China 56 Ethnic Groups 5
Mulam – China 56 Ethnic Groups
The Mulams call themselves “Ling” and “Jin”. The Zhuangs call them “Bujin” while the Hans call them “Mulao”. They have officially named Mulam after the founding of PRC.
A large portion of the Mulams live in the Luocheng Mulam Autonomous County of Hechi city. According to the fifth national census in 2000, the Mulam numbered 207,352.
The Mulams have their own language which belongs to Dong-Shui subranch of Zhuang-Dong branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Many Mulams can speak both Chinese and the Zhuang language. Having no written script, the Mulams use Chinese characters.
Monba – China 56 Ethnic Groups
The ancestors of the Monbas settled in the Himalayas in southern Tibet long ago. “Monba” was first called by the Tibetan, meaning “people living in Monyui”. “Monyui” is also Tibetan, referring to the plain along the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River.
In the 13th century, Monyul, as part of Tibet, was officially incorporated into the territory of China. In the middle of the 19th century, some Monbas moved eastward to Medog.
The Monbas mainly live in Medog, Nyingchi and Zayu counties of Nyingchi District, and Cona County of Shannan District. According to the fifth national census in 2000, the Monba has a population of 8,923.
The Monbas have their own language which belongs to the Tibetan-Burmese language family, but have no written system of their own. Instead, the Tibetan language is in common.
Miao – China 56 Ethnic Groups
The Miao boasts a long history. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties 2,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Miao people lived in Wuxi, i.e, the western part of present-day Hunan and the eastern part of present-day Guizhou.
The minorities in the region including the Miao ancestors were historically referred to as “Wuximan” or “Wulingman”. Later they migrated westward and gradually formulated the present distribution.
The Miaos dwell mainly in Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnna, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hubei and Hainan provinces. According to the fifth national census in 2000, the population of the Miao was 8, 940, 116.
The Miao language belongs to the Miao-Yao branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It has three main dialects-one based in west Hunan and the other in Sichuan, Yunnan and part of Guizhou.
Each dialect can be further divided into many sub-dialects and local jargons. Before the establishment of PRC, The Miaos did not have a unified writing system. After 1956, a Latin-based alphabetic writing has been created for four dialects and has been popularized at present.
Maonan – China 56 Ethnic Groups
The Maonan are aborigines in the western aprt of Nanling Range. They call themselves “A-Nan”, meaning “locals”. The Maonan developed from the ancient tribe “Yue”. Studues show that the Maonan has some historical connections with the “Liao” that existed before the Tang Dynasty and the “Ling” that exist during the Song, Yuan and Ming period. In 1986, they agreed upon the official name of the Maonan.
The Maonan are distributed mainly in Huanjiang Manonan Autonomous County in Hechi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The Maonan has their own language, which belongs to the Dong-Shui subbranch of the Zhuang-Dong branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Having no scrip of their own, almost all the Maonans know both the Han and the Zhuang languages.
Man – China 56 Ethnic Groups
The direct ancestry of the Man is believed to be the Jurchens in the Ming Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, Nurhaci, leader of the Jurchens in Jianzhou, unionized Jurchen tribes in northeast China, and established the Later Jin Dyansty. After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the Manchus were officially named the Man ethnic group.
The Man mainly live in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, with the largest proportion in Liaoning. The rest are scattered across the country. According to the fifth national census in 2000, the Man ethnic group and a population of 10,682,263.
The Mans have their own script and language, which belongs to the Man-Tungusic branch of the Altaic language family. Based on the Mongolian script, the Mans created their script in the late 19th century. Chinese is commonly used after the Qing Dynasty.
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