travel : guangxi

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Friday, April 18, 2014

ShuiZu wedding custom

The Shui people continue to keep the strong traditional color in the customs in weddings and funerals. They stress importance of a right and legal marriage. Before getting married, young man and women may make use of the opportunity of singing in antiphonal styles on festivals or when going to village fairs to make friends or have love affairs. Even if they become engaged through their free love, formal weddings must be carried out for their marriage. Otherwise, it will not conform to the etiquette and such a marriage will be discriminated by others. After the young boy and girl fall in love with each other, they should ask somebody to tell their parents of both sides. In case their parents would express agreement with it, the future bridegroom's family may ask the matchmaker to send presents for the engagement. And a lucky day should be fixed to send a group of people to the future bride's home, carrying piglets for Chixiaojiu (small-scale dinner party for celebrating their engagement). When the bridegroom's side formally welcomes the bride on the wedding day, they send a group of people to deliver the bride's a big fat pig for Chidajiu (grand-scale dinner party for celebrating their marriage). At the dinner party, songs for toasting should be sung.
After the hostess sings a song, the guests should drink up a bowlful of wine until the guests should be dead drunk, thus showing the boundless hospitality of the hostess. The families of both sides' should not join the activities of fetching the bride or sending the bride. Except in rare areas that the bride should be carried to the groom's on the back of the bride's brother, in most cases, the bride is dressed in her best, carrying in her hand a red paper umbrella that has been deliberately torn with a crack and walking in front of the queue. The accompany boys and girls and the long queue carrying dowries and trousseaus follow closely after the bride. The bride generally goes out of her parents' home around noon, and gets into the groom's home at six or seven o'clock in the evening. Before the lucky time comes, the bride should not get into the groom's home. Before the bride gets into the bridegroom's home, the bridegroom's families should go out of their doors to avoid meeting the bride. They should not come back until the bride gets into their home. At the night of the newly-married couple the accompany girl should stay up with the bride. The next day after the marriage ceremony, the bride should go back to her parents' home and stay with her parents. At the proper time after the wedding ceremony at the bridegroom's home, the bridegroom may ask the bride come back to the groom's home and begin their new life of husband and wife. Some brides go back to their own parents' homes for Zuojia (staying at home) for a period of time up to one or two months for the first time, which is the remaining marriage custom of Buluofujia (separation of newly married couples). There is a most taboo that both families are afraid of weather change with thunders on the way of the bride's going to the bridegroom's home, therefore, wedding ceremonies are generally held in autumn or in winter.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Yis' marriage custom

     The Yis are monogamous, living in nuclear families. Before liberation in 1949, marriages were generally arranged by parents, and the bride's family often asked for heavy betrothal gifts. In many places, married women stayed at their own parents' home till their first children were born. In some other places, feigned "kidnapping of the bride" was practiced to add to the joyous atmosphere. The groom's family would send people to the bride's home at a prearranged time to snatch the girl and carry her home on horseback. The girl was supposed to cry aloud for help, and her family members and relatives would pretend to chase after the kidnappers. In other cases, when people from the groom's side went to fetch the bride, her people would first "attack" them with water, cudgels and stove ashes, then treat them to wine and meat after a frolic scuffle, and finally let them take the bride away on horseback. On the wedding night, there would also be frolic fighting between the bride and the groom as part of the ceremony. These were obviously legacies of primitive marriage conventions.
       Patriarchal and monogamous families were the basic units of the clans in the Liangshan Mountains. When a young man got married, he built his own family by receiving part of his parents' property. Young sons who lived with their parents could get a larger portion of the property. There were rigid differences between sons by the wife and those by concubines in sharing legacies. Property handed down from the ancestors usually went to sons by the wife.
      The Yis traditionally associated the father's name with the son's. When a boy was named, the last one or two syllables of his father's name would be added to his own. Such a practice made it possible to trace the family tree back for many generations. In the Yi families, women were in a subordinate position with no right to inherit property, but the remnants of matriarchal society could still be seen clearly sometimes. The Yis much respected the power of uncles on the mother's side, and relations between such uncles and nephews were close. Slaves' marriages and homemaking were in the hands of slaveholders. The fate of slave girls was even more wretched, and they were forced to marry just to meet the needs of slaveowners for more slaves.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

The Traditional Wedding in Nanning

Many lovers choose Autumn to held their wedding in Nanning. But how many people still have memory about traditional wedding. In generally, one wedding have 4 parts, including Choice Object, Espousal, Course, Appreciation, which have SOMEdetails.
Choice Object:
when sons or daughters grow up, their parents have to choose their yokemate, but the most importance must be matched for marriage, then considerly, he/she is beauty or ungly. After parents permit targets, they look one tomathchmaking.

