Across the world: Cultural Journey at Guilin, Guangxi

30 Oct - 06 November 2010

Introduction

An autonomous region/自治区 is an administrative region where a minority entity has a higher population of a particular ethnic group. There are five autonomous regions in China: the Tibetans in Tibet, the Zhuangs in Guangxi, the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the Mongols in Inner Mongolia, and the Huis in Ningxia. They have their own local government but has more legislative rights. (1)

Guilin is situated in the northeast of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on the west bank of the Li River/漓江. It is named Guilin/桂林/forest of Sweet Osmanthus for its large number of fragrant sweet osmanthus trees located in the city. (2)

The Zhuangs/壮, Dongs/侗, Miaos/苗, and Yaos/瑶 are the four major ethnic minorities in Guangxi. Each of them has its own characteristics, culture, and "dress code". One interesting thing about these minorities is that they are allowed by the country to have two children given that both the mother and father must be from one of these minorities.

1) Miao People/苗族

Drinking wine is their hobby. Almost every family make vintage. When we visited one of the families, we were served wine on our way to the host's place. The wine was served in a special "ox-horn" shaped spoon instead of a cup and we were warned by the tour guide not to accept/touch it with our hands. To respect them, we must finish it.

A man and a woman will not get married if they have the same surname. The parents always live with the youngest sons. A pair of lovers must consult their parents if they want to get married. (4) They are also very skillful in making handicrafts such as embroidering and jewelry. Their jewelry are mainly in silver such as silver necklaces, bracelets and rings. Costumes were also adorned with decorative silver inlays within the embroidered panels. (3)

pic: Costume for the bride

2) Yao People/瑶族

We were told by the tour guide that the Yaos have special affection for the men with glasses. In their opinion, the glasses is a proof of education background. In order to show their liking to these men, they will pinch the men's butt. Almost none of the men from our tour escaped from it regardless if they were wearing glasses.

3) Dong People/侗族

The only culture I know from the tour guide about their culture was related to wooing the beloved. The damsels'/young ladies' rooms are located at the highest third floor. Males would have to climb to their lovers room using a staircase. I wonder how true it is.

pic: Feel pity to see children were left aside and unattended.

pic: picturesque scenery of the Dong village.

4）Zhuang people/壮族

We were brought to this village of Zhuang, which is surrounded with narrow terrace. We were welcomed by the people with a drum performance at the entrance.

The Zhuangs are good in singing and dancing. We visited the host's place and had a nice afternoon full of singing, dancing performance and a welcome lunch/壮家迎宾宴. We were also served a cup of "tea oil"/油茶 before the performance, which tasted salty and quite similar with rice wafer. There was a trick. We had options to either take one pair or one stalk of chopsticks.