Bai People
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Bai or Pai ( Bai: , ; zh, c=白族, p=Báizú), are an
East Asian East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...
ethnic group native to the
Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture ( zh, s=大理白族自治州, p=Dàlǐ Báizú Zìzhìzhōu; Bai: ) is an autonomous prefecture of northwestern Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China. between longitudes 98°52′ to 101°03′ east and lat ...
of
Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
,
Bijie Bijie ( zh, s=毕节, t=畢節, p=Bìjíe) is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Guizhou Province, China, bordering Sichuan to the north and Yunnan to the west. The Daotianhe Reservoir, located to the north of the town was commissioned in ...
area of
Guizhou Province ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...
, and Sangzhi area of
Hunan Province Hunan is an inland province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and Guizhou and Chon ...
. The Bai constitute one of the 56
ethnic groups An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, rel ...
officially recognized by
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, with a population of 2,091,543 ( as of 2020).


Names

The Bai people hold the colour white in high esteem and call themselves "Baipzix" (', Baizi, 白子), "Bai'ho" (', Baihuo, 白伙), "Bai yinl" (', Baini, 白尼), or "Miep jiax". ''Bai'' means "white" in Chinese. Because of their strong preference for white, in 1956 the Chinese authorities named this ethnic group the Bai nationality. The Bai were previously named the Minjia (民家) by the Chinese from the 14th century to 1949.


Modern identity

The Bai people are one of the most
sinicized Sinicization, sinofication, sinification, or sinonization (from the prefix , 'Chinese, relating to China') is the process by which non-Chinese societies or groups are acculturated or assimilated into Chinese culture, particularly the language, ...
minorities in China. The Bai ruling family of the
Dali Kingdom The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai language, Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a Bai people, Bai dynastic state situated in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1253. In 1253, it was Mongol conquest of China, conquered by the Mo ...
claimed to have Chinese ancestry and was recorded by the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
to have hailed from
Wuwei, Gansu Wuwei ( zh, c=武威 , p=Wǔwēi) is a prefecture-level city in northwest central Gansu province. In the north it borders Inner Mongolia, in the southwest, Qinghai. Its central location between three western capitals, Lanzhou, Xining, and Yinc ...
. Although the Bai are technically one of China's 56 official ethnic groups, it is difficult to qualify them as a distinct ethnic minority. As early as the 1940s, some rejected their non-Chinese origin and preferred to identify themselves solely as Chinese. The Bai ethnic label was not widely used or known until 1958. Today, the Bai people accept minority status for pragmatic reasons; however, they are culturally nearly indistinguishable from Han Chinese.


Location

The Bai predominantly reside in
Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture ( zh, s=大理白族自治州, p=Dàlǐ Báizú Zìzhìzhōu; Bai: ) is an autonomous prefecture of northwestern Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China. between longitudes 98°52′ to 101°03′ east and lat ...
,
Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
, as well as in Gucheng District and Yulong County of
Lijiang City Lijiang ( zh, s= ), formerly romanized as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) ...
, Nanhua County of Chuxiong Prefecture, Xishan District,
Wuhua District Wuhua District () is one of seven districts of the prefecture-level city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, Southwest China Southwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrat ...
, and
Anning City Anning () is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, China. It is located approximately 28 kilometers southwest of Kunming city proper. In 1995, Anning was upgraded to a county-level city from a ...
(Taiping Town) of Kunming City,
Lushui County Lushui (, ) is a county-level city in and the seat of Nujiang Prefecture, western Yunnan Province, China. It borders Myanmar's Kachin State to the west and occupies the southern fifth of Nujiang Prefecture. Administrative divisions Lushui City h ...
of
Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in northwestern Yunnan, China. The titular ethnic group is the Lisu people, who make up nearly half of the prefecture's population. The state is long and narrow, with an area of 14,5 ...
,
Longyang District Longyang District () is a district of the city of Baoshan, Yunnan province, China. It borders Yongping County and Changning County to the east, Shidian County and Longling County to the south, Tengchong to the west, and Lushui and Yunlong ...
of Baoshan City,
Fengqing County Fengqing County () is located in Lincang City, Yunnan province, China. During the Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the ...
of Lincang City, and portions of Zhenxiong County of Zhaotong City. The Bai also constitute a hereditary ethnic group in
Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...
,
Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...
, and
Hubei Province Hubei is a province in Central China. It has the seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland provinces. Its provincial capital at Wuhan serves as a major politi ...
s, specifically in Bijie City,
Liuzhi Special District Liuzhi Special District () is a district of Guizhou, China. It was known as Langdai County before 1960. The county is under the administration of Liupanshui city, located in the western part of Guizhou Province. It is bounded by Zhijing and Nayong ...
, and
Shucheng County Shucheng County () is a county in the west-central part of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. It is located in the southeastern corner of the prefecture-level city of Lu'an and is its easternmost county-level division The administr ...
within Liupanshui City in Guizhou;
Sangzhi County Sangzhi () is a county in Hunan Province, China, it is under administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhangjiajie. Located on the northern margin of Hunan, Sangzhi County is bordered to the east by Cili County, to the south by Yongding a ...
in Zhangjiajie City in Hunan; and Hefeng County in Enshi Prefecture in Hubei.


