Essay on the areas, customs, and ethnic habits of the Dai people. Must be 200 words.

Ethnic Profile

The Dai in China are mainly distributed in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Gengma Dai Wa Autonomous County and Menglian Dai Lahu Wa Autonomous County in Yunnan Province. The rest are scattered in more than 30 counties in Yunnan Province, including Xinping, Yuanjiang and Jinping. They live in the plains between the mountains and have a subtropical climate. According to the statistics of the fifth national census in 2000, the population of the Dai ethnic group is 1,158,989. The Dai language, belonging to the Zhuang-Dong branch of the Zhuang-Tibetan language family, is spoken in the Zhuang-Dai language branch. The Dai have a pinyin script, which varies from place to place, and a script reform was carried out in the 1950s.

The Dai people call themselves "Dai tithe", "Dai Ya", "Dai Na", "Dai Lien", etc. In the Han and Jin dynasties, they were called "Dai tithe", "Dai Ya", "Dai Na", "Dai Lien", etc. In the Han and Jin dynasties, they were called "Dai Ting" and "Dai Ting". Han Jin called "Dian Yue", "Shan", "trespass", "bureaucracy" or "Hat Bong". "Hat Bong". In the Tang and Song dynasties, it was called "Golden Tooth", "Black Tooth", "Mangban", "White", etc. In the Yuan dynasty, it was called "White". In the Yuan Dynasty, "Baiyi" was also written as "Baiyi", "Baiyi", "Baiyi", etc. After the Qing Dynasty, it was called "Paiyi". After the Qing Dynasty, it was called "Pendulum Yi". After the liberation, according to the will of the people of this nation, the name Dai.

The Dai have a long history, as far back as the first century A.D., the Han historical records on the Dai ancestors, 109 A.D., Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to develop the Southwest Barbarians, the establishment of Yizhou County, the Dai area is the southwest border of Yizhou County. In 69 A.D., Yongchang County was established. The Dai area was under the jurisdiction of Yongchang County. At that time, the chiefs of the Dai ancestors had repeatedly sent emissaries with musicians and magicians to Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, to dedicate music and perform novel techniques. The Dai were so appreciated and welcomed by the Eastern Han Dynasty that they were given gold seals and purple ribbons, and their chiefs were named "Han Dadu Lieutenants", thus establishing a political affiliation with the Eastern Han Dynasty. From the eighth century to the thirteenth century A.D., the Dai ethnic area was successively subordinate to the Yunnan Nanzhao Meng's regime and the Dali Duan's regime established mainly by the Yi and Bai ethnic groups. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Dai ethnic area was subordinate to the Yunnan Province. The Yuan Dynasty began to implement the Tusi system in the ethnic areas. In the western Yunnan Dai ethnic area set gold teeth Xuandu Si, jurisdiction Dehong and other places Dai, in the southern Dai ethnic area set Che (car) Li military and civilian general administration, jurisdiction Xishuangbanna and other places. Ming Dynasty, and consolidated on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty, set up in the western Lu Chuan Ping Myanmar Xuanfu Division; set up in the south of the car military and civilian Xuanwei Division, and set up a smaller Tusi District, the full implementation of the Tusi system. In the majority of Dai areas appointed hereditary Secretary of the soil, the soil official, greatly strengthened the Yuan, Ming Dynasty on the Dai area of the rule. During the Qing Dynasty, the old system of Yuan and Ming was basically inherited, but the policy of "returning land to the stream" was implemented in the Dai areas in the mainland where the socio-economic situation was more advanced, and the stream officials were appointed to carry out direct rule. During the reign of the Kuomintang government, it set up counties and bureaus in the Dai areas on the border, and continued to implement the policy of ethnic oppression, deepening the suffering of the Dai people.

