Folklore Tour
January 20, 2015
Before 8:00 in the morning, Master Xia was already waiting for us in the hotel lobby, and we agreed to leave at 8:00. After discussing and communicating with Master Xia last night, we optimized the itinerary plan. Today's itinerary is a folk custom tour: visit and learn about the largest minority in Xishuangbanna - "Dai"; the 56th minority in my country - "Jinuo"; the Kemu people are classified as the Blang nationality.
We set off on time at 8:00. Due to the time difference, it was not yet bright at this time, and it was raining lightly. The car left the urban area and entered the national road. The road condition was good, and we arrived at Jinuo Shanzhai at about 9:30.
Jinuo Shanzhai is located in Bapozhai, Jinuo Township, northeast of Jinghong City, 100°53ˊ33″ east longitude, 21°53ˊ11″ north latitude, with an average temperature of 18-20°C. It is 23 kilometers away from Jinghong, 6 kilometers away from Mengyang, and 3 kilometers away from Jinuo Township Government. This is the Jinuo traditional culture protection area in Xishuangbanna Prefecture. It is the only tourist attraction in the country that exhibits the most comprehensive and concentrated display of Jinuo culture and is the most important window to understand Jinuo culture.
The Jinuo nationality is an ancient minority. Jinuo is what the nation calls itself. In the past, it was transliterated into "Youle" in Chinese, meaning "following uncle", and by extension it means "a nation that respects uncle". In June 1979, it was recognized as the 56th ethnic group in China. The Jinuo people call themselves "Jinuo", which means "the descendant of the uncle" or "a nation that respects the uncle". They are mainly distributed in Jinuo Township, Jinghong County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Mainly engaged in agriculture, good at growing tea. The Jino language is used, which belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is a nation that has stepped directly into a socialist society from the end of primitive society.
The rain had stopped when we arrived at Jinuo Shanzhai. Master Xia bought tickets for us and told us to follow the tour guide. Several groups of individual travelers joined together and followed a Jinuo boy (in fact, he was 28 years old), and started the tour of the Jinuo cottage.
The entrance of the Jinuo cottage is shaped like a big drum, which is the mascot of the Jinuo people.
Entering the cottage, the first thing that catches our eyes is the cow skull covers scattered on the roadside and on the trees. According to the tour guide boy, when the Jino boys reach the age of 18, they must kill a cow with their own hands before they become adults. The cow's head is hung on a tree or placed on the side of the road. We asked the tour guide: Did you kill a cow when you were 18? Are you afraid? The tour guide replied: I was very scared at the time, but I had no way out, so I had to bite the bullet. Because of his small stature and weak strength, he stabbed the cow twice before reaching the deadly part of the cow. Although he said that he was very weak at the time, we agreed that he was very brave, after all, he was a grown cow. Think about when we were 18 years old, did we have the courage to stab the cow with a knife?
Going up the mountain along the steps, in front of the statue of a man and a woman, the tour guide said that this is their ancestor, the man is called Ma Hei, the woman is Man Niu, and Ma Hei and Man Niu are brothers and sisters. Due to the flood, Manu and Marhei's mother saved them both by putting them in a big drum. In order to prevent their nation from dying out, Manu and Marhei decided to reproduce. Because they are close relatives, their descendants have poor brains. For the sake of prenatal and postnatal care, intermarriage with foreigners is now allowed.
Since they are "uncle's descendants", everything in the Jinuo tribe is decided by the uncle. If you want to marry a girl from the Jino tribe, you must ask your uncle to agree, and it's useless to deal with the girl's parents. At the same time, the drum has also become the mascot of the Jinuo people.
On the mountain, a dwelling called "Zhuoba House" is used to show the daily life of "uncle's descendants". The local houses are all built of wood, and the wooden houses are made of angular square wood, because snakes cannot climb up. On the first floor are warehouses and livestock, and on the second floor are bedrooms and living spaces. "Zhuoba Room" exhibits colorful national costumes, daily necessities made of bamboo, etc., with bedrooms and workshops.
In the work room, several women are weaving colorful homespun cloth. There are also some descendants chatting around the brazier, eating melon seeds, showing their leisure life.
A room full of corn is not a granary, but a room for mice. The local elders firmly believe that the food is brought by mice, so the corn is to honor the mice.
Walking out of the "Zhuba Room", there will be a performance of folk songs and dances by Jinuo youths, and at the same time, they will taste roast pork and sweet corn for free. In a square, the Jinuo youths sang and danced, and finally interacted with some guests to bring the show to a climax.
After leaving the warm and hospitable Jinuo youth, they went down the mountain. On the way, there were some small performances such as fire breathing, and tasting of local Pu'er tea and rice wine. Although it was not a long time, I also basically understood the customs of the Jinuo nationality and knew that she is the 56th ethnic group in our country.
At 12:00 noon, bid farewell to Jinuo Shanzhai. After 45 minutes of driving, we arrived at Manjing Village in Menghan Town. The Dai people are the most populous ethnic group in Xishuangbanna, and Manjing Village is just one of the many Dai villages.
The Dai people call pretty girls "Shao Duoli" and handsome men "Mao Duoli". Later, it evolved into the name "Shao Duoli" for women and "Mao Duoli" for men.
Manjing Village currently has more than 100 households with a population of more than 1,000. In the past, they were all slaves of the Dai king, weaving tables, chairs, and making jewelry for the palace. Movies "Debt" and "Jade Guanyin" were filmed in this village.
As soon as we entered the Dai Village, a "Shao Duoli" received us and took us to her home. According to her introduction, there are 14 "shaodoli" in her village who are educated like her and can speak Mandarin. Receive tourists from morning to night every day, no salary, no bonus. The government will arrange people to do the farm work at home. They all serve the village and promote the Dai culture.
