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Chinese Name: 白族
English Name: The Bai People
Languages: Bai language 白语, Chinese 汉语
Total population: 1.69*107 (China mainland 2022)
Distribution: Mainly distributed in Yunnan province
Brief introduction
The Bai People 白族 is the 15th largest ethnic group in China, mainly distributed in Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and other provinces. Among them, the Bai nationality in Yunnan Province has the largest population, mainly living in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture 大理白族自治州, Yunnan Province. The Bai people have their own language, and Chinese has been commonly used by the Bai people since ancient times. The Bai nationality is a highly concentrated ethnic group and is deeply influenced by the Han culture.
The history of the Bai People
The Bai ethnic group belong to a branch of the Di-Qiang (Ancient Chinese ethnic groups) system, and their origins are diverse. Another important source is the indigenous people who have lived in the Erhai 洱海 area for generations. In the Qin Dynasty 秦朝, the central dynasty began to set up counties in the southwestern area, and the Erhai area had an increasingly close relationship with the mainland of the motherland.
Despite Qin’s management of the southwestern barbarians was short-lived and not in-depth, it had an extremely important and far-reaching significance that marked that Yunnan had become an important part of a unified multi-ethnic country since the Qin Dynasty, and the Qin Dynasty was the beginning of the dynasty’s official rule over Yunnan.
The religion of the Bai People
The worship of the ‘Benzhu’ is the religion that all the Bai people believe in. The ‘Benzhu’, the protector of the Bai nationality, can become the master as long as anyone and things have close contact with the Bai nationality. Therefore, the Benzhu has strong primitive religious colours and characters in folklore which fully reflects the inclusiveness.
The Cultures of the Bai People
The costumes of the Bai People 白族服饰
The costumes of the Bai nationality have a long historical development process and their own national characteristics have formed. Bai people advocate and honour the white colour, and despite the styles of clothing being slightly different from place to place, the status of white is unshakable.
Bai women in the Dali area often wrap their heads with an embroidered cloth or coloured towels and wear white tops and red waistcoats. The waist is tied with an embroidered short apron, blue wide trousers and embroidered shoes. In addition, women like to wear jade or silver bracelets and drop earrings.
The architecture of the Bai People 白族建筑
The Chongsheng Temple And The Three-Pagoda 崇圣寺三塔 in Dali, built in the Tang Dynasty 唐朝, the main tower is nearly 60 meters high and divided into 16 levels. It has the common features of Chinese grotto statues and a strong national style and occupies a high position in the history of Chinese stone carving art.
The daily etiquette of the Bai People 白族日常礼仪
The Bai nationality is hospitable and hospitable. When guests come to the house, they treat each other with wine and tea. Bai people usually only pour half a cup of tea, but a full cup of wine is needed. They think that wine is full of respect and tea is full of deceit.
Speaking of the manner of the Bai nationality, respecting the elders is a traditional virtue of the Bai people. When you see an old man, you should take the initiative to say hello, and when you eat, let the old man sit at the table, and the old man will move the chopsticks first. In addition, the fire pit of the Bai people is a sacred place. It is taboo to spit into the fire pit, and it is forbidden to step over the fire pit.
The diet of the Bai People 白族饮食
Bai people pay attention to festivals, and almost every festival has one to several kinds of food for the occasion. For example, eat Ding Ding Candy 叮叮糖 during the Spring Festival 春节, eat fried crispy meat on Qingming Festival 清明节, eat zongzi 粽子 and realgar wine on Dragon Boat Festival 端午节, etc.
The wedding banquet custom of the Bai nationality consists of eight hot dishes. And the Bai ethnic group also have food taboos. They can not use iron knives on the first day of the new year and the housewives should cook quietly and not blow fire. Moreover, the water used must be taken from the well.
The entertainment of the Bai People 白族娱乐活动
There are many kinds of Bai folk entertainment activities, such as horse racing, swinging, etc. Especially when it comes to swinging, because of the dense forests in the mountainous areas of the Bai nationality and the canes crisscrossing the forests, people have acquired the skills of swinging the vines and climbing ropes, and therefore very much like the activities of swinging.
