What is the difference between Yao and Han

The Yao is one of the members of the Chinese nation, with a population of 21,370,033 (1990), mainly living in more than 140 counties and cities in the six southern provinces (districts) of China, with a very wide area of residence, starting from Quannan in Jiangxi Province in the east, and extending to Mengla in Yunnan Province in the west, and reaching Fangcheng in Guangxi Province in the south, and ending at Chensi in Hunan Province in the north, with the greater number of Yao people in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which is more than 1,320,000, accounting for 66% of the population of Yao people in the country. Most of them live in the six Yao Autonomous County of Jinxiu, Bama, Du'an, Dahua, Fuchuan and Gongcheng, while the others are scattered in the mountainous, hilly areas of 63 counties and cities in the whole region. There are nearly 300,000 Yao people in Hunan Province, mainly living in Yuehua Yao Autonomous County, and the rest are scattered in the foothills, steep slopes and hilly valleys of more than 30 counties (autonomous counties), such as Lanshan, Yizhang, Ningyuan, Luhui, Dongkou, Shupu, Chensi, Changning, etc. The Yao people in Yunnan Province are mainly living in Dahua, Fuchuan and Gongcheng. There are 160,000 Yao in Yunnan Province, except for the Hekou Yao Autonomous County and the four major Yao settlements in Jinping, Funing and Mengla, the rest are scattered in the mountainous or forested areas of 17 counties along the Sino-Vietnamese, Sino-Lao and Sino-Burmese borders and in central and southern Yunnan Province. There are 100,000 Yao in Guangdong Province, mainly living in the mountainous areas of Shaoguan and Zhaoqing in the north of the country, and in the 11 counties (autonomous counties) of Liannan, Liyuan, Lianshan, Yangshan and Dongchang in Qingyuan City. Distributed in Guizhou Province, Yao nearly 20,000 people, in addition to living in Libo, Rongjiang two counties, 17 counties in Southeast Guizhou mountainous areas or to get the field have Yao scattered. In Jiangxi Province, there are only 200 Yao people, living in the mountains or forest areas of Gannan "three south".

The Yao's method of relying on large-scale decentralized movement to preserve their ethnic survival was first documented in historical records in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD during the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the Yao moved slowly southward from their place of residence in the mountainous valleys around Dongting Lake in central China. During the long period of 1,700 to 1,800 years up to now, the Yao people have spread sporadically to the vast space zone of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar in scattered groups of various sizes, from Zhejiang and Fujian in the north, and from Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan in the south, and then across the national borders. Except for some groups that have introduced rice cultivation and achieved sedentarization, they generally do not have fixed land or even internal political organizations consisting of dozens of villages. This is different from the ethnic groups in the border zone. It shows the peculiar adaptive form of the Yao. The Yao are such a mobile people, but they are not a group of refugees displaced from the mountains.

The Yao people began to have a long time ago, "over the mountain Yao" (or "shallow mountain Yao". The Yao people have long been known as the "Overhill Yao" (or "Shallow Mountain Yao") and the "Deep Mountain Yao" (or "High Mountain Yao"). The "Deep Mountain Yao" are called "Deep Mountain Yao" because they usually live in deep mountains. On the contrary, the "Overhill Yao" generally live in the mid-level or foothill areas, so they are also called "Shallow Mountain Yao" or "Half Mountain Yao". Among the Yao ethnic groups in Guangdong and Hunan, two types have been recognized: the more mobile "overhill Yao" and the more sedentary "deep mountain Yao".

