Shui Ethnic Group

The Shui people originated in the Suishui River Basin and then migrated to blend into the Baiyue people. In the Tang Dynasty, they were officially recorded as the Shui in the annals of Chinese history.

With a population of more than 400,000, the Shui ethnic group lives mainly in Sandu Shui Autonomous County of Guizhou Province, and the rest are scattered in a number of counties bordering Guizhou and Guangxi. In the south of the Miaoling Mountains and the upper reaches of the Duliu River and the Longjiang River, the Shui people live in an area which, with dense forests and picturesque sceneries, is home to fish, rice, flowers and fruits. They often describe their hometown as "beautiful as the feathers of a phoenix" in folk songs.

Sandu is the only Shui autonomous county in China where 60% of the country's Shui people live. Forest coverage in the county is 72.47% and negative oxygen ion concentration is 10,000-50,000 ions/cm3. It is honored as a "Forest Oxygen Bar of China" and a "County of Ecological Charm in China", with scenic spots such as Yaorenshan National Forest Park, Duliujiang Provincial Scenic Area, and Gulu Egg-laying Cliff, a 3A scenic area of China.

The Shui people have a rich culture and diverse arts. In addition to oral literature such as mythology and poetry, there are also arts and crafts such as paper cutting, embroidery, dyeing, and carving. In particular, horsetail embroidery is the most characteristic embroidery technique which was put on the first list of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006. There are also other types of stitches adopted in Shui embroidery, including flat, hollow, knot, spiral, twist, and wrinkle stitches.

The Shui people are hospitable and consider alcoholic drinks very important. Pig's head and chicken's head are considered as symbols of honor, so chicken's heads would be used to treat guests and pig's heads would be used as sacrifice at farewell banquets.

The Shui people have their own written language called "Shui writing", a kind of ancient pictographic and ideographic writing similar to inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells. There are now more than 400 known characters. The Shui's calendar is basically the same as the lunar calendar, but the difference is that the year begins in September and ends in August. The Duan Festival, lasting from late August to early October, is the biggest festival for the Shui people, equivalent to the Spring Festival of the Han people. Some Shui people also celebrate the Mao (one of the 12 earthly branches on the Chinese calendar) Festival on Mao days of September and October on the Shui calendar.

水族

水族發祥于睢水流域,自稱為“睢”,后遷徙融入百越族群,至唐代正式以“水”立名載入中華民族史冊。

水族人口40余萬,主要聚居在貴州省三都水族自治縣,其余散居在貴州和廣西交界的多個縣。水族居住地位于苗嶺山脈以南,都柳江和龍江上游,森林密布,山水如畫,是魚米花果之鄉,水族在民歌中常以“像鳳凰羽毛一樣美麗”來形容自己的家鄉。

三都是全國唯一的水族自治縣,全國六成水族人口聚居三都。全縣森林覆蓋率達72.47%,負氧離子濃度為每立方厘米1萬-5萬個,榮獲“中國森林氧吧”“中國生態魅力縣”等稱號。境內有堯人山國家級森林公園、都柳江省級風景名勝區和國家3A級旅游景區--姑魯產蛋崖等。

水族文化藝術豐富多彩,除了神話、詩歌等口頭文學之外,還有剪紙、刺繡、印染和雕刻等工藝美術。其中,水族馬尾繡是最具特色的刺繡工藝,2006年,被列為首批國家級非物質文化遺產保護名錄。此外,水族的刺繡還有平繡、空心繡、結線繡、螺線繡、絞繡、皺繡等。

水族熱情好客,以酒為貴。豬頭、雞頭象征尊貴,所以雞頭要敬給客人,豬頭留作餞行席的供祭品。

水族有本民族的語言文字。水族文字被稱為“水書”,是一種類似殷商甲骨文的古老象形表意文字,現在已知的有400多個單字。水族歷法與夏歷基本一致,不同的是,以八月為歲末,九月為歲首。從八月底至十月初的端節是水族最隆重的節日,水語稱“借端”,相當于漢族的春節。也有部分水族過卯節,即以水歷九、十月卯日為節日。