Wa ethnic group's social history and culture

Author: Luo Zhiji
Editor-in-Chief: Dai Peili
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1995-03-01
Features:
Excerpt: The ethnic composition in the region inhabited by the Wa people, the situation of ethnic mixing, and how it formed need to be explored through the history of the indigenous residents and the ethnic groups that migrated later to explain. Among the ethnic groups living in the Wa region mentioned above, the Wa, Dai, Lahu, and Han are the most numerous and play significant roles. The and are closely related to the Wa in terms of language and origin, making it difficult to separate them historically. Other ethnic groups are fewer in number and less influential, having migrated later. Among the Wa, Dai, Lahu, and Han, who were the earliest inhabitants in this area? Based on existing historical records, the Wa and the ethnic groups belonging to the Wa branch of the Yi language are the earliest residents, while the Dai, Lahu, and Han migrated later. The Lahu belong to the Tibeto-Burman language family's Yi branch and share a common origin with the Yi, Naxi, Bai, and Lisu. They were once part of the ancient Qiang ethnic group. They have inhabited Yunnan since the Qin and Han dynasties and have a genealogical connection with the "Kunming" mentioned at the time. During the Southern Nanzhou period of the Tang Dynasty, there were the so-called Eastern Brahmanian and the 37 tribes of Eastern Yunnan, and the Lahu likely belonged to one of the Brahmanian tribes or one of the 37 tribes. Later, due to ethnic migration, during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Mengmian in the area of present-day Lincang County was an important distribution area for the Lahu. Peng Guie in "Southwestern Border Town Mianning" wrote: "Mianning (now Lincang) was given a more elegant name after the reform of land tenure. Before that, the local name was Mengmian or Mengmian. Both names were given by the Dai people (Baiyi). Because five hundred years ago (during the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties), the indigenous ethnic group here was the yellow Luoh and black (now Lahu), and the leader who first developed this land, Budao Mu, was also a small leader of the Luoh people. Five hundred years later, the Dai people moved from Menger (now Ruili in Dehong) and became political local officials. In the past two hundred years, Han people have moved from outside the province to settle here and have gained advantages in all aspects. As a result, the indigenous Luoh people gradually assimilated, migrated, and decreased in number. The Dai people call plains 'meng' and Luoh people 'mian'. Mengmian means Luoh plains." He also wrote: "Mianning was undoubtedly part of the Yizhou and Yongchang prefectures in ancient times. During the Shu-Han period, Zhuge Liang's southern campaign drove the central Yunnan barbarians deep into the southwestern borderlands, leading to a large influx of Central Plains civilization into the remote areas of Yunnan. Soon after, the Fan family rose, and by the Jin, Sui, and Tang dynasties, the large Mengnan Southern Nanzhou Kingdom flourished, and Mianning was part of the Yinsheng Prefecture. During the Song Dynasty, the Duan family established the Dali Kingdom, and Mianning was part of the Yongchang Prefecture, known as the Pu-Barbarian Mengyou. During the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, Budao Mu of the Luoh people came eastward for hunting and initially established Manai Village, later expanding to the central and eastern areas. Later, the brothers Pai Man and Pai Min came from the north and south and settled in Mian, becoming close to Budao Mu and engaging in hunting. They jointly sought management from the Mengmian (local administrative office), and Dao Pan San was appointed as the local leader of Mengmian during the Ming Xuande era."① Mianmian or Mianning (now Lincang) was the main residence of the Luoh (Lahu) people during the Yuan and early Ming dynasties. Later, due to resistance against ethnic oppression, they were suppressed multiple times and gradually migrated southwestward from Mianning to Shuangjiang, Lancang, Gengma, Cangyuan, Ximeng, Menglian, and areas west of Myanmar during the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are also surveys and records about this. For example: The Luoh people "were widely distributed and were the first to develop the land of Mianning. In the past five hundred years, they have been eliminated by the harsh law of survival competition, with some hiding in deep mountains and valleys, and others migrating to remote and impoverished areas. In the late Qing Dynasty, most of the Luoh people involved in the two rebellions in Shuangjiang's Shanggai were from Mianning. Currently, there are fewer Luoh people remaining in Mianning than the Dai people."② The Lahu people "lived mainly in the Erhai Lake basin during the Han and Jin dynasties, and after the Tang Dynasty, they continued to migrate southward until the 18th and 19th centuries, when they finally settled on both banks of the Lancang River, largely forming the distribution pattern of today."③ "The Menglian Lahu people migrated from Lincang and Lancang in the 18th and 19th centuries."④