It is precisely because of the nomadic ecosystem established by the Yao in the past that they developed the mountains and waters in the south of China, making the vast mountainous areas where the Yao live an important source of forest resources in the south of China. Among the crops grown by the Yao, dry rice, sweet potatoes, corn. Miscellaneous grains, etc. are used for home consumption. Other products are traded for money and other daily necessities as the main purpose. The main items produced by the Yao for trade are: cedar wood, pine wood, turpentine, tung oil, raw tea, tea oil, mushrooms, fungus, palm ropes, palm skins, charcoal, botanical spices (anise, lingzhi, cinnamon, etc.), herbal medicines, honey, beeswax, and other natural resources and hunted objects. In Yao agriculture, palm cultivation, which originated in China, deserves special mention. Palm is not only suitable for slash-and-burn land, but also can be widely planted in the canyon area, which is not suitable for farming. After planting saplings for seven or eight years, they grow palm whiskers. And the palm whisker fiber is the raw material for palm rope, which is in great demand in the plains. Therefore, the palm bark is very expensive and the production is very high. Palm tree roots can also be used for medicinal purposes. There is a proverb in Yao: "Ten thousand trees and thousands of palms are not poor in one life." Therefore, the palm bark has become a representative specialty of the Yao people. At the same time, the work related to these products has become the occupation of the Yao people.

Because the Yao people live in the mountainous areas in the south of China, the dense vegetation in the primitive forest, for the Yao people to identify the nature of various grasses and trees, the use of grasses and trees, twigs, roots, skins, leaves, flowers, medical treatment of disease, provides a very broad base. For a long time, when Yao people encountered diseases and traumas, they mainly relied on traditional herbal medicine to relieve their pains. Due to the accumulation of experience over the generations, they slowly formed their own set of national medicine and exchanged herbal medicine with the outside world at a very early stage. Song - Su Song "Tu Jing Ben Cao" said: sand nuts "now only Lingnan mountains between the Ze". This shows that it was already a specialty of the mountainous areas of Lingnan. Yao Mountain is very rich in medicinal herbs, in 1934 Pang Xinmin's "Survey of Yao Mountain in Guangdong and Guangxi" recorded: including effective rice, cypress, catechu, yellow dock, yellow rhizome, bamboo, hooked vine, windproof, preventive, pollen, horse fetus, the party of Chinese wolfberry, lingxiang, rosmarinus officinalis, osmanthus, cinnamon, cinnamon, cinnamon, octopus, five times the seeds, gold fork, ephedra, octopus, seven toes of lotus, one-legged, big dragon umbrella, small dragon umbrella, two-faced needles, a package of needles, stay carved bamboo (can stop snake venom, although the very poisonous green snake bite, and the snake's venom is not a problem). (Although the extremely poisonous green snake bites, can also be cured), Platycodon grandiflorus (very much), cypress, Cortex eucommia, Uijing and other categories. There are also some specialty medicinal herbs in the Yao mountains, which can be seen from the name that they are mainly produced in the Yao area, such as "Yao Mountain Ten Great Merits" ("Chinese Plant Photographs"), "Spider Holding Eggs in Dayao Mountain" ("Guangxi Ethnicity Long Compendium"), "Yaoshan Golden Earring" ("Journal of Plant Taxonomy"), some in the name, although not crowned with the name of Yaoshan, but to Yaoshan produced mainly, or Yaoshan unique medicinal herbs, such as: zero vanilla, also known as vanilla, zeroling incense, celandine, perennial herbs, strong aroma, into the medicine to drive away the wind and dispel the cold, blood circulation and relieve pain, treatment of colds and colds, headaches, Toothache. As early as in the Song Dynasty, it was a famous specialty of Yaoshan, and generally only grows in the shade of old forests and humus soil. Historically, the highest annual output was more than 70,000 pounds. It is still a specialty of Dayao Mountain and is exported abroad.

