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The Tujia Nationality
The Tujia nationality has a population of 5,700,000,
living mainly in the Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in western
Hunan Province, Enshi Tujia Autonomous Prefecture in Hubei Province
and southeastern Chongqing City. They have their own spoken language
which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language
family. As they have no written forms, they use the Chinese characters
instead. They are diligent and courageous people who work mainly in
agriculture. They are good at singing and dancing, and their handwaving
dance is very popular among the folks. Weaving and embroidery have been
the women's traditional line.
The Wuling Mountains located in the border area of
Hunan, Hubei and Sichuan provinces are covered with dense forests and
undulating terraces. That's where the Tujias who call themselves "Bizika"
have been living for generations. Building houses and villages in the
depth of the cloudshaded mountains, they have created a unique mountain
culture.
Living in the depth of the mountains, the Tujia families often stay
separated from one another. Other people, especially those living on
the ridges, gather in the same village if they belong to the same clan.
The village is named after the surname of the clan. Their houses, usually
built of mud, have three rooms. The central one is used to worship their
ancestors and welcome guests. The one on the left is their bedroom,
on the right is the kitchen. A tripod is set up in the center of the
hearth, and a wooden baking frame is hung over the tripod. Built along
the slopes, most houses are supported in the front by some poles. People
live on the upper floor and livestock is kept downstairs.
The Tujia costumes are made of cloth they weave with their own hands.
They like black and blue the best, and bright colorful embroidery on
the hems and scarves is very popular. Keeping a good balance between
simplicity and magnificence, their embroidery look very graceful. According
to ancient local records, Tujia men and women used to wear clothes of
the same style. Today, women's clothes are mostly short garments with
broad sleeves, buttoned on the right. They wear tube-shaped trousers
with embroidered bottoms. Men usually wear short shirts buttoned on
the front.
The Tujia diets are characteristic. They like to eat chili, pepper and
spice, and men often have beef to go with alcohol. The local people
are very hospitable. As soon as a guest walks into their house and before
serving wine and dinner, they give the guest a bowl of glutinous rice
wine diluted with cold water (if it is summer) and a bowl of fried noodles
soaked in boiled water (if it is winter). Bacon, glutinous rice cake
and rice ball are their favorite food.
The moon-shaped glutinous rice cake is a Tujia special. They cook glutinous
rice first, press it into a cake and then bake it on a gentle fire.
They often paint beautiful patterns of flowers, plants, birds and fishes
on the cakes, and the cakes are colorful as well as delicious.
Oil tea soup is another traditional specialty of the Tujias. First,
they fry the tea leaves until the leaves turn golden, and boil them
with water. Then add in condiments, fried rice, beancurd, starch vermicelli
and meat slices and stew them together for a long time. During the off-seasons,
they often invite neighbors to have oil tea soup together and enjoy
the few free and easy occasions in a year.
Tujia women are good at weaving. The Tujia brocades, also called "Xilankapu,"
are practical works of art which are used to make clothes or quilt cover.
Woven by a simple wood machine, they are thick and durable, simple but
gorgeous. It is one of the three most famous brocades in Southwestern-China.
The "Tiaonian Meeting," "Zhongwu Holiday" and "Guozu
Festival" are three most important holidays the Tujia people celebrate
in a year. These are days when thousands of people get together singing
and dancing happily. Their dances are simple and graceful. Among them,
handwaving dance is the most popular in the local area. During intervals
of the cheerful spectacular handwaving dance, a folk play called "Maogusi"
is usually acted. As part of Nuo (evil dispelling) culture, the play
features monologues, sometimes interwoven with chorus or musical dialogues.
It is often performed on festive occasions in memory of their ancestors'
great achievements in exploring the wilderness, fishing and hunting.
In the performance, fifteen to sixteen actors make up a family. Each
of them puts on a rough neckdeep strawhat, the top of which is twisted
into five straw braids shooting upward. They also wrap themselves with
straw, cogongrass and leaves all over to represent the primitive life
of their ancestors. Whenever "Maogusi" shows up, other people
all move out in a circle to show reverence to their ancestors.
The longest play lasts six nights. It often tells stories of the Tujias'
history, hunting and fishing, marriage and working in songs, dances
and monologues. As the same form is seldom found in other ethnic groups,
it has attracted much attention from dramatists and dancers at home
and abroad. It is named as the "living fossil" of ancient
art and culture.
Climbing the blade ladder is one of their traditional sports activities.
It fully shows men's bravery and power. Sharp broadswords are tied bladeup
one above another between two 20meter poles put up on the ground. As
soon as the gongs and drums are sounded, the performer get hold of the
upper blade and step barefoot on the lower one, trying to climb up to
the top of the ladder and then come down row by row. It is a feat of
valor, and also a breathtaking folk show of Qigong.
The Tujias have seen rapid development of agriculture, education and
public health in the area. They are leading a much better life than
ever before. Now, following the implementation of the autonomy law for
ethnic districts, they are striving for a prettier and wealthier home
for themselves.
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