History

The origin of the Bai people has been heavily debated over the past century, though those debates mainly focus on the groups of people who were assimilated. According to archaeological excavations around Lake Erhai, the Bai people may have originated in the area around the lake. The earliest human site, discovered in the early 20th century, was called the
Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...
Malong relics of Mt. Cangshan (苍山马龙遗址), dated circa 4000 BP. The late sites include Haimenkou of Jianchuan (剑川海门口, 3000 BP), Baiyangcun of Binchuan (宾川白羊村, 3500 BP), and Dabona of Xiangyun (祥云大波那, 2350 BP). The Bai are mentioned in
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
texts as the 'Bo (or Bai) People'. Assuming the Bo transcription is correct, the earliest mention of the Bai was in the third century BCE in a text called ''Lüshi Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Lü Buwei).'' They were mentioned again in Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian'' in the first century BCE. The Bai were one of the tribes that helped establish
Nanzhao Nanzhao ( zh, t=南詔, s=南诏, p=Nánzhào), also spelled Nanchao, , Yi language: ꂷꏂꌅ, ''Mashynzy'') was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southwestern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuri ...
(649–902). In 937, the
Dali Kingdom The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai language, Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a Bai people, Bai dynastic state situated in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1253. In 1253, it was Mongol conquest of China, conquered by the Mo ...
was founded by Duan Siping, a Bai man whose family had played a major role in the Nanzhao Kingdom, advocated for the "relief of corvée" ( zh, 宽徭役) and joined 37 tribes in eastern
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
to instigate a rebellion. The Dali Kingdom persisted for about 300 years (937-1253), facilitating the Bai's establishment of internal cohesion centered around the
Erhai Lake Erhai or Er Lake (), is an alpine fault lake in Dali City, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan province, China. Erhai was also known as Yeyuze () or Kunming Lake () in ancient times. Etymology The character "洱" (er) does not have the same meaning as ea ...
. In 1253, the Mongols led by
Kublai Khan Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the ...
conquered the Dali Kingdom. The
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
established
Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
, created administrative districts in the Erhai region, and retained the Duan Family, the former rulers of Dali, to oversee the region. In 1381, the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
army defeated the Yuan forces, deposed the former ruler of Dali, instituted Dali Prefecture, and subsequently Han Chinese soldiers and migrants entered the Dali region to cultivate the land.


Language

As of 2004, only Bai people who lived in the mountains spoke Bai as their only language, but some
Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
in Dali also spoke Bai due to local influence. Among modern Bai people, Chinese is usually used for popular media such as radio, television, and news, while Bai is relegated to folk-arts related activities. No book in the Bai language has been published as of 2005. The origins of the language have been obscured by many years of intensive Chinese influence. Several theories have been proposed, including categorizing it as a sister language of Chinese, a separate group within the
Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 ...
family, or in a category more related to the Austrasiatic language or
Hmong language Hmong or Mong ( ; Romanized Popular Alphabet, RPA: , Chữ Hmông Việt, CHV: ''Hmôngz'', Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong, Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh: , ) is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong p ...
. Superficially, the Bai lexicon and grammar are closer to Chinese languages, but they also share common vocabulary items with the
Lolo-Burmese languages The Lolo-Burmese languages (also Burmic languages) of Burma and Southern China form a coherent branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan family. Names Until ca. 1950, the endonym ''Lolo'' was written with Graphic pejoratives in written C ...
. According to the ''Manshu'' (Book of Barbarians) by
Fan Chuo Fan Chuo (; previously romanized as ''Fan Ch'e'' and ''Fan Zhuo'') (??? – late 9th century) was a secretary working under the Jiedu () (similar to the Byzantine thema) with headquarters located at Hanoi. Since the thema was a front of the ...
(9th century), the ''Baimans pronunciation of Chinese was the most accurate out of all the tribes in the area. Scriptures from Nanzhao unearthed in 1950s show that they were written in the Bai language (similar to
Chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...
and the Old Zhuang script) but it does not seem Nanzhao ever attempted to standardize or popularize the script. The same was true for its successor, the
Dali Kingdom The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai language, Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a Bai people, Bai dynastic state situated in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1253. In 1253, it was Mongol conquest of China, conquered by the Mo ...
. During the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
, the government began offering state examinations in
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
, which solidified
Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...
as the official language.