"Shi Er, produced on the cliffs in the mountains, is one of the products of Yaoshan. Because it can cure cough disease, so the price is quite expensive. Taking stone ear is a special skill of Pan Yao." (Pang Xinmin, "Survey of Yao Mountains in the Two Cantons," 1934). Qianjin Grass, also known as Horsetail Qianjin. Because it grows slowly and is mostly parasitized on the branches of tall old trees, it is extremely difficult to find and collect, and thus expensive. It is bitter and poisonous, and eating more of it can make a person unconscious. Yao doctors will be it punch wine service, can cure bruises, oral can cure toothache, to a small amount of Qianjin grass and pig's feet stewed food, can be used as tonic medicine. When a pregnant woman has difficulty in labor, it is bound to her abdomen, and has the effect of inducing labor. Nowadays, due to the felling of many ancient trees in Yao Shan, the herb is hard to find. The powder is obtained by powdering the roots of Juniperus communis and washing them with water. Juniperus chinensis is usually planted for five years before it can be harvested. It is a farming method to rationally utilize the mountainous land. The Yao people cultivate food crops in the slash-and-burn mountainous areas for several years, and then plant it when the land is about to be exhausted and is ready to be thrown into desertion. Luo Han Guo, the annual production is very large. Yao doctors have known for a long time, Luo Han Guo decocted water and boiled juice, or stewed with pork, used to treat years of chronic cough. As early as in the Qing dynasty Guangxu twenty-eight, nine years (1902 ~ 1903) in the big Yao mountains in the Jinxiu four villages, the annual output has reached 1,000 pounds. Gui Pi, the cinnamon produced in Yaoshan Mountain, is famous for its excellent quality, so it is also known as "Yaogui" or "Yaoshan Gui". According to "The Livelihood of Yao People" in the Records of Guiping County, "When outsiders come to buy cinnamon trees, they will call their group, slaughter the pigs and chew the cinnamon, and then peel the cinnamon to give it to them." "real estate incense, mushroom, ling herb and other things, and the most good cinnamon, to the deep forests, weathered, mellow odor is also." Yao Shan osmanthus, most of the seedling transplantation, transplantation to be 15 years or 20 years, the tree grows to a height of about one and a half feet, the diameter of the chest about four inches or so, can peel. The skin is thin and oily, and the fragrance is not dry.

From the above, Yao Shan unique medicinal herbs are very famous, the medicinal effect is quite high. Yao people use the rich natural resources in the mountains, in the process of collecting, using, expanding the sale of varieties, and gradually combined with the treatment of disease, the formation of both diagnosis and sale of medicines Yao medicine Yao medicine. There are records in many old square records and history books, such as: "Although the Yao people have men and women HOS, but often move the disciples not often ...... good knowledge of herbs, take to treat people's diseases, always effective."

Over the past four years, many times on the Hunan Jianghua, Jiangyong, Lanshan, Ningyuan, etc. Yao medicine survey, the annual Dragon Boat Festival medicine market, Yao people selling medicine unprecedented, only the size of the Jianghua medicine stalls about more than a thousand, full of the county a few miles long, active buying and selling, the staff of thousands of people.

It is this way that the Yao make use of the rich resources of the mountains and forests, and the surrounding Han people and other ethnic groups are exchanging their products, forming a social **** living relationship with the Han people of the plains to maintain a material transaction.

In terms of agricultural water conservancy, the Yao people utilize the natural conditions of the mountainous areas to set up bamboo water pipes to divert water, which is customarily used by every household. Bamboo water pipe water diversion is economical and convenient, and it saves a lot of labor for people to pick water. When the Yao people take a bath, they used to use a large wooden bucket with a capacity of three or four quarts of water to hold the water, and the bathers could sit in the bucket and have a good bath. Coupled with human and animal drinking water, water consumption is very large, even if some people live in the flatter mountain villages, but also happy to use bamboo bamboo water. The bamboo is broken into two halves to make a kake, and in some cases, the bamboo is not broken, but the whole bamboo is put through the wall of the bamboo nodes to make a kake. When racking kake, depending on the terrain, some to be erected on the mountain, some to be suspended high hanging extradition, some to be closed bamboo kake buried in the ground in order to pass through the sidewalk, and some also to take the "U" type water diversion method. Bamboo water pipe from the water source to the user's home, the distance varies. Some more than ten meters, some dozens of meters, some hundreds of meters, some thousands of meters, some bamboo water pipe to pan over the mountain pass, flying over several hills, bamboo water pipe water diversion water flow is small, but the flow of water day and night, clear mountain water can be used as a large wooden barrel filled with water. It is because the Yao people have had the custom of using bamboo bamboo to draw water since ancient times, so when they built their houses, the first thing they did was to look for a water source to see if it was conducive to using bamboo bamboo to draw water.