The houses of the Dai people are similar to those of the Jinuo people. They are all warehouses and livestock on the first floor, and the living space on the second floor. The difference is that the Jinuo people look more primitive.
The house we went to didn't look very rich in terms of building construction, and it felt very dilapidated. The house number is not bad, No. 88.
Go up to the second floor, take off your shoes and enter the living room of her house. The decoration is very simple, and the home appliances inside are several waves out of date compared to Shanghai. Asked if it was possible to take pictures, the answer was no, and said that guests could not enter the bedroom.
We sat around a small table covered with velvet cloth and sat on small stools, listening to the "Shao Duoli" slowly introduce the customs of the Dai people. What impresses me the most is that the wedding customs of the Dai people are just opposite to those of the Han people. In the Dai nationality, a man is married to a woman's family, and must work in the woman's family for three years before officially getting married. Men's dowries range from tractors and motorcycles to household appliances, so men are losers. When a girl is born in the local area, pigs and cattle are slaughtered to celebrate for three days, and a boy is born, and a firecracker is reluctant to be set off.
As soon as the boy reaches the age of 9, he is sent to the temple to become a monk. If he does not become a monk, he will not be able to marry. In the temple, little boys have to learn Dai language, scriptures, astronomy and geography, learn handicrafts, etc., and they will become vulgar when they are about 18 years old. The Dai people have their own characters, which are passed on from male to female, and can only be learned in temples.
Although the girl can speak Dai language, she cannot write or understand Dai language. But girls can go to school to learn Chinese, go to high school, go to university.
This village was opened to the outside world in 2005. In order not to lose the craftsmanship of silverware, the government specially approved 5 tons of silver wool each year to make various silverware for the elderly in the village for tourists to choose (valuable).
This "Shao Duoli" lifted the velvet cloth on the small table, and a dazzling array of silver jewelry was displayed in front of our eyes, including practical bowls and chopsticks, exquisite small pendants, fancy hairpins, thick belts and so on. Listen to the introduction of "Shao Duoli" and carefully watch the craftsmanship of these ornaments. It's a pity that there is no plan to buy silver jewelry on this trip, so I can only say sorry to "Shao Duoli", and leave her house after donating 5 yuan each in her "merit box". Although there is not much time, I have basically understood the customs and customs of the Dai people.
After leaving the village, Master Xia took us to eat Dai food. To be honest, it's okay to eat once.
At 2:00 in the afternoon, we arrived at the Tropical Rainforest Valley Park. It is said to be a park, but it is actually an exhibition site to introduce and understand the customs of the Kemu people. It was opened to the public in 2006.
The Kemu people (Baidu) are an ethnic group in the Indochina Peninsula of Asia. Mainly distributed in Yunnan Province, China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. It belongs to the South Asian type of Mongolian race. The Khmer language is used, which belongs to the Mon-Khmer language family of the Austronesian language family.
There are about several thousand Kemu people in China. The Kemu people have always regarded themselves as the Dai nationality and took the name of the Dai nationality. But whether it is language or customs, the Kemu people are different from the Dai people. Until 2009, Kemu people were classified as Blang ethnic group. In fact, the Kemu people have little to do with the Blang people. The differences between cultures make it impossible for the Kemu people to adapt to the national identity of the Blang people for a while, and they still call themselves "Kemu people", or "Blang nationality Kemu people".
At the entrance to the park, every tourist including the tour guide must follow the custom of the "Kemu people" and smear the mud of "Guanyin soil" on the face or forehead, otherwise they will be attacked by the Kemu people.
Our tour guide is a girl in her 20s with two stripes painted on her face and cheeks. According to her, every time I put it in, I have to wipe it off. If I don't wipe it off from morning to night, I will have a big face.
The tour guide introduces as he walks, the Kemu people will shout "huha" when they greet you, and you have to respond with "huha". Throughout the mountains and forests, the sound of "huha" came and went.
We walked not far along the path up the mountain when we saw a wooden figure whizzing past us, swinging from tree to tree. It shows that the Kemu people have the habit of living on trees, and the skills of picking fruits and hunting animals.
Going forward, a group of Kemu girls stopped us and asked us to dance with them hand in hand, showing that Kemu people are hospitable and good at singing and dancing.
Going further up, some simple sheds were built along the road, some old people and children, showing the daily life of Kemu people.
There is a simple bridge built between trees on this mountain for tourists to experience the fun of walking in the virgin forest.
Finally, we arrived at a simple stage to watch the singing and dancing performance of the Kemu people. The boys and girls on the stage were probably invited by Yamashita, because they are not of the same type as the girls we danced hand in hand just now.
At the end of the performance, the organizer invited a calligrapher to come on stage and splash ink, and then the ink was auctioned on the spot, with a starting price of 200 yuan, but only one person raised his hand.
After watching the performance and auction, I went down the mountain. Ask the tour guide where the real residence of the Kemu people is, and answer the nearest 8-mile mountain road. On the way down the mountain, there is a place where Kemu people perform barefoot walking on broken glass and chopping their own feet with knives.
In the bamboo forest beside the mountain road, there are bamboo tubes painted in various colors. The tour guide said that there is a placenta in the bamboo tube. The Kemu people intermarry, and the children they give birth to are poor in all aspects. They put the placenta in the bamboo tube to pray for blessings.
Through the introduction and simulated viewing, I feel that the Kemu people are very backward and primitive. According to reports, the government has invested a lot of money to save the endangered nation. Currently there are only a few thousand "Kemu people" in China. I think there will be more "Kemu people" in the future. Will the "Kemu people" break away from the Blang people and become the fifty-seventh ethnic minority in our country ---Kemu people?