Religion

The habits of the Bai people in the Dali region closely resemble those of conventional
Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
culture. They are profoundly impacted by Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.


Buddhism

Most Bai people adhere to a form of Buddhism known as Azhaliism. Historically, the
Dali Kingdom The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai language, Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a Bai people, Bai dynastic state situated in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1253. In 1253, it was Mongol conquest of China, conquered by the Mo ...
was the first Buddhist nation in Yunnan, excluding the
Tibetan people Tibetans () are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group Indigenous peoples, native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 7.7 million. In addition to the majority living in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, sig ...
in northwestern Yunnan. Buddhism was brought to the Bai people as early as the 8th century. The Bai people once practiced
Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
Tantric Buddhism. After
Wu Sangui Wu Sangui (; 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbai () or Changbo (), was a Chinese military leader who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty. In Chinese folklore, Wu Sangui is r ...
's Three Clans Rebellion, it was decisively quelled by the
Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
. Subsequently, the Buddhist beliefs of the Bai people were coercively supplanted by Chinese Hinayana Buddhism. Furthermore, the Bai people exhibit a strong interest in transcribing Buddhist scriptures. Notable locations such as the Thousand Search Pagoda at Chongsheng Temple, Fengyi North Tangtian Fazang Temple, the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple, and the Fotu Temple have yielded various Buddhist texts, including the ''
Diamond Sutra The ''Diamond Sutra'' (Sanskrit: ) is a Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Buddhist sutra from the genre of ('perfection of wisdom') sutras. Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range, the ''Diamond Sūtra'' is one of th ...
'', ''
Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. ...
'', and ''
Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras (Sanskrit, Skt. ''Mahāprajñāpāramitā,'' ) is a group or family of Mahayana sutras of the Prajñāpāramitā (PP) genre.Zacchetti 2005 p. 17. Modern scholars consider these to be later expansions based ...
'', among others.


Benzhuism

Although most Bai people adhere to Azhaliism, a form of
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
that traces its history back to the
Nanzhao Kingdom Nanzhao ( zh, t=南詔, s=南诏, p=Nánzhào), also spelled Nanchao, , Yi language: ꂷꏂꌅ, ''Mashynzy'') was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southwestern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries ...
, they also practice a native religion called
Benzhuism Benzhuism () is the indigenous religion of the Bai people, an ethnic group of Yunnan, China. It consists in the worship of the ''ngel zex'', the Bai word for "patrons" or "lords", rendered as ''benzhu'' (本主) in Chinese, that are local gods an ...
: the worship of ''ngel zex'' ( zh, c=本主 , p=běnzhǔ , labels=no), local gods and ancestors. Ngel zex could be any hero in history—the prince of the
Nanzhao Nanzhao ( zh, t=南詔, s=南诏, p=Nánzhào), also spelled Nanchao, , Yi language: ꂷꏂꌅ, ''Mashynzy'') was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southwestern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuri ...
regime, a hero of folklore or even a tiger (for instance, Laojun Jingdi zh, 老君景帝 is a tiger).


Christianity

George Clarke, who arrived in 1881, was the first Protestant missionary to the Bai population. Few Bai individuals adhere to the Christian faith; yet, Christian churches exist in Dali.