A series of material and spiritual cultures, such as clothing, food, housing, transportation, religious beliefs, etc. of the Overhill Yao are in line with the ecosystem of nomadic farming without settlement. The clothes they wear are mostly black and dark blue, adapted to their slash-and-burn and family labor, and they wear ankle bands and gloves, which are not only convenient, but also avoid insect and snake bites.

Their staple food is dryland crops, such as dry grass, corn, no garden to grow vegetables, more picking a variety of wild vegetables, bamboo shoots, mushrooms as vegetables, meat is mostly hunted beasts, captured mountain rats, fished to the river fish. For the convenience of migration, they do not pickle. This is different from many other ethnic groups.

The house is built with bamboo walls and bamboo roofs (cedar bark is also used for roofing), which are made from local materials. A bamboo house can generally live four or five years on the decay, with their migration time coincides. In order to facilitate frequent movement, lying around the fire pit, the stove is built with three stones to facilitate frequent migration. They climbed mountains and mountains barefoot, without oxen and horses.

In terms of religious beliefs, the settled Yao people have built temples, while the over the mountain Yao due to uncertainty of migration, no temples, they set up a few stones as an idol, so that it is convenient for them to migrate.

From this, it can be seen that everything that the Yao choose to do is compatible with the ecosystem that they choose to live in.

In addition to the Dashan Yao and Shanshan Yao, there are also the "Indigo Yao" and the "Red Head Yao". The "Indigo Yao" is named after the production of indigo as a special technology. Indigo occupies a special place among the plants of the Yao people. Indigo is an important dye, which is used by the Yao people to dye cloth, and thus it is highly profitable to grow indigo. The "red-headed Yao" is named after the custom of wrapping the heads of both men and women in red cloth in the past.

Historically, many groups of Yao people were like this, in different ecological environments, in the pursuit of livelihood, each chose a different way of survival, to adapt themselves to the ecosystem in which they live, to create the conditions for the development of the group, which formed the ecosystems to distinguish between the various different Yao groups of sub-racial. It is these different ecosystems of the sub-racial, in various ways, to obtain the basic materials to maintain the survival of the nation, and strive to cultivate and continue their own race, so that the Yao people become a resilient people with vitality.

These rich and colorful living customs of the Yao people are an important part of the Yao culture, which is a reflection of the living conditions, living environment, historical encounters, sanitary conditions, lifestyle, level of production and development, religious beliefs and aesthetic tastes of the Yao people, and are the norms and standards of the Yao people's **** life and their thoughts and behaviors.

The Yao people are hospitable, like to make friends, meet with like-minded people, often think "the same year", tied as "old gung". The "same year", "old man" or other people to the Yao family guests, by the warm hospitality, hospitality in the form of multi-colored chic, rich human flavor, make people stay and forget.

The Yao people have nearly 30 kinds of festivals of all sizes for their own enjoyment, the grandest of which are the Panwang Festival of the self-proclaimed "Mian" branch, the Zhuzhi Festival of the self-proclaimed "Bu Shi" branch, and the Merit Festival of the self-proclaimed "Laja" branch. The festival of merit of the self-proclaimed "Raja" branch.