Espousal:
The Boy's family invite the fortunetelling to select the lucky day to held the party for espousal(Dinggen in China). First boy's family retain the person to writes note on the right of red paper that there isboy's birthday time and it is same of the girl, and the account of the wordmust be equal, moreover, it must be double, expressing the pair of couple. When espousal, the marriageformly startes.
Then both families talk about the money, betrothal gift,dot and choice the wedding day. On moneythat give girl's familly was discussed strictlythe total.If what happen on this matter, matchmaker will help to make a match.
Betrothal gift is the present that boy's familly give girl's family. Generally, the rich family send "sanshan" ( three animals including racoon dog, pangolin, partridge); "sanhai" (choice seafood including sleeve-fish, shrimp, cuttle; and 50 kg rice, 50 kg chicken or pork, 50 kg wine.But the regular is not strict, just follow the life level of family.
Dot is the material that girl's family give. the rich family send 8 desks that is covered by the gift such as biscuit, cake, fruit, candy; and land, sheep, cattle and so on.
then, decide the day of wedding.

Course:
        It canbe divided into 5 parts: singing, crying, welcomed, entertainment, entrance,
Before girl marrying, she invites his good friend or close relations to accompany her in her room. they get together totalk of their emotion, or bless the marriage happiness. good friends orsisters around girl and singsong until the candle is out.
On the wedding day, the bride begins crying, but sometime the bride's elder sister can replace. the content is about yearning parents foster and appreciating relations helping. it is most inviting that bride abuse the matchmaker's greed and cheating parents, especially when bride hates macthmaker. it is most galling that bride scolds bridegroom in public. it continues until bride leaves home.
when bridegroom go to receive bride, he must look for one unmarried man who is good at talking as his groomsman who encourages bridegroom on the one hand, and help bridegroom answer those questions on the banquet on the other hand.
         There are two good luck women who have husband and children, one takes chargeto guide bride out of room to do obeisance ancient and universe, and go to litter; the other answer for splashing flowers, when bride out of room, she must open umbrella and take rice to upcast, then fall down on the head of the bride meaning the new family like rice procreation. bride can't walk down the litter in the route until bridegroom accepts her.
          when the litter come the bridegroom's home, firecracker was burnt to celebrate bride. An elder women guides bride out of litter and take her into hall where bridegroom is waiting for. bride and bridegroom genuflct three times then into the new room. the woman use needlework to slot bride and bridegroom clothes together, meaning life for ever, then spouse drinks wine each other.at that time, they become true couple.
The next day moring, matchmaker guides bride and bridegroom into hall to make a courtesy call fo ancient, elder and sister-in-law, which is called "Baishuangchao".

Appeciation:
After wedding, couple pay a formal visit parents-in-law and relations, and held banquet that just invites relations. couple must thank the matchmaker with gifts.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Tea for Engagement

According to the marriage custom of Dong nationality, Dong's young lovers send keepsakes each other, to confirm their love relationship, send tea for engagement and finally declare overly their love if they are congenial. Then, the future bridegroom must get ready the polished glutinous rice cake, poprice, alcohol and dishes of meat and vegetables which are sent to his future bride's home by his uncle. In the feast, bridegroom's relative will introduce his character, personality to bride's parents and so do bride's relatives. Thereafter, both sides should keep their promise and not regret their marriage.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Tea for Engagement

Night wedding

Night wedding is a wedding custom in Zhuang area in Northern Guangxi. It is also called "torch wedding". At wedding night, bridegroom will bring with him 20 to 30 lads, carry torches, walk and sing to go to the bride's home. Near the village of the bride's, they will sing in antiphonal style with the girls who are accompanying the bride. Generally, lads will win in singing. Then an eloquent lad will go near the bride'shome and be stopped and questioned by the girls, when the lad gives right answers, he is allowed to go inside to meet the bride. On the way, the bride is accompanied by 20 to 30 girls, walking and singing in antiphonal style with the lad who came to meet the bride. With songs and laughs, the bride comes to the bridegroom's home to get married by kneeling before the parents. Then the new couple go to the bridal chamber while other young people continue to sing until daybreak.By the way,someone makes friends and probably there will be some more new couples.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Yaos' marriage custom