Islam

There are a few villages in Yunnan where residents are
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
s, but speak Bai as their first language. These people are officially classified by Chinese authorities as belonging to the Hui nationality and call themselves ''Bai Hui'' ("Bai-speaking Muslims"). They usually say that their ancestors were
Hui people The Hui people are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Islam in China, Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the Northwest China, northwestern provinces and in the Zhongy ...
, who came to Yunnan as followers of the Mongolian army in the 14th century.


Culture


Gender

Gender roles were relatively equal in Bai society and women were not considered inferior to men. Having only daughters and no sons was not considered a tragedy.


Agriculture

Most Bai are agriculturalists. They cultivate many crops like rice, wheat, rapeseed, sugar, millet, cotton, cane, corn, and tobacco. However, some Bai also engage in fishing and selling local handicrafts to tourists. Most Bai were subsistence rice farmers, but they also cultivated wheat, vegetables, and fruits. Unlike the Han and most other Chinese minority groups, the Bai ate cheese and made it from either cow or goat milk. The leftover whey from the process of cheese-making was fed to pigs. Those who lived around
Erhai Lake Erhai or Er Lake (), is an alpine fault lake in Dali City, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan province, China. Erhai was also known as Yeyuze () or Kunming Lake () in ancient times. Etymology The character "洱" (er) does not have the same meaning as ea ...
fished. Bai fishermen have trained
cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...
s to fish since the 9th century. Lower water quality and high costs of cormorant training have resulted in recent disuse of the practice, though cormorant fishing is still done by local fishers today for tourists.


Cuisine

The Bai people enjoy sour, cold and spicy flavours and excel in preparing delicacies such as cured gammon, bowfish (''
Zacco taliensis ''Schizothorax taliensis'' is a species of cyprinid fish. It was described by Charles Tate Regan in 1907. It inhabits Erhai Lake in Yunnan, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With po ...
''), river snails sauce, fried termite mushrooms ('' Termitomyces'') and pork liver. The Bai people of Dali and surrounding regions enjoy a distinctive dish known as "raw meat" or "raw skin," which consists of pork that is roasted to a medium doneness, then sliced or shredded, and served with
ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...
, green onions,
vinegar Vinegar () is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting ...
, and chilli peppers to entertain guests. Additionally, there are white wines produced from glutinous rice, "snow plums" crafted from stewed plums and sugar from
Cang Mountain Cangshan or Cang Mountain (), also known as Mount Diancang (), is a mountain range immediately west of Dali City in Yunnan province of Southwest China. The highest summit, Malong, is 4,122 m, but the range includes another 18 peaks that are over ...
, as well as Dengchuan's distinctive "milk fan" and "milk cake", all of which are exceptionally flavourful.


Bai tie-dye

Bai tie-dye ( zh, 白族扎染) is extensively utilised in Bai apparel, everyday items, traditional folklore, religious ceremonies, and national celebrations. The primary stages of tie-dyeing consist of flower tying and dyeing, with the essential techniques being the twisting and tying approach along with the dyeing process. The essence of the technique is in the dying method and the proficiency in dyeing. The primary instruments for tie-dyeing include the dyeing jar, dyeing stick, sun rack, and stone mill. Zhoucheng, Dali ( zh, 大理周城) offers a diverse array of tie-dye items, featuring over 1,000 distinct patterns characterised by a broad spectrum of themes and profound meanings.


Clothing

The Bai people, as their name would suggest, favor white clothes and decorations. Women generally wear white dresses, sleeveless jackets of red, blue, or black, embroidered belts, loose trousers, embroidered shoes of white cloth, and jewelry made of gold or silver. Women in Dali traditionally wear a white coat trimmed with a black or purple collar, loose blue trousers, embroidered shoes, silver bracelets, and earrings. Unmarried women wear a single pigtail on the top of their head, while married women roll their hair. The men wear white jackets, black-collared coats, and dark loose shorts. Their headwear and costume reflect the Bai symbols: the snow, the moon, the flower, and the wind. Many Bai women style their hair in a long braid wrapped in a headcloth. This style is called "the phoenix bows its head".


Arts

The Bai have a traditional form of theater called ''Chuichuiqiang''. However, this local tradition is endangered, as is traditional Bai culture in general.


