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The Jingpo Nationality
The Jingpos, numbering more than 119,000, live
mostly in the Dehong-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province.
Their spoken language is a branch of the Tibeto-Burman family in the
Sino-Tibetan language system. The Jingpos work mainly in agriculture,
growing rice and millet as their major grain crops. It is believed that
their ancestors once inhabited the southern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan
Plateau, and after the 16th century, moved southward to settle in the
Dehong district in Yunnan Province. The Jingpo people are very fond
of group dancing.
Along the banks of the Daying River in China's
Yunnan Province, there is a subtropical area where about 120,000 Jingpos
live. Favorable natural conditions, particularly a mild climate, abundant
rainfall and fertile soil, encourage the growth of a rich variety of
subtropical plants, especially valuable timber and fruit-trees.
Most of Jingpos' houses are built of bamboo-wood. Each is two storied
with the upper one for people to live in, and the lower one for keeping
livestock. It needs building every six or seven years, when the whole
village joins in to lend a helping hand. When the new house is completed,
the owner will fire a shot in celebration. As soon as they hear the
gun shot, the villagers flock to the house and gather around it, singing
and dancing with delight, accompanied by the beatings of wooden drums.
At the same time, they congratulate the owner on finishing the house,
wishing him good luck with everything and hoping his house will last
forever!
Jingpo men usually wear short black frontbuttoned jackets and short
loose trousers. When they go out, they always carry a long knife and
a knapsack as a symbol of their bravery and manhood. Women's everyday
clothes include tight-fitting skirts and leggings. At festive times
their dresses are brightened with acape made from silver bubbles strung
together. To go with this decoration, are silver necklace and a girdle
made of plaited rattan and thin bamboo strips. The costume shows the
Jingpos' individual sense of style.
The Jingpos eat rice as their staple diet. They prepare it in different
ways, either by cooking rice into a mash or porridge, steaming it or
pounding sticky rice into a paste to make rice cakes. To this staple,
they add vegetables and meat, usually boiled simply with salt as the
only flavoring. Zhutongfan(rice cooked with bamboo tubes) is the Jingpos'
favorite food. To make it, a fresh bamboo tube is stuffed with rice
and then soaked in water for some time. Both ends of the tube are then
plugged with bamboo leaves, and then the tube is roasted till the surface
turns brown. Rice cooked this way is sweet and tasty.
The Jingpos' most important festival is Mulao festival. Mulao in the
Jingpo language means "group singing and dancing." Dating
from remote antiquity, it is a big gathering intended to celebrate good
harvests, to drive out evil spirits and to pray for happiness and success
in cultivation.
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the day for the gathering.
All the Jingpo people come to the dancing site early in the morning.
Traditionally, four wooden poles, each about twenty meters high, are
erected at the center of the stage. They stand for good luck, victory,
unity and bravery. Painted on two of the boards round the sides is a
scene of the majestic Himalayas where their ancestors used to live.
Drawings of crops and livestock on the boards below symbolize prosperity.
As soon as the celebration starts, amidst the music of the Elephant-Feet
drums, gongs, cymbals and gun-salutes, people begin to toast each other
and exchange gifts. To show their manliness, Jingpo men hold a long
knife in one hand and carry a knapsack decorated with silver. Inside
are a bamboo wine container and some tobacco to share with friends and
acquaintances. Besides the sword, the most striking thing about the
men's dancing group is the brightcolored tassels hanging from their
white headbands. To match the men's brilliancy, the women wear gorgeous
glittering capes of silver bubbles, and wave a colorful handkerchief
in their hands. The whole group is led by leading dancers to the beating
of bronze gongs and drums shaped like elephants' feet.
Young people of the Jingpo nationality enjoy the freedom of dating and
choosing their own partners. At the Spring Festival, young people from
the village often go on a picnic together in the wild with food and
wine. During the picnic, they sing and dance to their hearts' content
and take the opportunity to speak of their love. The Jingpos' wedding
ceremony is special. Once the wedding date is fixed, the bridegroom's
family has to choose the "Mitchesu" (kidnapping team), which
is usually composed of seven strong men from the groom's village. The
day before the ceremony, the team appears at the bride's village and
"kidnaps" her. The bridesmaids then go with her to her husband's
home village. Afterwards, representatives from the groom's family pay
a visit to the bride's parents bringing the gifts. The parents then
send friends and relatives to "hand over the maiden" and attend
the wedding banquet held at the groom's. When they get near the host
village, the guests signal their arrival with gunshots, and the groom's
party responds by coming out to welcome and toast them. When the ceremony
formally begins, the bride, who is now taking a rest at the match-maker's,
will be toasted four times and finally allowed to enter her "bridal
chamber."
Living near the border areas of China, the Jingpos are in a prime position
for cultural exchanges and trade with other nations, now that China
is opening up to the outside world. This has brought new life and energy
to the ancient nationality. The Jingpo people will seize upon this golden
opportunity to work for a better future.
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