest number of new cancer cases in the world.
Researchers point out, there have been more cancer cases
in China since implementing the policy of
reform and opening up.
In particular there are more than 200 cancer villages
in China, which ensues from destroying
the once healthy environment.
However, currently only non-governmental organizations (NGO's)
are dedicated to the treatment of local environments
of these cancer villages.
Huai River Guardians founder Huo Daishan is from Shenqiu
County of Zhoukou City, Henan Province.
In 2003, Huo Daishan established the Ecological Environment
Science Research Centre for Water System of Huai River.
He aims to attract more environment protection volunteers'
involvement in treating the pollution in Huai River.
Recently, Deutsche Welle (DW) showed a documentary
about Huo Daishan's story.
Huo Daishan was a photographer. In 1998 he resigned from
his position. Through citizen survey he managed
to disclose the situation to the public.
Large-scale enterprises such as Lotus Flower Gourmet
Powder Factory, and numerous paper-making
enterprises located in Huai River watershed,
have been allegedly responsible for polluting the water
system, hence producing a dozen or so cancer
villages along the Huai River.
After disclose of information, Huo Daishan has experienced
first hand warnings and much oppression.
Two sons of Huo Daishan also resigned from their jobs in big
cities, becoming environmental protection
volunteers as Huai River Guardians.
Huo Minhao is theyoungest of his sons who was a famous designer
in a local toy plant of Guangdong Province.
Huo Minhao: We established an NGO (non governmental
organization), which has no connection to any
level of government, thus receives no official funds.
We've cooperate only with certain foundations in some projects
during these recent years.
Prior to this, we actually took out our own savings to fund
all our activities.
Occasionally we worked or set up small businesses
helping us to support & fund the NGO. It took most
of our own savings to run it.
There is a large aquatic box in Huai River, which contains
many deformed fish whose condition was
created due to pollution.
Huo Minhao: We've found some fish types in the river
having a cacoplastic ( deformed )skeleton with
dysplasia quite a long time ago.
Some have fish scales without uniform size, some are without
eyes, some have one or two eyes,
most of them have deformed spines and skeletons.
So we started to collect them. Some are still alive. But many
have died due to abnormalities, these fish
occupy most of the space in our fridge.
This is not from any type of intentional collection.
This is mainly from local fishermen who have caught
such fish, yet could not sell them and then rang us.
In the early 1990s, Huo Daishan had just ended his military
service and started a new civil job.
He frequently found many dead fish floating in Shaying River.
Huo Daishan visited the local people living in Huai River areas
and discovered, the so-called Huai River Pollution
Treatment Project was a total fake.
Huo Daishan took photos of children with masks on
in the classroom for resisting the bad odor due to
large amounts of dead fish.
He then appealed to different levels of the government,
but most of the time he received ironic and contemptuous looks.
On the other hand, the people suffering from cancer
in the villages dramatically increased.
Huo Minhao: To drink dirty and unhealthy water
undoubtedly leads to diseases, which have been confirmed
by local realistic experiments.
In many cancer villages with polluted
shallow-layer underground water,
the cancer incidences rose very high
with several tens ofdeath cases,
mainly due to the cancers
related to the digestive system.
In terms of an incomplete statistic, until Spring of last year's ,
there are more than 200 cancer villages in 27 provinces
across Mainland China.
According to the World Cancer Report published by WHO
in the World Cancer Day on Feb. 4, 2013,
half of new cancer cases in the world are from Asia,
and most of them are from Mainland China.
It is reported that among 3,000 people of Shangba Village of
Wengyuan County of Guangdong Province,
250 villagers have died from a variety of cancers.
The hotly hit China's Cancer Village Map on the Internet,
illustrates cancer villages are mainly distributed
in the middle and eastern land of China,
closely connected to developed cities,
especially the regions with the most polluted water sources.
Last December, the Chinese Authorities'
Land Resource Ministry,
publis
《神韵》2014世界巡演新亮点
High Culture of Dai People in Sipsongpanna by CCTV
Dai was one of Ethinc group in China mostly believe in Buddhism.