Festivals


Raosanlin and Horse-racing

The three major Bai festivals are called the Raosanlin (Walking Around Three Souls). The most important one is the Third Month Fair, held annually at the foot of Mount Cang in Dali between the fifteenth and twentieth days of the third lunar month. Originally, it was a religious activity to rally and pay homage, but it gradually evolved into a fair that included performances of traditional sports and dance as well as the trade of merchandise from different regions. The second festival is the Shibaoshan Song Festival, and the third is the
Torch Festival The Torch Festival or Fire Festival (; Nuosu language: ; YYPY ''Dut Zie''; Bai: ), also known as the ''Xinghui'' Festival () is one of the main holidays of the Yi people of southwest China and is celebrated by other ethnic groups of the region (i ...
, held on the 25th day of the sixth lunar month to wish health and a good harvest. On that evening, the countryside is decorated with banners with auspicious words written upon them. Villagers then light torches in front of their gates and walk around the fields while holding yet more torches in order to catch pests. Horse racing is a customary practice of the Bai people, conducted not only during the Third Month Fair but also at the Mule-and-Horse Meeting in Jianchuan in July, the Fish Pone Meeting in Eryuan and Dengchuan in August, and in several villages. The origins of Bai horse racing date back over a millennium to the
Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, coinciding with the introduction of Buddhism to
Nanzhao Nanzhao ( zh, t=南詔, s=南诏, p=Nánzhào), also spelled Nanchao, , Yi language: ꂷꏂꌅ, ''Mashynzy'') was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southwestern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuri ...
. The Guanyin Temple Fair, conducted at the base of
Cang Mountain Cangshan or Cang Mountain (), also known as Mount Diancang (), is a mountain range immediately west of Dali City in Yunnan province of Southwest China. The highest summit, Malong, is 4,122 m, but the range includes another 18 peaks that are over ...
in March of the lunar calendar, has progressively transformed into the Third Month Fair and associated commercial activities. Initially, the market primarily focused on the exchange of medical herbs and cattle. To further their business, horse sellers arranged horse-riding competitions at the market to showcase the strength and speed of the horses. Horse racing has consequently become a significant aspect of Third Month Fair. Annually, during the festival, the Bai and other ethnic groups, like the
Tibetans Tibetans () are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 7.7 million. In addition to the majority living in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live in t ...
and Nakhi, convene from across the globe in ceremonial clothing with their horses to engage in horse-racing.


Tea ceremony

The Bai
tea ceremony Tea ceremony is a ritualized practice of making and serving tea (茶 ''cha'') in East Asia practiced in the Sinosphere. The original term from China (), literally translated as either "''way of tea''", "''etiquette for tea or tea rite''",Heiss, M ...
, San Dao Cha 三道茶 (Three Course Tea), is most popular among the Bai in the Dali area and is a common sight at festivals and marriages. It is both a cultural ceremony and a method of honouring a guest. The ceremony is often described in
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
as 'Yiku, Ertian, sanhuiwei' 一苦二甜三回味 (First is bitter, Second is sweet, Third brings reflection (aftertaste)). The first tea course starts with baking the tea leaves in a clay pot over a small flame, shaking the leaves often while they bake. When they turn slightly brown and give off a distinct fragrance, heated water is added to the pot. The water should immediately begin bubbling. When the bubbling ceases, a small amount of bitterly fragrant, concentrated tea remains. Due to the sound the hot water makes when it enters the clay pot, the first course tea was, in previous times, also known as Lei Xiang Cha 雷响茶 (Sound of Thunder Tea). The second course is sweet tea. Pieces of walnut kernel and roasted rushan (乳扇, lit. ''milk fan''), a dried cheese specific to the Dali region, are put into a tea cup with brown sugar and other ingredients. Boiling water is added and the tea is then offered to the guest. This tea is sweet without being oily, so the guest can easily drink it. The third tea is made by mixing honey,
Sichuan pepper Sichuan pepper (, also known as Sichuanese pepper, Szechuan pepper, Chinese prickly ash, Chinese pepper, Mountain pepper, and ''mala'' pepper, is a spice commonly used in Sichuan cuisine in China, Bhutan and in northeast India. It is called mej ...
, slices of ginger, and cassia together in a china cup with hot Cangshan Xue green tea. The product is a tea that is sweet, coarse and spicy all at once. This Dali specialty has a noticeable aftertaste, which meant it was known as Hui Wei Cha 回味茶 (Reflection Tea). The 18 procedures of the tea ceremony are governed by strict etiquette, which follows the principles of etiquette, honesty, and beauty. As such, the tea ceremony is considered by some to perfectly embody the hospitable Bai people's current customs.


