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The Hani Nationality
The Hanis, with a population of 1.25 million,
live mainly in the broad mountain area between the Red River and the
Langcang River in Yunnan province. They have their own spoken language,
while a phonetic script using the Roman alphabet was created in the
1950s. The Hani language belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibeto-Burman
group of the SinoTibetan language family, and it can be subdivided
into "Hani," "Bika" and "Suobai." The
Hanis are mainly involved in farming, and are particularly skillful
at opening up new terraced land. They believe in polytheism and practice
ancestor-worship.
Between the Red River and the Langcang
River in the southern part of Yunnan, China, two mountain ranges extend
unbrokenly-the Ailao and the Wuxin. Here, Layer upon layer of terraced
fields, and mushroomshaped houses spread along the base and the sides
of the mountains. This is where the Hanisstockaded villages are found.
They are usually situated on the south slopes of the mountains, with
a view of green forests above and clear streams winding around at the
foot. Each stockaded village, fairly small in area and surrounded by
farstretching terraces, is made up of several families related by blood
ties.
Traditional Hani houses have frame of bamboo poles, walls made of sundried
mud bricks and a thatched roof. The building consists of a top floor,
a ground floor and an attic. The ground floor contains animal sheds
and a storage area. The top floor is partitioned off by wooden boards
into three separate rooms, and the attic serves as a granary. The shape
of the whole structure resembles a mushroom, hence the name "mushroom
house." Viewed from a distance, the stockaded villages with their
terraced fields, bamboo forests, and "mushroom houses," make
a tranquil rural scene.
Costumes vary among different clans of the Hani nationality. This is
especially so for womens clothes. Hani women in Xishuangbanna and the
Lancang area wear short skirts, leggings and caps inlaid with silver
ornaments. In Mojiang, Yuanjiang and Jiangcheng, some women wear tubeshaped
or long pleated skirts, embroidered waistbelts and girdles. Girls of
the Yeche clan prefer clothing made of homespun indigoblue cloth and
usually put on several layers of jackets, more or less the same number
of blouses, together with underwear, a girdle, tightfitting shouts
and white pointed headgear.
Yeche women like to wear white pointed caps and shortsleeved, collarless
jackets opening at the front with no buttons, but tightened instead
by a wide colorful waistband. They usually dress in many layers of garments,
anything from seven or eight to as many as ten or more. The most distinctive
feature of their costumes is their tightfitting shorts which are trimmed
with a band of tucks at the hem matching the number of layers in their
upper garments. The shorts set off the Yeche girls' strong slender leggs.
The Hanis' staple food is rice, corn and a locally produced purple rice
which is either steamed or made into sticky rice cakes as a special
treat on their New Year's Day and at other festivals.
The Hanis prefer to eat fish they have produced themselves. One such
fish is the Guhua which is unique to Haniinhabited areas. The fish
has a tiny head but a plump body of tender flesh with soft thorns. It
tastes very fresh and delicious when served with ginger, and peppermint.
Deep-fried locusts and cooked chicken heads are the dishes the Hanis
consider the best to offer important guests.
The strongest impression of the Hanis region is of terraced fields.
Once amongst these villages in the mountains and hills, you find yoursesf
in a world of terraced fields that stretch from the foot right to the
top of the mountains.
The Hanis match their cultivation perfectly to the topography of the
region. The result is sometimes a patchwork of terraced fields, somdtimes
a continuous stretch. Layer upon layer of interlocking fields rise steadily
upward to the mountain tops, sixty to a hundred of them, like a flight
of giant living steps. According to the official statistics, terraced
fields in the Hani mountain areas amount to over 120,000 Mu(about 19,769
acres). The exquisite layout of the terraced fields and the corresponding
efficient irrigation network demonstrate a perfect match of human beings
to their environment.
The Hani people take the first day of the tenth lunar month as New Year's
Day, when every stockaded village holds a big banquet in the center
of the main street. It is a familylike gathering for all the villagers
where they drink a toast in turns and wish each other good luck and
happiness. The banquet is so large in scale that many tables piled high
with different dishes are laid end to end along the street like a colorful
dragon. The Hanis call it the "Street-Center Banquet."
In order to prepare for it, people get up early in the morning and set
the tables along the street. They each bring various dishes they are
best at cooking in bamboo baskets and put them on the long banquet table.
A spread of delicious food such as pheasants, carp, bambooshoots, edible
fungus and dried meat, form a colorful display that shows the splendour
of the Hanis New Yea banquet.
After the banquet and when twilight falls, young men and women sing
love songs to the accompaniment of the Sanxian, a threestringed plucked
instrument, and head for a world of their own deep in the bamboo forests…
In spite of ups and downs over the long course of human history, the
Ailao Moutain, as a symbol of the Hani nationality, looms in the misty
twilight like a timeless monument. The Hanis cherished terraced fields,
vital to their livelihood, are carved upon the earth like immortal verses.
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