Shui Nationality
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TOPGeneral Information
Shui Nationality have a population of about 350,000 (calculated in 1990), most of which dwell in Sandu Shui People Autonomous County, Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in the southern part of Guizhou Province. The rest of Shui people scatter in the nearby counties, such as Libo, Rongjiang, Duyun, Dushan, Majiang, Liping, Kaili, etc. The residences of Shui People are located along the upper stream of Duliu River and Longjiang River in the south of Miaoling Mountains on Yungui (Yunnan-Guizhou) Plateau. With dense forests and picturesque landscape, it’s especially suitable for the growing of agriculture and forestry, which gains it the name the “land flowing with milk and honey”. Shui People live on agriculture. They mainly grow paddy rice, with “Qiuqiansa”as its traditional wine.
TOPHistory
The ancestor of Shui people derived from one branch of Luoyue people (one branch of the Lingnan “Baiyue” people. The ancient Baiyue tribes are believed to be the ancestors for a couple of Chinese ethnic groups now living in Guangdong and Guangxi, including Zhuang, Shui, Miao, Yao, Yi and Dong ethnic minorities). Since Tang Dynasty (618-907), Shui people dwelt in the upper stream of Longjiang River and Duliu River, which was called “Fushui Prefecture” at that time. Then due to war and unbearable oppression of the rulers, some people moved from Red River to the middle stream of Yellow River in the boundary of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.
They were the ancestors of Yunnan Shui Nationality. Shui Nationality finally came into shape in Tang and Song (960-1279) dynasties. During Yuan (1206-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, a large number of Han People from Huguang Province [Huguang was a province of China during Ming Dynasty. It was partitioned in Qing Dynasty (1616-1911) to become the provinces of Hubei and Hunan] immigrated to or guarded this area, stayed there and intermarried with Shui People. Thus, these people mixed together. The Chinese “shui”means “water” and “Shui People” means people living along the waterside. “Shui People” gains such name because they mainly dwell along the rivers and streams, and their living customs, nature worship, and folklores are all concerned with water. In 1956, they were formally named “Shui Nationality”.
TOPCustoms
The process of getting married is classified into inquiring, offer, engagement, and getting married. The matchmaker will carry out the inquiring and offer. Once the two are satisfied with each other, they will choose one day for “engagement ceremony”.
Family conventions : Shui people are based on clan, and the elder and seniority in the clan will form a conference to discuss the family affairs concerning moral and certain disputes among family members. Whenever one family is holding the wedding ceremony or funeral, they surely can get support from the other members in the clan. The clan can possess its own cemetery, mountain forest, grass, water source, fish pond and river reaches. The labor division in the family is traditional, that is men for the field while women for the needle. Men mainly plough and harrow the field, feed the cow, horse, and transport the farmyard manure, grain harvesting; women mainly do the rice seedlings, short time planting, field care and vegetable garden care. Shui people particularly pay attention to building up the entire image. Families with the same surname live together as a clan, whose members obey the clan rules for generations.
TOPFestivals
The main festivals of Shui people are March 3rd the Dragon Memorial Ceremony, June the 6th and 24th the Mountain and Forest Memorial Ceremony. During the festivals, Shui People dance the bronze drum and Chinese wind pipe dance, and entertain guests with 5-color meal. They enjoy drinking distilled spirit and rum.
According to the record of “Shui Letter”, a year is also divided into twelve months and four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter), with September (Lunar Calendar) as the beginning of the year，August (Lunar Calendar) as the end of the year. They have their own traditional festivals such as “Duan” Festival and “Mao” Festival, with “Duan” Festival as the grandest festival, which is equivalent to Han people’s Spring Festival. Before the festivals, you can hear rataplan all over the villages.
TOPLanguage
Shui people have their own language, which belongs to Sino-Tibetan, Zhuang-Dong language branch. They’ve got their own age-old letter, which was called “Shui Letter” with various word-formations. It’s rare that a Family with so little population can possess its own letter. With just 400 words left, it’s obviously not suitable for daily communication, but it can be used in recording the date, orientation, and fortunetelling. They now use Chinese.
TOPBelief
Shui People believe in many spirits. Their original worship can be reduced to nature worship, ancestor worship, and totem worship. In their ancestor’s worship, souls were raised to a surprisingly high position. Even now, there are more than 300 souls with exact names and more than 400 souls which do exist but lose their names in Shui people’s worship.
TOPInhabitancy
The traditional houses of Shui people are of “pile dwelling” architecture which are made from fir and pine tree and covered by fir barks or tiles. There are usually two or three storeys, with fowls sheltered under the house and people living upstairs. The number of the rooms is singular, almost three, five, or seven, and it’s a taboo to have even numbers. The structure of the house is extremely stable which fully shows the intelligence of Shui People.
TOPTaboos
The elder of Shui people usually call the younger “Xiaomei”, no matter the younger are male or female. When you communicate with them, you cannot use “mud brain” which has an insulting meaning “idiot”. When you are invited, you cannot cross your legs. Women and children in the family cannot eat until the guests and householders finish eating. In the way of going to the bridegroom’s home, the troop of the bride shall make a detour in case of encountering another troop. They cannot step on the same way. Yet the divorced women cannot go back to their mother’s village in a month since they get divorced and the widow cannot go back to the ex-husband’s home if they remarry.
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