Are the Lai and the Hmong the same ethnic group? If not which one earlier! Want to know something about them? Beg!

The two are not an ethnic group. Li is one of the Lingnan ethnic groups in China. Mainly in the south-central Hainan Province, Qiongzhong County, Baisha County, Changjiang County, Dongfang City, Ledong County, Lingshui County, Baoting County, Tongshi City, Sanya City and other seven counties and two cities, and the rest of the diaspora in Hainan Province, Wanning, Tunchang, Qionghai, Chengmai, Danxian, Ding'an and other counties. Due to the distribution of different areas and dialect, clothing and other differences, its self-proclaimed "companion", "qi", "qi", "MeiFu ", "local" and so on. According to the Fifth National Population Census in 2000, the population of the Li ethnic group was 1,247,814, with agriculture as the mainstay and women specializing in weaving and weaving, and the "Li brocade" and "Li mono" are famous all over the world. They speak the Li language, which belongs to the Li branch of the Zhuang-Dong language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family, with different dialects in different areas. There are also many people who are fluent in Chinese, and in 1957, they created a program for the Lai language in the form of the Latin alphabet.

The Le originated from one of the ancient Baiyue. In the Western Han Dynasty, they were known as "Luo Yue"; in the Eastern Han Dynasty, they were known as "Li" and "Barbarians"; and in the Sui and Tang dynasties, they were known as "Slang" and "Bong", "Bong" and other names to refer to some minorities in southern China. The Li ancestors of Hainan Island are also included in these general terms. "Li" this proprietary ethnic name began in the late Tang Dynasty, to the Song Dynasty before fixed, used to this day.

While the Li do not have their own written language, they have created a rich and colorful oral literature. Its form is lively, with a wide range of subjects and rich contents, which have been passed down from generation to generation. Mainly includes stories, legends, myths, fairy tales, religious genealogy. The more famous ones are "The Origin of Human Gong", "Wuzhishan Da Xian", "Legend of the Flood", "Gan Gong Bird", "Deer Head" and so on. Both reflect the social history, summarize life experience, disseminate knowledge in all aspects, enrich people's spiritual life, but also the Li people's good hope and pursuit.

The Li are a people who can sing and dance well, and their music and dance have a distinctive national style. Folk music has its own traditional musical instruments: nose pipe, mouth bow, dingtong board, dolmu leather drum, frog gong and so on. There are two main types of folk songs: one is sung in Hainanese with the rhythms of the Li folk songs, called "Li tune in Chinese"; and the other is sung in Li, called "Li ballad". The content is diverse, including labor songs, life songs, love songs, odes, ritual songs, narrative songs, and miscellaneous songs. The singers improvise the lyrics and sing their hearts out, which is fascinating. There are different forms of singing, such as solo, duet, rap, joint singing and lead singing. The melody of the tune is slightly different in each region.

When there is a song, there is a dance. Li people are not only good at singing, but also love to dance, their dance comes from production and life, from the worship of ancestors. There are mainly production dance, life dance and religious ceremonial dance. Some of the more famous dances are the "Begging for Fortune Dance", the "Chai Dance" (Bamboo Pole Dance), and the "Rice Pounding Dance", etc. When they dance, they often sing, percussively sing and dance. During the dance, songs, percussion and shouts are often blended together in a cheerful scene.

The Li's plastic arts are best known for their brocade weaving. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the Li's weaving technology was more advanced than that of the Central Plains. The woven Li brocade and Li sheets were famous all over the world. They made use of different textile tools, from ginning, flicking, spinning, dyeing, warping, weaving, embroidery, until producing colorful brocade, quilt, sheet, tube skirt, flower belt, etc., which has formed a whole set of systematic production process. Moreover, the famous "Yazhou quilt" and "double-face embroidery" are famous for their delicate techniques, colorful flowers and distinctive features. In addition, the Li people are also famous for their mono-wood utensils and bamboo and rattan weaving.

Now only some of the masses have preserved the Li traditional costumes and production, living tools, cotton and linen products are men and women's tops, women's tube skirts, head scarves, kapok fabric, linen material, hemp quilt, sacks and so on. Li women's clothing mainly has tops, skirts and headscarves, Li women's tops 61 centimeters long, waist 55 centimeters. Hemp fabric material is 3.08 meters long, 25 cm wide, kapok fabric is 4 meters long, 17 cm wide, hemp fabric material first male blouse, clothing is gray, imitation copper pattern, black light green, clothing length 76 cm, waist 57 cm, sleeve through the length of 115 cm. Jewelry items are copper earrings, silver earrings, silver collars, copper bells, silver bracelets, silver robe buttons, silver rings and so on. The production and living tools include wood, bamboo and rattan products, brocade weaving tools, dolmud pounding tools, knitting and pressing bucket hat tools, spinning tools, garden wood flat rake, rattan bucket, rattan canister, dolmud stool, fishing tools, caracal hunting tools, basket, bucket hat, dolmud cowbell, men's and women's knives and baskets, ceramics, ceramic jars, and other production and living goods. Rattan jar has a round lid, the body is tawny, 16 cm high, caliber 10 cm, bottom diameter of 12 cm; fishing tools with hemp tangle Wei weaving, 58 cm in diameter, ceramics is the Li own system burned, brown, plain complete, the shoulder has 7 milk needle Tin, caliber 23 cm, 38 cm high, bottom diameter of 22 cm.

