Zhuang people

The Zhuang ( Zhuang Bouxcuengh, Chinese壮族/壮族, Pinyin Zhuangzu ) are a Tai people, mostly in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in southeast China, lives.

The Zhuang are one of the 56 officially recognized nationalities in China. With its 16,926,381 people ( census 2010) they are under the Han quantitatively the second largest ethnic Chinese and thus the largest ethnic minority in the country. As a scientific discipline, the Zhuangologie with philology, history, language and literature, philosophy and anthropology Zhuang deals.

Living in Vietnam and Laos - there each recognized as a distinct nationalities - ethnic groups who speak the same languages ​​and culturally nearly identical to different subgroups of Zhuang in China. In Vietnam, the Tay ( about 1.4 million people ), the Nung ( about 800,000 ), the San Chay (about 140,000 ) and the Giay (approx. 38,000 ). In Laos there are more than 6,000 Giay.

  • 5.1 distribution areas

Etymological Notes

The name Zhuang was formerly written as獞. This sign contains on the left, the radical " animal ", which in other characters that denote animals, occurs and can have a negative undertone. Therefore, it was the seen as derogatory, and in 1949 replaced by童with the radical for man on the left, but ultimately by the character壮. This is a sign that there had been before, and fixed or strongly implying.

History

The Zhuang are one of the most ancient peoples of southern China. The ancestors of the Zhuang were the founders of the kingdom of Nanyue / Nam Việt ( 207-111 BC). The Zhuang were active at the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864), involved in the creation of the Soviet territories in Zuojiang and Yujiang (1927-1937) and in the formation of the 7th and 8th Route Army of the Communist Party of China.

Culture

Language

Their language is also called Zhuang. The Zhuang language was originally written with Chinese characters. Meanwhile, this language is but written with Latin letters, just like the Vietnamese language (Vietnam and Guangxi are neighbors ).

Religion

Most Zhuang practice traditional animistic, oriented to the ancestors religion. However, there are also Christians, Buddhists and Muslims in Guangxi.

Personalities

  • Nong Zhigao (侬 智 高0.1025 to 1055 )
  • Washi (瓦 氏 夫人0.1498 to 1557 )
  • Wei Baqun (1894-1932)
  • Huang Xianfan - was a Chinese historian, anthropologist and educator
  • Li Ning - is a Chinese entrepreneur and former Turner

Geography

At the census in 2000 16.178.811 Zhuang were counted. They mostly live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (91.4 %); in addition there are also in the provinces of Yunnan (6.5%), Guangdong ( 1%) and Zhuang Guizhou larger populations. Also, have settled in all major and minor cities in China Zhuang.

Distribution areas

Distribution areas of the Zhuang at the county level (2000):

Here only values ​​greater than 0.10 % were considered. AG = Autonomous Region, AB = Autonomous District, AK = Autonomous District.

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