Nanning Ethnic Group
Nanning is inhabited with 50 ethnic groups, having ethnic minorities like the Zhuang, Yao, Miao, Mulao, Tong and Hui, and the Zhuang is the main ethnic group in Nanning. The statistics issued in 2017 tells that Nanning has a population of about 7.55 million, and the population of ethnic groups are 4.38 million, which accounts for 57.98% of the whole population, and the population of the Zhuang is 4.21 million, covering 55.78% of the whole population in Nanning. Those ethnic groups are scattered in the whole Nanning, and it has three Yao autonomous townships.
The Zhuang people
The Zhuang people are the biggest ethnic group in Nanning, and they are the indigenous ethnic group here. They live in Nanning for over two thousand years, having a rich and colorful Luoyue culture different from other ethnic groups. The zhuang people have several surnames with a big population, like Mo, Huang, Wei, Nong, Qin, luo and Cen. Those surnames are evolved from clan system, people from the same clan have the same surname and live in a village together. The Zhuang people do not have a united religious belief, but they have a polytheism and believe in many gods like Heaven god, Thunder god, Tree god andHhuapo god.
The Zhuang have its own oral language and written language. Xi'ou and Luoyue people, ancestors of the Zhuang people build a state in the south of China, and their language is the origin of the Zhuang language. You may see several words of its written language printed on the paper money of China, which refers to People's Bank of China. Moreover, the Zhuang people have its own song, dance, clothing, handcraft, headwear, music instrument, festival, religion, and food. The Zhuang people have special festivals like Sanyuesan Festival, Huapo Festival and Niuhun Festival. Those festivals have relation with tales and religion of the Zhuang people. Sanyuesan Festival is the most important festival to the Zhuang people, which is considered as their new year festival. In this festival, people would sweep ancestors' graves and make sacrifice to their ancestors. And people would wear their ethnic clothing and headwear to participate in entertaining activities, like singing and dancing. Handcrafts of the Zhuang include the Zhuang brocade, Xiuqiu, and Duhegong. Duhegong is the handcraft popular in Sanli town of Shanglin county, which is formed in the Ming Dynasty and has a history of over four hundred years. Duhegong is a person in tales, who is made to cloth doll. Its clothing is made from various colorful cloth and it is in the Ming Dynasty style, and a pumpkin is carried by the doll's two hands and two legs in its chest. The pumpkin is stuffed with many herbs like wormwood angelica sinensis, and atractylodes lancea, thus it has a light refreshing fragrant smell. The cloth doll of Duhegong is made to carry people's wish for health and miss to their ancestors.
The Yao people
Nanning has three ethnic townships, Guzhai Yao township in Mashan county, Lidang Yao township, and Zhenxu Yao township in Shanglin county. The Yao moved to Guangxi from Hunan province in the Ming Dynasty which is the original living place of the Yao. The Yao have their own dialect, clothing, headwear shoe, and festival. In Zhenxu Yao township, on the twenty-ninth day of the fifth lunar month, the Yao people have a festival, called Dannu festival. It is said that that day is the birthday of the ancestor of the Yao people. On this festival. The Yao people would have a luxurious meal, and drink lots of wine. One special dish is kebab, and a piece of kebab has seven chunks of meat. The kebab is given to other people and the receiver can't refuse it. After the meal, the Yao people would have dance performance of the Yao style, which includes Hougu dance(猴鼓舞), Leigong dance(雷公舞) and Dalie dance(打猎舞). Huan'ge is also popular in Zhenxu, which is singing. People sing songs in meetings with friends and relatives, festival, wedding and funeral. Guzhai Yao township in Mashan county is the home of honeysuckle. The Yao are good at dancing, and they have dances which reflect original living.