Architecture

The Bai people have developed and preserved three distinctive architectural styles that reflect their unique traditions and craftsmanship. These styles include the "one house with two cottages," "three rooms and one wall screening," and "four houses and five courtyards." Each of these architectural designs showcases not only the structural layout but also the intricate decorative elements that are characteristic of Bai architecture. The Bai homes, with their white walls, hexagonal tile patterns, colorful paintings, and elaborate decorations like carved wooden doors, exemplify the attention to detail and artistic flair that define Bai architectural aesthetics. The village of Xizhou is known for its preservation of Qing Dynasty-era Bai homes, with some of these structures repurposed into museums. The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple, dating back to the period between 823 and 840 AD, are recognized as significant architectural landmarks attributed to the Bai people. The central pagoda, standing at a height surpassing 70 meters in Dali, ranks among the tallest structures of similar kind in China, highlighting the architectural achievements associated with the Bai community.


Notable Bai

* Duan Siping (段思平) – founder of the
Dali Kingdom The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai language, Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a Bai people, Bai dynastic state situated in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1253. In 1253, it was Mongol conquest of China, conquered by the Mo ...
*
Shen Yiqin Shen Yiqin (; born 15 December 1959) is a Chinese politician of Bai ethnic heritage who is currently a state councilor and President of the All-China Women's Federation since 2023. She previously served as the Party Secretary of Guizhou, a pro ...
(谌贻琴) –
Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...
of
Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...
*
Wang Xiji Wang Xiji (; born 26 July 1921) is a Chinese aerospace engineer. The chief designer of China's first sounding rocket ( T-7), first space launch vehicle (Long March 1) and first recoverable satellites, he was awarded the Two Bombs, One Satellite ...
(王希季) is an aerospace engineer, designer of the
Long March 1 The Long March 1 (长征一号), also known as the Changzheng-1 (CZ-1), was the first member of China's Long March 1 (rocket family), Long March rocket family. Like the U.S.'s and the Soviet Union's first rockets, it was based on a class of ba ...
rocket * Xu Lin (徐琳) is a linguist and one of the two founders of modern grammar of Bai language * Yang Chaoyue (杨超越) - actress, pop music singer, former member of
Rocket Girls 101 Rocket Girls 101 () was a Chinese idol girl group formed by Tencent through the 2018 reality show Produce 101 China on Tencent Video. The project girl group consists of eleven-members that came from different companies: Meng Meiqi, Wu Xuanyi ...
* Yang Liping (杨丽萍) – dancer * Yang Rong (楊蓉) – actress * Yang Yuntao (楊雲濤) – dancer * Zhang Le Jin Qiu (张乐进求) – legendary ancestor of the Bai * Zhang Lizhu (张丽珠) – gynecologist * Zhang Jiebao (张结宝) was a famous bandit leader, active in the 1920s in northwestern Yunnan * Zhao Fan (趙藩) – scholar, calligrapher, and poet * Zhao Shiming (赵式铭) – scholar, the first one who studied the Bai language the most systematically * Zhao Yansun (赵衍荪) – linguist, one of two founders of modern grammar of Bai language * Zhou Baozhong (周保中) – military general, who led the battles against the Japanese invasion in northeastern China * Fiona Ma (馬世雲) – American politician * Dianxi Xiaoge (滇西小哥) – KOL (key opinion leader), content creator, YouTuber


See also

*
Benzhuism Benzhuism () is the indigenous religion of the Bai people, an ethnic group of Yunnan, China. It consists in the worship of the ''ngel zex'', the Bai word for "patrons" or "lords", rendered as ''benzhu'' (本主) in Chinese, that are local gods an ...
*
Nanzhao Nanzhao ( zh, t=南詔, s=南诏, p=Nánzhào), also spelled Nanchao, , Yi language: ꂷꏂꌅ, ''Mashynzy'') was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southwestern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuri ...
*
Dali Kingdom The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai language, Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a Bai people, Bai dynastic state situated in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1253. In 1253, it was Mongol conquest of China, conquered by the Mo ...


References


Citations


Sources


Travel China Guide – Bai minority ethnic group
* *


External links

*

' *

' {{Authority control Ethnic groups in Yunnan Buddhist communities of China Ethnic groups officially recognized by China