The Shui Nationality

The Shui nationality has a population of 340,000, spread over the upper reaches of the Duliujinag River and to the south of the Miaoling mountains in Guizhou Province, with the majority living in the Sandu Shui Autonomous County. They have their own language, but generally use the Han language. They work mainly in agriculture; "Jiuqian Wine" is a fine traditional wine they produce. They grow peppers very productively, which are exported to the countries of southeast Asia. In the long course of their development, they have created colorful traditions and handicrafts. Their oral literature, music, dance, embroidery and carvings all have flavors of their own.


Among the vast forests, to the south of the Miaoling Mountains, at the upper reaches of the Duliujiang River and Longjiang River in Guizhou Province in China, there is a beautiful area with undulating hills and interweaving rivers. This is the home of the Shui nationality, here by the mountains and rivers.

Shui villages are mostly built beside mountains and rivers. Tall bamboo and old trees often surround them, and just outside are fish ponds. Their houses are usually built of fir roofed with tiles or fir bark. The whole house is built without a single nail, but is very sturdy.

In the middle of the hall wall the Shuis worship the paper tablets of their ancestors, and burn incense there. Ordinary families often set up a stone mortar to husk rice. Their oneª²story houses usually consist of three rooms, with the side rooms serving as bedroom and kitchen. They also build houses of two or three stories. They live on the second-story, keep livestock and poultry downstairs, and store goods upstairs. With a style of their own, these houses are well made and attractive.

The Shuis are agricultural folk. They live on rice, but supplement it with corn, wheat and sweet potatoes. They enjoy glutinous rice, fish, distilled sorghum or maize spirit and fermented rice wine, which are also offered to their ancestors in worship or to guests at holiday-times.

The Shuis often eat rice and vegetables cooked in sour soups. They use a wooden steamer to cook rice, or sometimes a tripod to roast it. They usually entertain their guests with bean curd, meat, chicken or duck; but special guests are served a sucking pig and fish. They also regularly eat hot-pots, which are delicious and highly nutritious.

The Shuis often dress in black or blue. The men wear long gowns that button on the right, and wrap their heads in a black turban. The women wear blue collarless blouses, also buttoned on the right, and long black trousers, both of which are edged with embroidered patterns. Their black belts are decorated with green flowers. During holidays, they wear skirts and comb their long hair into a plait fastened on top of their heads. On big occasions-important holidays or banquets-they wear various silver ornaments like earrings, neck rings and bracelets.

The Shui women are skilled craftª²makers. Over the years, they have not only gained great experience in embroidery, but also developed a sharp observation and general aesthetic appreciation.

The braces they make and embroider are famous far and wide. With two strings at each end, this T-shaped flower-embroidered cloth is big enough to wrap round a small baby and tie up to the mother's back. It is useful as well as beautiful. In fact, it is the best gift a mother can give her daughter when she gets married, for it brings her hopes for the speedy birth of a son.

The Shuis have a long history of printing and dyeing. The women do everything from planting cotton to weaving, printing and dyeing it until it is made into clothes. So, spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing are skills every girl must learn and master. Blackª²dyed cloth and printed cotton, both of excellent quality and very durable, are famous specialties among the Shui communities.

The Shuis have an ancient writing system called "the Shui-script." The characters were formed by using pictographs and homophones alone or in combination, as well as borrowing from other languages. This has resulted in a unique language, culture and arts.

They have their own national calendar, too. Regarding lunar September as the beginning of the year, the Duan Festival is the most important feast. It is often held on the twelfth day of the lunar month of December. On the day of the festival, all the villages strike their copper drums and blow their Lusheng throughout the night. Dressed in their holiday best, the villagers gather from all directions to a place called Duanpo, where they watch riders galloping on their horses and other traditional activities. During the festival, people also pay visits to their relatives, exchanging greetings and good wishes. They wish one another a good harvest and prosperity in the coming year.

Baxian instrumental music is played by the Shuis usually during holiday celebrations or at wedding banquets and funerals. Suona (a woodwind horn), gong, drum, trombone and bamboo flute are the main instruments. The percussion instruments, used chiefly as an accompaniment, are played in turn, echoing and resounding after each other. Ancient songs about mythical stories, fables and historical events are often sung after the formal rites are over. The tunes are chant-like, regular in rhythm and pitch. The leader sings out the story while the other singers join in the last half of the last line of each long stanza. This is called "striking the chorus sound." With the leader and chorus performing together as an integral whole, the songs are full of literary allusions and the romance of a golden age.