The Qiang Nationality

The Qiang nationality has a population of over 190,000, found in Maoxian, Wenchuan, Lixian, and Heishui in Aba Tibet-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. The Qiang language belongs to the Qiang branch of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It has a northern and a southern dialect. The people are mainly agricultural workers, but raise livestock too. Embroidery and weaving are their traditional handicrafts; blockhouses and Qiang flute are symbols of their culture. They have an ancient religion called Duangong.


Qiang villages are uniquely impressive. As you look up from the winding trails, there they are, built on flatland halfway up the mountains, absolutely distinct in style. Most eye-catching of all are the tall upright blockhouses, which are called "Qionglong" by the Qiangs. Because wars and collisions took place so often in their history, the villages all built blockhouses as much as thirty meters high to defend themselves and store their provisions. The blockhouses can be tetragonal, hexagonal or octagonal in shape, with other forms as well. Some of them are 13 or 14 stories high. They were built entirely of broken stones and yellow mud. Without a single drawing or a single plumb line, they were built simply on experience and innate skill. Hundreds of years later, many of the blockhouses are as solid as when they were first built. This fully demonstrats the builders' high level of craftsmanship and technology.

Zhuangfang - square houses with flat roofs, usually of three stories, are traditional. The people live on the second-floor, keep their livestock downstairs and store their cereals upstairs. The flat roof of the house can be used not only to dry and husk their cereals, but also gives room for old people to rest, children to play and for women to do their knitting.

Today most Qiangs still wear traditional costumes. The men usually wear long blue gowns covered with a sheepskin jacket, and wrap a black scarf round their heads. The women's clothes are somewhat brighter, as they wear long blue or green dresses edged with colored patterns. They wear embroidered aprons and ribbons round the waist, and usually black scarves on their heads. However, in Heihu area in Maoxian County, women all wear white scarves, which is said to be done in memory of their national hero - General Heihu.

On festival occasions, the Qiangs like to wear Yunyun shoes, which are their favorite homemade cloth shoes. The toes are slightly upturned and the sides decorated with colored cloud patterns. Shaped like a small boat, these shoes look very intriguing.

Every Qiang woman is an expert at embroidery. These brightly colored, exquisitely patterned embroideries are attractive costume decorations as well as house decorations.

The Qiangs live on rice, highland barley and buckwheat. They often have millet as well. For vegetables, they are fond of radish, cabbage, soybean, pepper and the like. They don't eat much meat at ordinary times. They kill pigs for their New Year's Day, and keep the surplus drying on a beam. It's called "pig fat." The longer they keep it, the more valuable it becomes. The color of the dried pork gradually turns yellow. When serving, they cut it into small pieces and fry or steam it with different kinds of vegetables. Pepper and spices are also added to enhance its flavor. It is greasy but quite tasty. The Qiangs also enjoy drinking homemade corn or barley wine. Their wine is sweet, nutritious and full of vitamins, making an excellent drink for entertaining guests.

Over the torrent of the Minjiang River, across the deep gullies among the high mountains, wherever the Qiangs live, there are always sliding poles, rope bridges and plank roads of varying size.

A sliding pole is usually made of one or two bamboo poles about 12 centimeters in diameter. It is fastened onto a stone pillar on the bank and laid across the river at a slanting angle. The traveler ties a belt or rope around his waist and hangs from the pole by the rope. Pulling with his hands and pushing with his legs, he floats across the river like a bird in the midair.

There are two types of plank roads. The wooden ones are paved with planks and overlaid with compressed clods and pebbles. The stone ones are built on the cliff faces: first, holes are chiseled on the rocks; then wooden stakes are squeezed into the holes to support the plants for the path. Opening up paths along such sky-high cliffs is a precarious task.
The Qiangs have some experience of flood control. The world-famous Dujiangyan Hydraulic Project in Guanjiang in Sichuan Province is proof of their skill in the past.

The ageª²old primitive religion is the core of their tradition and culture. Qiang wizards called Duangong have a great reputation among the villages. The Shalang dance, armor dance and leather drum dance are all popular traditional sacrificial dances. They are vigorous and lively, demonstrating the Qiangs' bold and unrestrained character.

The Qiangs have their own calendar. Their traditional new year is in the lunar month of October. It is the most important holiday of the year. During the new year period, they not only worship their ancestors and various deities, but also hold all sorts of celebrations. Young people enjoy taking part in the Shalang dance, while old people contentedly sip their homemade wines, pondering the pleasures of life.

During the new year holiday, as part of the young peoples' education in traditional ways, a senior Duangong always tells their epics in song, with explanations. These epics, including "War between the Qiangs and Ges," "The Creation of the World," "Douanzhu and Mujiezhu" and so on, not only make the young aware of their own origin and history, but also teach them traditional values and ideas.

There is a line from an old poem: "Qiang flute, you should not blame the willow trees for having no leaves - it is the spring that won't come to the Yumen Pass! " That is no longer the case today. The Qiangs no longer fight the wind and snow high up beyond the Yumen Pass where Spring barely reaches. Now the sound of the flute floats down the green valleys, playing a much happier tune.