Tai–Kadai-speaking peoples
The Tai (Chinese: 泰) ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam, which speak languages in the Tai-Kadai language family, and share similar traditions and festivals, such as Songkran. Despite never having a unified nation-state of their own, the peoples also have historically shared a vague idea of a Siam nation, corrupted to Shan or Assam in some places, and most self-identify as Tai
Linguistic subdivisions
There are five established branches of the Tai–Kadai languages, which may not correspond to ethnicity:
the nuclear Tai peoples of China and much of Southeast Asia (including most notably the Thai, Lao, Isan, Shan and Zhuang, and Saek people of Laos and Thailand)
the Li (Hlai) and Cun people of China
the Kra peoples of China and Vietnam (also known as the Geyan peoples)
the Kam–Sui peoples (which may or not include the Biao people)
The Lakkia people of Guangxi Autonomous Region of China (Tai Lakka in neighboring portions of Vietnam) are ethnically of Yao, but speak a Tai–Kadai language called Lakkia. These Yao were likely in an area dominated by Tai speakers and assimilated an early Tai–Kadai language (possibly the language of the ancestors of the Biao people).
The Lingao people in Hainan Province of China speak a Tai–Kadai language called Be or Lincheng, although the ethnicity of the Lingao traces back to the Han nationality.
Geographic distribution
The Tai have historically resided in China, India and continental Southeast Asia since the early Tai expansion period. Their primary geographic distribution in those countries is roughly in the shape of an arc extending from northeastern India through southern China and down to Southeast Asia. Recent Tai migrations have brought considerable numbers of Tai peoples to Japan, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America and Argentina as well. The greatest ethnic diversity within the Tai occurs in China, which is believed to be their prehistoric homeland.
Nuclear Tai peoples throughout China, India and Southeast Asia
Further information: Tai ethnic groups in China, Tai ethnic groups in Southeast Asia and Tai ethnic groups in India
Due to the great ethnic diversity among the nuclear Tai peoples in the countries of China, India and Southeast Asia, the geographical distribution of the individual Tai ethnic groups in these regions is discussed in three respective articles on the topic. Articles on each of the individual ethnic groups provide further detail.
Population in China
Further information: Kra–Dai ethnic groups in China and Rauz people
In southern China, people speaking Kam–Tai (Zhuang–Dong) languages are mainly found in Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangdong, and Hainan. According to statistics from the fourth census taken in China in 1990, the total population of these groups amounted to 23,262,000. Their distribution is as follows:
Dai have a population of 1,025,128, mainly inhabiting Yunnan Province. Most them live in autonomous prefectures Xishuangbanna, Dehong and such autonomous counties as Gengma, Menglian, Yuanjiang, and Xinping. The rest are scattered throughout many districts of Yunnan province (Zhang Gongjin
Language
Main article: Tai–Kadai languages
The languages spoken by the Tai people are classified in a Tai language family. They are the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, and include Thai, the national language of Thailand; Lao, the national language of Laos; Burma's Shan language; and Zhuang, a group of languages of southern China. These languages are tonal languages, meaning variations in tone of a word can change that word's meaning.
Festivals
The Tai throughout Asia celebrate a number of common festivals, including a holiday known as Songkran, which originally marked the vernal equinox, but is now celebrated on the 13th of April every year.
More information en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai–Kadai-speaking_peoples
NanGu Quan weapons
NánGǔ Zhuāng, MínJiān Wǔshù / Ancient Southern Village, Folk Martial Arts
NanGu Zhuang (literally, Ancient Southern Village) is located near Hebei province's Gaocheng city in Zhao county, Shijiazhuang prefecture.
NanGu Village was founded in 1429 by the Zhang family who had traveled from Hongdong in Shanxi province as part of the early Ming Land clearances.
In the reign of Ming Chongzhen (1628-1644) due to droughts and bad harvests in already overpopulated Shanxi, large bandit armies entered into Henan and then into Hebei provinces. To counter this the people of NanGu Zhen built a large stockade wall around the village. This wall had four fortified gates and was surrounded by a series of four ditches.
In the Mid 1800's the Taiping army entered Hebei, the villagers knew they were coming and decided to fight them. Repairing the wall and buying a few guns they prepared to fight to the death against the brutal Taiping troops. The Taiping were a messianic cult inspired by the teachings of Christian missionaries, during the 15 year long (1850 to 1864)Taiping rebellion 20-30 million people were killed. The Taiping had looted and massacred many towns, cities and villages all across China, including Hebei.
However hearing of the fierce reputation of the villagers and the heavy fortifications surrounding the small village the Taiping army simply marched around the village. (the Taiping army was more than a match for imperial troops and had a penchant for looting, pillaging, and burning any village it passed, as well as raping and murdering all the inhabitants)
No one knows the exact origin of the NanGu village martial arts. It is thought that they always have practiced some sort of martial arts, probably bringing some of the local boxing with them from the Hongdong area of Shanxi. However it is thought that sometime between about 1575-1650 one of local Hebei styles was introduced into the village.
Today they still preserve many of their traditional sets, both empty handed and with weapons including many paired sets for various weapons.
They are also famous for growing pears.