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Bouyei talents include medicine, batik
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The Bouyei people, who live in mountainous areas on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, are best known for their talents in cloth printing with exquisite patterns of rich imagination. The group also embraces a rich culture in medicine and agriculture.
The Bouyei ethnic group has the same origin as the Zhuang ethnic group, both belonging to the “Baiyue” people in ancient times. It is said that some Zhuang people left Guangxi in south China and went westward along an undulating hilly path. They arrived at the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and settled there. They were joined by other ethnic groups during the migration, and together they comprise the present Bouyei ethnic group.
The Bouyei people have their own language, which belongs to the Zhuang-Dai branch of the Zhuang-Dong group in the Sino-Tibetan family. They didn’t have a written language until 1956, when the government helped formulate a Bouyei writing system based on Latin letters, yet most of the people still use the Han language for writing.
Blessed with fertile land and a mild climate, the Bouyei people plant multiple crops like paddy rice, wheat, maize, dry rice, millet, sorghum, buckwheat, potatoes and beans. Some also grow profitable cash crops like cotton, ramie, sugar cane, tea and oil-tea camellia.
Sour vegetables, glutinous rice, head cheese, sausage and blood curd are among their most popular cuisines. One favorite food is called puyi zong, in which sticky rice, preserved ham, black sesame and walnuts are cooked and wrapped in a bamboo leaf.
Bouyei people also make their own teas with tea leaves and other plants like honeysuckle.
Guniang cha (girl’s tea) is a special tea among Bouyei people. It is produced by unmarried girls, and it is sent only as a gift for friends or as a token of love for their boyfriends, indicating their chastity.
Bouyei males traditionally wear short buttoned jackets and long trousers, with scarves on their heads. Women traditionally wear jackets buttoned on the right and long trousers or pleated skirts. They also wear scarves and a variety of silver jewelry. Blue, green, black and white are the most common colors of Bouyei clothes. Most Bouyei girls wear clothes they themselves dye and make.
Wax printing is a traditional dyeing technique developed by the Bouyei people. Bouyei batik is now one of the best-selling handicrafts of the people, popular both in the domestic and overseas markets.
According to legend, a Bouyei girl discovered the wax printing technique because of an accident in dyeing over 1,000 years ago. A bee alighted on the cloth when a Bouyei girl was just about to have the cloth dyed. When done, she found a white spot on the dyed cloth. She realized that it must be the wax left by the bee that had blocked the dye. A wonderful idea hit the girl. She drew patterns on the cloth with beeswax before dyeing to keep the dye from acting on the wax-covered parts. When the wax was stripped, beautiful patterns came to light.
Flowers, birds, insects and fish are among the most popular patterns on Bouyei batik.
Embroidery and brocade are also Bouyei people’s fortes.
The group also has made many contributions to traditional Chinese medicine, with the most well-known the use of xieye yunxiang, a herb that grows only in Guizhou. The local residents found the herb effective in protecting them from the toxic miasma common in the region. The legend suggests that the herb even helped save Zhuge Liang’s (AD 181-234) army after most of the soldiers fell ill when fighting against Meng Huo in the region.
The Bouyei people also invented medical therapies for broken bones, rheumatism and other internal problems common in damp mountainous areas. Since they didn’t have a written language, the medical skills and therapies were all passed down within families or from master to apprentice by oral teaching.
The Bouyei people believed in spirits and worshipped ancestors, but many of those who live near missionary outposts were converted to Christianity. In general, they observe the same festivals as the Han, but they also celebrate their own, such as Ox King Festival, which falls on the eighth day of the fourth month of the traditional Chinese calendar. Special cakes and glutinous rice dyed in five different colors are made and offered to ancestors. After the ceremony, half of the offerings are given to their cattle, which are also granted a day of rest as a reward for hard work.
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