Postscript: In the great family of our motherland, the Wa people are a minority ethnic group, but their history is long and profound, with distinctive social development characteristics. Their development since the founding of the People's Republic of China has also been and unique. As a result, it has attracted increasing attention and research from more and more people. In the early days of liberation, due to the characteristics reflected by the Wa people in social and ethnic relations, and because their distribution area was part of the undefined border between China and Myanmar in the southern section, the Party and government conducted extensive research and surveys on the Wa people, resulting in a number of survey materials. In 1956, the National People's Congress Ethnic Affairs Commission organized eight ethnic minority survey teams to visit various ethnic minority areas in the country. Among them, the Yunnan Ethnic Minority Survey Team included the Wa people as a key survey focus. From 1956 to 1958, a total of one million words of social and historical materials on the Wa people were collected and organized. Based on these surveys, numerous research papers and books on the Wa people were published from the 1960s to the 1980s. Some of the most important works include the national key project "A Concise History of the Wa People," "Social and Historical Survey of the Wa People," "General Survey of Ximeng Wa Autonomous County," "General Survey of Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County," "General Survey of Menglian Dai and Lahu Wa Autonomous County," "General Survey of Gengma Dai and Wa Autonomous County," "General Survey of Shuangjiang Lahu, Wa, and Autonomous County," as well as works co-authored by Tian Jizhou and Luo Zhiji, such as "Social Morphology of Ximeng Wa People." Despite the significant achievements in the research on the Wa people, due to time constraints and certain regulations during the writing process, some aspects were not thoroughly researched or presented, and the use of materials was not fully sufficient. Given this situation, I conceived of writing a more detailed book on the social history and culture of the Wa people. The purpose is to help more people understand the Wa people better and to promote their construction and development; it also aims to preserve a rich and comprehensive book that reflects the social history and culture of the Wa people for future generations. This is historically significant, and its importance will become increasingly evident over time. This is also the motivation and aspiration behind writing this book. Another reason is my deep affection for the Wa people, a sentiment that has been long-established. As early as 1952, I studied at the Department of Linguistics of the Central Institute for Nationalities, and to learn the Wa language, I lived in He Nan Village in Cangyuan for nearly a year in 1954. In 1956, I transferred to the graduate program in ethnology at the history department of the institute, focusing on the social history of the Wa people. In 1958, I joined the Yunnan Ethnic Minority Survey Team and frequently conducted surveys in counties where the Wa people lived. Later, I participated in the writing and editing of "A Concise History of the Wa People," "Social Morphology of Ximeng Wa People," and "Social and Historical Survey of the Wa People." In my life's studies and research career, most of my energy and time have been devoted to the research of the Wa people, and the Wa region has become my second hometown. After deciding to write "Social History and Culture of the Wa People," I not only organized the extensive field survey materials I had accumulated over the years but also seriously studied and absorbed the research achievements of other colleagues. At the same time, I made multiple trips to the Wa region for supplementary and thematic surveys and conducted in-depth research on major issues. After years of effort, the first draft was completed in 1991, and after revisions, the final draft was completed in 1993. During the writing process of this book, I received support and assistance from Mr. Yang Kun and Mr. Tian Jizhou, for which I am grateful. Since the 1950s, I have visited counties inhabited by the Wa people more than ten times. During each survey, I received enthusiastic support from the leaders and colleagues of the Party committees and governments of Ximeng, Cangyuan, Menglian, Lancang, Shuangjiang, Gengma, and Yongde counties. They successively assigned Wa women cadres, such as Ye Balaha, Yang Meiling, Li Xiang, Zhao Liping, Liu Zhiqin, and Wei Nemei, to assist me in rural surveys and provided favorable conditions for the surveys in all aspects. On the occasion of the publication of this book, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to them.
Author
August 28, 1994, Beijing