The Waxiang people () are an unrecognized ethnic group living along the Yuanjiang River in western

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

, China. They call themselves Huaxiang people (

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioner ...

::/wa33 ɕioŋ55/) and they speak Waxiang Chinese. Compared to the Han, Miao and

Tujia Tujia may refer to: *the Tujia people *the Tujia language The Tujia language (Northern Tujia: Bifzivsar, ; Southern Tujia: Mongrzzirhof, ; ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken natively by the Tujia people in Hunan Province, China. It is unclassif ...

people of the region, they are very different in terms of clothing, food, living, farming and other cultural norms.

Population and distribution

The Waxiang people are an unrecognized ethnic group in China, with a population of about 400,000. Currently, the views of scholars and the Chinese government are usually that Waxiang Chinese, the main language used by Waxiang people, is in the

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 ...

subdivision of the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

. The Waxiang people are usually situated in the

province of China.

Ethnic group designation

Many of the Waxiang people are designated as Miao, while some are designated as

or Han. However, no matter the designated ethnic group, most of them have recognition to the Waxiang ethnic group, and hope to edit the ethnic group category, in addition to establishing a Waxiang autonomous region. According to a study on their physical characteristics, the Waxiang were found to be closest related to the Derung and

Lahu people The Lahu people ( Lāhùzú; Lahu: ''Ladhulsi'' / ''Kawzhawd''; vi, La Hủ) are an ethnic group of China and Mainland Southeast Asia. Etymology The Chinese name "Lahu" literally means "to drag favour from heaven" (拉, lā, "to drag"; � ...

Notable people

* Song Zuying: mother is Miao, father is Waxiang.

References

{{Han Chinese subgroups Subgroups of the Han Chinese Yuanling County Ethnic groups in China