Socio-economic

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Dai inhabited areas from the frontiers to the interior of the country were in different historical conditions, and their social development was unbalanced, with their own characteristics in terms of land tenure patterns, class composition, methods of exploitation, and political systems. These characteristics reflect the historical process of the development of Dai society from feudal lord economy to feudal landlord economy. In areas such as Jingdong, Xinping and Yuanjiang, the Dai and Han people intermingled and absorbed the more advanced production tools and technology of the Han people, with faster development of productive forces and earlier entry into the feudal landlord economy, and the Dai people suffered directly from the brutal oppression and exploitation of the landlord class and the Kuomintang government both inside and outside the nation. The development of Dai society in Xishuangbanna, Dehong and other border areas was relatively slow, especially in Xishuangbanna, which still retained a relatively complete feudal lord's economy.

After the founding of New China, the Dai people realized regional ethnic autonomy and the right to be the masters of their own country; the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Region was established in 1953 and changed to an autonomous prefecture in 1955; the Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Region was established in 1953 and changed to an autonomous prefecture in 1956. From 1954 to 1980, the Menglian Dai Lahu Wa Autonomous County, the Gengma Dai Wa Autonomous County, the Xinping Yi Dai Autonomous County and the Yuanjiang Hani Yi Dai Autonomous County were successively established. Land reform and socialist transformation of the ownership system have been carried out in different ways, and they have embarked on the road to socialism, with considerable economic and cultural development. Over the past 40 years since the founding of the State, the Government has vigorously repaired water conservancy, accelerated the basic construction of farmland, and popularized advanced production techniques, resulting in an exponential increase in grain output, the rapid development of the famous "Pu'er Tea" production, and the success of the rubber plantation in Xishuangbanna, which has resulted in a remarkable increase in production. Local and rural industrial development is rapid, has established mining, machinery, electricity, chemicals, ceramics, leather, paper, salt, food processing, tea, sugar, rubber and other factories and enterprises. Menghai Tea Factory, Nujiang Dam Sugar Factory, Jingde Factory in Xishuangbanna, Xinhua Factory in Dehong, and Mangshi Machinery Factory are all famous enterprises in the province, and the total value of industrial output has been increasing. Especially the development of electric power industry is very fast, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture has built hundreds of small power stations in various townships, before the 50s, the transportation of Dai area is very closed, nowadays the counties are connected with cars, and most of the townships and villages have built highways. From Kunming to Simao and Kunming to Baoshan, civil aviation lines have been opened. Crafts and commercial services have developed greatly. Elementary school were generally established in various places, and many middle schools and secondary specialized schools were set up one after another, with many schools teaching in Dai language. Both Xishuangbanna and Dehong Autonomous Prefectures set up Dai-language newspapers, broadcast in Dai, and translated and published various books.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the frontier areas inhabited by the Dai people were characterized by the prevalence of more than 10 kinds of virulent infectious diseases such as malaria, cholera, typhoid fever and bubonic plague, with malaria being the most serious one, and the majority of the Dai people were suffering from lack of medical care and medicines; at present, hospitals, sanitary and epidemiological stations, malaria prevention and treatment centers as well as maternity and child health care institutions were rapidly established, and there are health centers in the townships and medical stations in many villages. The bubonic plague has long been extinguished, and infectious diseases such as malaria, cholera and typhoid fever have been brought under control, so that the health of the people has been significantly improved. Especially since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Dai area of industrial and agricultural production, handicrafts and secondary production has developed rapidly, the people's lives have improved significantly, the Dai area is thriving, and has now become a more fertile and very beautiful "Peacock Country".

Culture and Art

The Dai have their own calendar, which began in 638 A.D.; there are books on the projection of eclipses and lunar eclipses; and there are historical documents and colorful poems, legends, stories, fables and other literary works. The Dai have about 500 long narrative poems, which are unrivaled among all ethnic groups in China. The traditional long narrative poems of the Dai ethnic group preserved now have a wide range of themes and rich contents, among which there are those singing about the creation of mankind, such as "Bushanggai and Washanggai" and "Kunsa", those celebrating the entrepreneurial deeds of the ancestors, such as "Aba Arago Shooting the Golden Deer", those reflecting the historical events, such as "Zhaonengxiang Zhaonengshuo", "History of the War between Mengmao and Jingyi", those exposing the greed and brutality of the ruling class, such as "E and Sanglou", "Zhaoshutun", those revealing social contradictions through the main line of love, such as the "Dai", and the "Dai". The main line of love reveals social contradictions, such as "Langjubu" and "Thread Show", and there are also "Rainbow" and "Song of the Liusha River", which express the new life of socialism after the liberation. The Dai people can sing and dance well. The singing of "Zanha" (folk singers) is a popular folk art activity, and the peacock dance accompanied by elephant foot drums and crude gongs in the dance has a unique national style, which is famous both at home and abroad. The carvings and paintings are exquisite and elegant, and the solemn temple pagodas and bamboo bridges flying over the rivers show the unique architectural art.