The Yaos have intriguing marriage customs. With antiphonal singing as a major means of courting, youngsters choose lovers by themselves and get married with the consent of the parents on both sides. However, the bridegroom's family used to have to pay a sizeable amount of silver dollars and pork as betrothal gifts to the bride's family. Some men who could not afford the gifts had to live and work in the bride's families and were often looked down upon.
In old Yao families, the mother's brothers had a decisive say in crucial familymatters and enjoyed lots of other privileges. In several counties in Guangxi, for example, the daughters of the father's sisters were obliged to marry the sons of the mother's brothers. If other marriage partners were proposed the betrothal gifts had to be paid to the mother's brothers. This, perhaps, was a remnant of matrilineal society.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Yis' marriage custom

         The Yis are monogamous, living in nuclear families. Before liberation in 1949, marriages were generally arranged by parents, and the bride's family often asked for heavy betrothal gifts. In many places, married women stayed at their own parents' home till their first children were born. In some other places, feigned "kidnapping of the bride" was practiced to add to the joyous atmosphere. The groom's family would send people to the bride's home at a prearranged time to snatch the girl and carry her home on horseback. The girl was supposed to cry aloud for help, and her family members and relatives would pretend to chase after the kidnappers. In other cases, when people from the groom's side went to fetch the bride, her people would first "attack" them with water, cudgels and stove ashes, then treat them to wine and meat after a frolic scuffle, and finally let them take the bride away on horseback. On the wedding night, there would also be frolic fighting between the bride and the groom as part of the ceremony. These were obviously legacies of primitive marriage conventions.
       Patriarchal and monogamous families were the basic units of the clans in the Liangshan Mountains. When a young man got married, he built his own family by receiving part of his parents' property. Young sons who lived with their parents could get a larger portion of the property. There were rigid differences between sons by the wife and those by concubines in sharing legacies. Property handed down from the ancestors usually went to sons by the wife.
       The Yis traditionally associated the father's name with the son's. When a boy was named, the last one or two syllables of his father's name would be added to his own. Such a practice made it possible to trace the family tree back for many generations. In the Yi families, women were in a subordinate position with no right to inherit property, but the remnants of matriarchal society could still be seen clearly sometimes. The Yis much respected the power of uncles on the mother's side, and relations between such uncles and nephews were close. Slaves' marriages and homemaking were in the hands of slaveholders. The fate of slave girls was even more wretched, and they were forced to marry just to meet the needs of slaveowners for more slaves.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Marriage custom of Miao Minority

The typical Miao family is small and monogamous. Aged parents are usually supported by their youngest son. In some areas, a son's name is followed by his father's, but generally a Miao person uses only his or her own name. Influenced by the Han feudal patriarchal clan system, the Miaos made efforts to maintain their family pedigrees, built ancestral halls and adopted words in their names to indicate their position in the family hierarchy.
Marriages are usually arranged by parents, but unmarried young men and women have the freedom to court. Mass courting occasions sometimes take place during holidays, when young women from a host village gather to sing antiphonal love songs with young men from neighboring villages. If a couple are attracted to each other, they exchange love tokens. But they must still win the approval of their parents before they can marry.

In Chuxiong, Yunnan Province, the practice of setting up public courting houses for unmarried men and omen prevailed until a few decades ago. After a day's work, they would visit these houses to sing, dance and court with their partners. The Miaos there also practiced the custom of "kidnapping brides." If the kidnapped girl consented to an offer of marriage, a grand wedding feast was held. If she did not, she was free to go.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Guangxi International Folk Song Festival

The Guangxi International Folk Song Festival is held over the last 10-days in October. In recent years, it has been held in Nanning and Liuzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Activities during the festival include a Chinese folk song competition with performances by Chinese and foreign folk-song singers, multi-ethnic gatherings are organized, and visitors may also attend trade fairs and participate in various local tours.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Dong's Competing for the Iron Ring-Rugby in the Orient

Competing for the Iron Ring-Rugby in the Orient

The competition for the iron ring, held on the third day of the third month every year, is a most exciting activity for the Dong. On the festival occasions, the Zhuang also stage this competition. For both ethnic groups, this is a game for brave people. Participants from each village form into teams to compete with others. The iron ring, beautifully called "a flower cannon shell", is about five centimeters in diameter and wrapped in red cloth. It is sent into the sky by a shooting device. And when it falls, the teams from different villages rush forward and try to be the first to get hold of it. Then under the protection and with the help of teammates, the lucky person who has it tries to break the interception and evade the chasing of the opposing team. He and his team emerge as the victor once he places it in a basket on the terrace serving as home for the opponent.