Women's blouse, tube skirt, cotton fabric, linen fabric, headscarf, belt, colorful belts, etc., of which the sides of the headscarf embroidered with Chinese characters, scarf length 155 cm, width 23.5 cm. Li women's blouse clothing style before the hemline is long, after the hemline is short, chest both sides of the embroidered pattern, length 55 cm, waist 40 cm, sleeve length 106 cm, tube skirt length 50 cm, waist 38 cm, cotton fabric ribbon 4 meters long, 20 cm wide, this ribbon is the custom of the Li people when they get married around the top edge of the bed. The clothing styles are all characterized by diversity. Jewelry items are copper earrings, lead bracelets, silver buttons, beads, earrings, anklets, necklaces, hair ornaments, etc., copper earrings have a curved buckle at the top, the lower end of a curved hook, orange, lead bracelets: bracelet body forged into a book of lead sheet circle, smooth, outside the original two raised lead sheet curved hooks and become the surface of the rope pattern, string pattern. Production and living tools include rattan boxes, rattan ropes, bamboo hats, fish cages, Lu'er leaf mats, hunting tools, fishing tools, and many kinds of one-wood utensils. Important Festivals of Customs and Habits The Li practiced monogamous patrilineal small families, with children living in squatters outside their houses when they reached adulthood. Once the wife settles in her husband's home after marriage, the couple will live separately from their parents. Before the founding of the PRC, many people married early, with their parents making the decisions, but before the marriage, they were free to fall in love with each other. The custom of not settling in the husband's family after marriage (after marriage, the bride returns to her mother's family to live there for one or two or even seven or eight years before settling in the husband's family) is prevalent. Children born out of wedlock are not discriminated against. Divorce and widow remarriage are relatively free.

Li women bun on the back of the head, inserted with arrow pig hair or metal, hairpins made of cow bone, draped with embroidered headscarves, blouse lapel open-breasted without buttons, still green, under the wear no folds embroidered patterned tunic, dress wear collar, bracelets, anklets, earrings, etc., and in some places, the women's earrings are more and more heavy, the ear roots drooped down to the shoulder, historically known as the "Dan ear! ". Part of the region still retains the ancient inhabitants called "carving questions" Wen face, Wen body custom, especially women have Wen body custom, generally from the age of 12 or 13 years old to the completion of the pre-marital successive, individual have completed after marriage. Tattoo tools are plant needles, small bamboo sticks and plant dyes. Tattoo parts are mainly face, neck, chest and limbs and other places. Tattoo patterns vary greatly from region to region. This custom has basically disappeared and can only be seen in remote areas. Men's knotted bristles wrapped around the head, the upper shirt collarless lapel, the lower wear before and after the two cloth hanging eaves. These clothes are made of cotton and hemp, spun, woven, dyed and sewn by themselves. Diet is relatively simple, with rice, sweet potatoes, corn as the staple food, mostly hunting, gathering for side dishes, only a small amount of vegetables, and mostly introduced from the Han area. Women love to chew betel nut. Most of their houses are thatched in the shape of gold, and the walls are made of mud and bamboo bazaar. In the remote mountainous areas of Baisha County and the Haimu area still retains the roof like a boat canopy, the floor is elevated off the ground of the boat-shaped house.

March 3 love plot

The third day of the third month of the lunar calendar is the day of the annual Li people. The venue is usually located in the open rubber forest, the head of the green leaves in the sky, under the feet of the "leaf carpet" on the ground, deep, cool, quiet. It is no wonder that "March 3" has become a free choice of spouses of the local people and is known as the "Love Festival". Legend has it that in ancient times, the Li people living on the banks of the Changhua River suffered a great flood. Only a pair of lovers sitting in a large gourd dipper were spared, and were drifted to the edge of Yanwoling

. On the third day of the third month, the floodwaters receded and the two were married. Men plowing and weaving, have children, mutual help, hard work, and gradually make the Li tribe to flourish and develop. The descendants worshiped them as their ancestors and solemnly commemorated them every March 3rd. During the festival, men, women and children dressed in full costume, with cakes, dumplings, boys fishing, girls cooking and baking fish, and then offer the sacrifices at the mouth of the cavern where there are fossils of Tianfei and Guanyin. After the worship, the youth came to the activity venue, archery, pole climbing, wrestling, tug-of-war, swinging and so on. As night falls, bonfires are lit along the shore, young men open their umbrellas, and girls' silver jewelry and shell ornaments glitter in the firelight. Love songs, dance gradually, from the calm lyricism and into the joy of exuberance. Sometimes a pair of lovers quietly leave the bonfire, the young man hung in the girl's ear, the deer bone hairpin in the girl's hair bun, the girl to their own hand-woven colorful belt tied to the waist of the lover, both sides of the vow, promised to meet next year on the third of March do not see each other. Because of the March 3 from its origin and the main activities of the content, are related to marriage, so it is also known as love plot.