Yao men and women are free to fall in love, to talk about love and courtship, through the song hall and the field of song. The self-proclaimed "Laja" and the self-proclaimed "Nao Gelao" (White Pants Yao) Yao people's love and courtship is to take a unique "climbing" and "talk about marriage words" way. "The way of marriage. The way of marriage varies among different Yao clans. For example, most of the marriages in the "Mian" sub-family are celebrated by blowing and beating, and "stringing relatives" and worshiping ceremonies are held; the wedding of Baiku Yao in the "Bunu" sub-family consists of the groom's relatives and the bride's uncle reciting the wedding words and eating meat on a skewer to each other. The Bunu Baiku Yao wedding ceremony consists of the groom and the bride's uncle reciting the wedding words to each other and completing the ceremony by eating skewers of meat to recognize relatives, looking at the chicken's eye for the marriage certificate, and looking at the egg to divine good luck. The simplest is the "Laja" branch of the "midnight marriage", the bride was led to the groom's home in the middle of the night, and the family *** into a reunion meal will complete the marriage. No invitations, no gifts, the bride with the dowry is generally hoe, sickle and other production tools. Yao marriage form mainly carries Lang, "both sides go" and marry three kinds. Carrying Lang (also known as door-to-door) is very common in many areas, and the male "married" female family as Lang, also respected.

The funeral customs of the Yao people vary according to region and branch. Fishing and hunting occupy a certain position in Yao production and life. And created a simple and effective and admirable variety of fishing and hunting methods. Among them, there are about 20 kinds of methods to catch animals and fish.

The Yao people, like the Han people, for each person, the first basic relationship that determines his social status is his position on the family tree. This sign is the surname and first name. Both men and women of the Yao people have surnames. The family name decided before birth, in principle, remains unchanged throughout life (even after death). Like the Han, women keep their maiden name even after marriage. However, there is an important difference between the system of Yao surnames and that of the Han. That is, each Yao family name has its own branch, which the Japanese scholar Takemura Zhuoji called "sub-family name", "lub" in Yao language, and "Lao" in Chinese. Each "Lao" is actually a clan, which plays the role of a unit of ancestor worship and exogamy. Therefore, the family name of the Yao people has a close relationship with the rituals, beliefs, marriage and population. According to the legend of Panzai, there are twelve surnames: Pan, Bao, Huang, Li, Deng, Zhou, Zhao, Hu, Tang, Lei, Feng and Shen. The Shen surname died while crossing the ocean, and since then there has been no Shen surname, only eleven surnames. Call themselves the Twelve Surnames.

The sub-surname organization formed by the Yao people plays a role of rules and constraints in the ritual activities of ancestor worship. The forms of ritual unique to each sub-caste are, in any case, combined with the tradition of worshipping one's own patriarchs. People belonging to the same subcaste are known to have different ancestral symbols from other subcastes, and all observe various taboos, thus maintaining the clan ties.

There is also a relationship between Yao surnames and marriage. According to Comrade Wang Tonghui's research material in 1935, it is known that when the Hua Yao migrated to Guangxi in the early Ming Dynasty, they abided by the system of not marrying with the same surname. At the time of migration, in order to have clans with the same surname as a unit, villages with one surname were formed in various parts of the Yao Mountains, and the distance between villages was so great that it was inconvenient to intermarry. As a result, in order to make intra-village marriages possible, the family name was subdivided into clans, and intermarriage was prohibited within the clans. Outside the clans, even though they have the same surname, they are allowed to get married. As a result, the Yao family name can sometimes become the unit of extra-clan marriage, but sometimes it does not become the unit of extra-clan marriage. This is, to a large extent, subject to the social conditions and ecological environment in which each Yao group lives. Thus, it is not a question that can be deduced simply by the degree of sinicization.

The system of Yao surnames is not only related to religious rituals, but Yao surnames are also twofold. Firstly, according to the family name, the Yao nationality can be determined, and secondly, according to the sub-surname, forming a de facto extra-ethnic marriage group. This is fundamentally different from the Han's monolithic structure of "same surname, same clan". It would be appropriate to regard these characteristics as a product of the process of dispersed migration of small-scale units into a wide space in order to adapt to the unique cultural ecological environment. The above discussion shows that the Yao's sub-name (clan) organization has a deep relationship with the development of rituals, marriage and population.