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Group sculpts mountainsides
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WITH hundreds of terraces of farmland stacked from the foot to the top of their mountains, titian (terraced fields) created by the Hani people have astonished the world as a sculpting of the Earth.
With a population of 1,439,673 distributed in the areas of Red River, Simao and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province, members of the Hani ethnic group have lived by planting for generations, while making full use of the natural environment.
The Hani people are said to be evolved from the Qiang people, a nomadic tribe that moved south from the northern highlands of China.
They settled in the region of the Ailao Mountains in Yunnan Province over 1,000 years ago, where they met the Baiyue people, who had migrated from the east. Seeing the Baiyue people ploughing and sowing seeds in the fields, the ancestors of the Hani gradually learned all about sowing seeds and harvesting rice. While emulating their neighbors, they created a world-renowned feat in agriculture, the titian, terraced fields. They cultivated range upon range of mountains into layer upon layer of terraced farmland, just like sky-climbing ladders handed down from the tops of the mountains. There are mountains cultivated into as many as 3,000 layers in all.
The Hani people grow rice in their terraced farmland, as well as raising fish and ducks. The fish and ducks are fed by a food chain that starts with microorganisms in the field, while their excrement fertilizes the land. They stock the fields with fry in the spring, and collect the mature fish as food in the autumn harvest.
The Hani people eat rice as their major staple food, while they also eat corn, barley and beans. Beef, pork, mutton, chicken, duck and aquatic foods are all among their favorite cuisines. Steaming, boiling, pan-frying and salting are the common ways that Hani prepare their foods. They generally prefer sour and spicy flavors.
Baiwang is an essential dish of the Hani when it’s time to butcher livestock. It’s a cold dish made of a mixture of fresh blood of pigs and sheep, which is called duosheng. It is usually dressed with various seasonings like ginger juice, garlic juice, pepper, salt and fried peanut powder.
The Hani will preserve the extra meat for the rest of the year. Smoked, preserved ham is also a popular cuisine.
The Hani people have a long tea-planting history. There are over 30 kinds of tea bushes planted by the Hani. And there is a particular variety named Hani tea. They are also one of the ethnic groups that produce Pu’er tea, which was introduced to the middle of China before the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
The Hani usually build their villages on the slopes of the mountains, with the most typical houses shaped like mushrooms.
The legends suggest that witnessing the mushrooms shelter the ants motivated the ancestors of the Hani to build similar houses.
With a four-sided roof covered with straw and wood, the mushroom-shaped houses usually have two stories with the ground floor for keeping livestock and the upper floor serving as the living area for the family.
The Hani language belongs to the Yi branch, Tibetan-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan phylum. The language didn’t have a written form until the Chinese government created one for them based on the Latin alphabet in 1957.
Men traditionally wear a front opening coat and wrap their heads with black or white cloth, while women's clothes have a top without a collar. Silver decorations are popular among Hani women.
Traditionally, the Hani people are polytheists who believe that everything has a spirit. Christianity and Buddhism arrived in the 1920s, but failed to gain much influence.
Shiyue Nian, or October Year, is the biggest festival celebrated by the Hani, who take the 10th month in the lunar calendar as the first month in a year. The New Year’s celebration usually lasts for six days.
“Banquet in the center of the main street” is the most remarkable event during the festival. It is hosted in turn by each village.
Good wine and dishes from all the families are served on the tables that line the street in the village. With one table from one family, the banquet line can be as long as several dozen meters. The table with the most guests reveals which family’s food is most popular.
Hani Group
Population: 1,439,673
Distribution: The areas of Red River, Simao and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province
Language: Hani language
Religion: Polytheism
Food: Rice, corn, barley and beans, beef, pork, mutton, chicken and duck
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