Qujing Ethnic Minorities and Customs

Luoping county is 228 km to the east of Kunming. It is located on the border of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi Province.Luoping county has a population of 500,000 and covers an area of 3,006 square kilometers inhabited by many nationalities, including the Han,the Yi,the Buyi,and the Hui.

Fashion
The typical costume of Bouyei men comprises a long sleeved short shirt with the buttons down the front worn with long trousers. Young men like to wrap their heads with scarves of black or lattice cloth. Compared with the men's clothes, those of the women are more varied and complex depending upon the area in which they live.

In Guizhou Province, women's dress comes in four different styles, namely: the Northwest, Southwest, Central, and Eastern style.

The women living in the northwest favor a short black jacket, secured with a band tied on the left rather than buttons. The jacket will have a batik pattern on the cuffs and front. It is worn with a pleated skirt made of batik cloth, a turban, silver ornaments, and an apron. Unmarried women wear a plain apron, while those who are married wear an apron with an embroidered floral pattern. The Central style, which can be found in Huishui and Changshun includes long green trousers, silver ornaments (hairpins, neck bands, earrings, and silver bracelets), and an apron. Women living in the southwest often wear either trousers with a long sleeved blue jacket buttoned on the right or an embroidered coat with a long pleated batik skirt. The sleeve fronts and shoulders of the coat are usually decorated with either batik or embroidery. The Eastern style includes a dress and trousers trimmed in lace, and a turban. Following long term contact with the Han people, the Eastern dress differs little from that of the Han.

Social Life
The Bouyei ethnic group has a rich folk literary heritage, which includes fairy tales, fables, folk songs, proverbs and poems. The content extends to all aspects of their lives. Some will relate the tribal origins, some tell of historical events and heroic figures. Others are expressions of sentiment or will narrate events. Singing is very popular among the Bouyei people. Entertainment during festivals will often include singing competitions. Dozens of singers of both sexes sing musical dialogues in antiphonal style. They can sing day and night for up to a week without repeating the words of their ballads. Popular musical instruments include Lusheng, a horn called the Suona, Xiao (a kind of vertical flute), Yueqin, etc. Various forms of drama are performed, including their own Bouyei Drama, Dixi Drama and Huadeng Drama. The Bouyei Drama combines music, dance and costume. They also perform and enjoy traditional Han Drama.

Festivals
The Bouyei people have many festivals. Most of these are gatherings for forming new and renewing old friendships. Held on the hills or in the forest, these include singing and dancing, games and courtship activities. The Chabai Singing Festival is an example.

The festival is held in the Xingyi area of Guizhou Province between June 21 and 23 of Chinese Lunar calendar. During the event, tens of thousands of people of different nationalities from neighboring villages, counties, even neighboring provinces, will participate. The main activity is the singing contests. During the day, the competition will be held in an arena but in the evening it will be performed in the courtyards and houses of the local residents.

As with other ethnic groups, the Bouyei people also have some religious festivals. These include the March 3rd Festival, June 6th Festival and Ox King Festival. The March 3rd Festival celebrates the worship of the god of the mountain and community. The June 6th Festival commemorates the leader of an ancient uprising. The Ox King Festival comes on the first day of spring plowing. During this festival, each family steams glutinous rice that has been dyed in five different colours. After sacrificing to their ancestors, they feed half of the rice to their oxen which are then allowed to rest for remainder of the day.