It is a very tough game and in a way resembles rugby in the West; hence, it is known as the "rugby of the Orient".

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Zhuang's Riding on Windmills

Riding on Windmills

The Zhuang refer to windmill riding simply as playing. Teams of four or eight people hold onto the wooden vanes of the windmill four meters high up the framework. Each one who turns to the ground pushes hard with his feet to keep the windmill running. While going up to the top of the windmill, the more courageous ones even revolve like gymnasts on a horizontal bar. The winner will be the team that makes the windmill rotate the most times in a fixed period of time.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Maonan's A Test of Body Strength

A Test of Body Strength

The Maonan live in the mountainous areas in northern Guangxi. When they tread on perilous mountain paths, they have to hold things in both arms which gives them a strong waist, arms and feet. So they often hold a competition called Log-Pushing. The game takes two opposing teams, each with three or four participants. One member stands on other partners' locked hands, with his hands and shoulder holding one end of a wooden pole. With concerted efforts among team members, the two teams push against each other, and the one who pushes until the thread tied at the center of the pole reaches a line on the opponent's side is the winner.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Rice Dumpling Snatch Festival

The Rice Dumpling Snatch is the most exciting festival for the Mulan ethnic minority. Three groups of three people are organized and compete to snatch triangular rice dumplings out of a jar using long chopsticks. The three people can only touch the ground on three feet creating an hilarious scene of hopping hand in hand and foot by foot in order to keep balance. If they lose their balance, the snatched rice dumpling may drop to the ground. The group who collects the most rice dumplings wins. Triangular rice dumplings are a kind of lunch meal and are used as offerings during the festival. They believe that the team who snatches the most rice dumplings recieves the most blessings.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Three Legged Plank Race

To the Zhuang Minority, the most entertaining festival activity is a race where participants are attached to planks of wood. There is also a dance using the same idea. All participants must keep in step and take care not to stumble or the momentum of the whole group is compromised. It is rumored in legend that during the reign of Emperor Jiajing in the Ming dynasty, Lady Wa, a heroine of the Zhuang Minority, led soldiers from Guangxi to resist Japanese invaders in Zhejiang. She effeciently trained soldiers using a method whereby three soldiers raced with their legs tied together. Later, the training method became an entertaining activity.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Bloom Ball Snatch

In March, during the Third Folk Song Festival, the most exciting activity is the Bloom Ball Snatch. Strong men from every village are be organized into groups to take part in the competition. So-called Bloom Balls are actually iron rings with a diameter of about 5cm covered in red cloth, which is shot it to the sky. When the bloom ball drops, each group rushes forward to snatch it like a rugby game.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Dragon Boat Race

Dragon Boat Race in Naning is a favorite activity on the festive calendar. Since 1934, local newspapers have reported such a race. After 1949, it became a traditional sport and grows in popularity every year.

The Dragon Boat Festival, which has been observed over a period of more than 2,300 years in China, derives from the death of Qu Yuan, an eminent poet living in Chu State (currently central China's Hubei and Hunan provinces) during the Warring States (475 BC-221 BC).

Historical records show that when the disillusioned Qu Yuan drowned himself in the local river on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, local residents raced to the site in boats to search for him. They made loud noise to scare away fish and dropped rice dumplings into the water to lure them away from Qu's body.

Ever since then, people have marked the anniversary of Qu's death on by racing dragon boats, eating "Zongzi" -- rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves -- and hanging wormwood around their homes.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Binyang Firecracker Dragon Festival

Binyang Firecracker Dragon Festival includes the entertaining activity where local residents make a firecracker dragon of 30m to 40m long. A dancer, with a red ribbon and bare back, leads the dragon by lighting firecrackers. Every family welcomes the dragon and lights firecrackers. What a sight to behold!

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）

Damingshan Azalea Festival

In spring, the Azaleas of Daming Mountain blooms over the hills and dales in a sea of vibrant color; red, white and purple. Blooming Azaleas are a grand view to enjoy at Daming Mountain.

旅行生活只因你的驻足而精彩（中国China）