Customs and Habits

The family and marriage of the Dai people used to be characterized by obvious feudalism and endogamy. Strict hierarchical endogamy was practiced among the Tusi, and polygamy was prevalent. The majority of peasants practiced patriarchal monogamous small families, with parents and unmarried children as family members. Young men and women are quite free to socialize before marriage and are free to fall in love. Unmarried young people "stringing cloth less" (looking for unmarried women to talk about love) is very popular at festivals or events. The custom of calling a family member to the door was popular. Burial was common, and the burial places of the nobles and the poor were strictly separated. After the death of monks and Buddhist monks, they are cremated first, and then the ashes are buried in a pot behind the temple.

The Dai costume, men with collarless lapel or lapel small-sleeved short shirt, under the long tube pants, cold weather cloak felt, more white cloth or green cloth head. The custom of tattooing is very common, the boy to eleven, two years old, that is, people in the chest, back, abdomen, waist and limbs tattooed with a variety of animals, flowers, geometric patterns or Daiwen and other patterns to decorate. Women traditionally wear narrow-sleeved short clothes and tube skirts. Dai women in Xishuangbanna wear white or scarlet undergarments with small waists and wide hemlines, and tube skirts of various colors. Women in Mangshi and other places wear light-colored short shirts with large lapels, long pants, and a small girdle before marriage, and change to short shirts with opposite lapels and black tube skirts after marriage. Mainland Dai women's clothing and the border is largely the same, but there are regional characteristics, often called by other ethnic groups as "flower waist Dai", "big-sleeved Dai" and so on.

The diet of the Dai people is based on rice, and Dehong area eats round-grained rice, Xishuangbanna and other places love to eat glutinous rice. Like to drink and eat spicy and sour, good to eat fish and shrimp and other aquatic products. Commonly have the habit of chewing betel nut. Most of the villages are built on flat dams near the water, covered by bamboo and surrounded by streams. Dry-structure building is the characteristic of Dai housing, divided into upper and lower two floors. In most areas of Dehong, the Dai live in bungalows with earthen walls and thatched roofs.

Religious Beliefs and Important Festivals

The religious beliefs of the Dai are closely related to their socio-economic development. In the past, the frontier Dai people generally believed in Hinayana Buddhism, and at the same time retained the remnants of the primitive worship of ghosts and gods. There were many Buddhist temples in the countryside, and their organizational system closely matched that of the feudal ruling body. In Xishuangbanna, in the past, almost all underage men had to live a monastic life for a period of time, learning to read and recite scriptures, and then returning home, some cultivating themselves as monks. Buddhism has a clear influence on the daily life, customs and habits of the Dai people.

The festivals of the Dai people are mostly related to religious activities, mainly about the Gate Festival, the Open Door Festival and the Water Festival. The Door Closing Festival is held in mid-June of the summer calendar, and the Door Opening Festival is held in mid-September. From the day of the Door Closing Festival to the Open Door Festival in three months, for the religious activities in the year, such as ritual Buddha, listen to the Buddha preaching the most period, the elderly more frequent. After the Open Door Festival, the normal life before the festival is resumed. Water Festival for the Dai New Year, about when the summer calendar after the 10th day of the Qingming, when the water, dragon boat races, put the high rise and other activities, for the grandest festival of the year.

(Excerpted from "The Complete Book of Ethnic Work", edited by Qianli Yuan)

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