Chinese Minorities

China has a population of 1.3 billion people. 56 nationalities are represented.

The Chinese, called Han Chinese are the biggest group and count for 92% of the total population of China. But those other 55 nationalities are not Chinese and have sometimes very different habits and cultural aspects.

The word minority always gets a bit of a negative connotation, but not really in China. Yes sometimes those minorities are considered as less developed, but is that so bad? I could even say most minority people get a better life than their Chinese neighbours.

As a lot of minorities live in an autonomous region, such as Guangxi, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia or Xijiang, they are allowed to spend government money on their own projects. They get a certain degree of autonomy.

Minority people only count 120 million in population, which is of course much less than the majority of Han Chinese. That's why the minorities are not subject to the one-child policy in China. They can and mostly have more than one child. This is a policy decided by China to make sure none of those minorities will disappear in the near future.

When participating in school exams minority children will make a better chance to pass. As the education system should be accessible to anyone, China uses a system that isn't really enhancing equality. Minority children will get on their national exams (quoted on 100) 20 points more than Chinese children. This system guarantees that some Minority children become involved in higher studies.

So being part of a minority isn't that bad at all in China, and a lot of Chinese man try to marry a minority girl, as to get more offspring.

Now recently Tibet, that is one of those autonomous provinces of China, has been overexposed in the news. The history of this conflict is a quite long and complicated. The complexity is comparable with the conflict about North-Ireland. Tibet has been a self-ruling country, but was also often included in the Chinese empire. Tibetan kings regularly asked the help of Chinese armies to help against attacks of Mongols or Nepalese or even to suppress civil war.

Personally I understand what the Tibetans are fighting for and they choose the right moment for international media attention. It is just sad that the media give a very "Black and white" story. Every time China is used as an item in the international news it is often demonized or misjudged.

Sani girl dressed up for photo.

The Sani are a branch of the Yi minority. These Sani live in the Stone Forest in Kunming and are responsible for the whole management of this Unesco place. So when the women are not busy working on their broidery, they will guide the tourists around.

Young Sani girls are dressed very colourful and have 2 little triangles on their hats. When a man touches the triangles it means he wants to marry the girl. Normally the man will go work 3 years in the household of family of the girl, to prove he is worth it. After 3 years the girl will decide if she wants to marry this man.

Yao showing their long hair.

The Yao are a widespread minority and can be found in most southern provinces of China as well as on Thailand and Vietnam.

The Yao women of Guangxi (as on the picture) are recognized by the Guinness World Record book as having the longest hair in the world,

They only cut their hair when they become adults. When they loosen the hair you clearly see it is composed of different pieces. They attach two different pieces of hair to their long hair. One is the hair collected before they became adults and the other bunch of hair is the hairs that fell off while brushing it and sometimes they also attach the hair of their deceased mom.

Zhuang excersising the bamboo dance

The Zhuang minority is the biggest minority in China. The have a population of 18 million people. They live mostly in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous province.

Zhuang are famous for the cultivation of rice on different terraces.

Naxi lady transporting hay

The Naxi are manly living in Lijiang, Yunnan.

This city is recognised by Unesco as a World heritage site. Mainly because of the beautiful location between eternal Snow mountains.

Naxi ladies are quite bossy and in Naxi culture the bloodline is carried on by the girl. Men are supposed to compose music or to play cards with friends, while women are working. But watch out everything is decided by the girls and men have to watch their words here!

Me and my Tibetan guide in Zhongdian

Tibetans can be categorised in many different groups. The group living in Yunnan province is mostly Khamba Tibetans. They have a good understanding with their Chinese cousins as for several centuries they had to defend themselves together against the attacks of roving Tibetan bandits.

Bai girl thinking about her boyfriend

The Bai live mainly in Dali, where they used to have their own Nanzhao kingdom, unfortunately destroyed by Genghis Khan.

The women were a hat which symbolizes wind, snow, flowers and the moon, all the enjoyable aspects of Dali.

On the day of wedding the bride will get pinched by friends, as a way of wishing her good luck.