Description: She (畲族), a nationality of shifting cultivation in South China, takes up a population of 708,651. For thousands of years, She people migrated from its original resident—Genghuang Mountain, Chaozhou city, Guangdong province to Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, etc.. In 1985, the first and the only She Autonomous County was set up in Jingning.
Language: She language
Religion: She nationality mainly believes in ancestor worship and totem worship. They pay more attention to ancestors. Hunting takes an important place in the daily life, so hunting god has always been worshiped since ancient times. Snack is one of the totems they believe in.
Clothing Character: Sheis clothing is colorful and gorgeous. They weave linen by themselves as the main material of clothing. Nowadays, the man’s clothing is as the same as Han’s, however, woman’s still keeps vivid national feature. Collar, cuff and the right flap are inlayed laces. Married woman always wear a phoenix coronet that is a tiny bamboo pole wrapped by a red cloth.
Food Culture: Spiced ginger and salted vegetable are their specialties. On the Double Third Festival, they cook a kind of black rice. They pound fresh leaves of black branch, soak sticky rice with the juice, then the sticky rice is steamed into black rice.
Festivals: Traditional festivals of She nationality including the Double Third Festival, Double Seventh Festival, Mid-autumn Day, Double Ninth Festival and the Spring Festival.
The Double Third Festival is the traditional festival of She people. It is held on the 3rd, March, when people go for a walk in the country in spring and take black rice.
Culture and Art: Folk song is the important part of She literatures. The sound of singing rang out when on festivals, even in field work. The folk song handed down amount to 1,000 pieces approximately, among which the folk song without music instrument is the most popular by She people.
She women are master artisans of weaving and embroidery. Colored ribbon and bamboo weaving enjoy the high reputation. Girls study to weave colored ribbon at the age of five or six. The exquisite degree of the colored ribbon is the important standard to judge a girl’s ingenuity.
The colored ribbon or embroidered mocketer done by girl is the best token of affection. The area of She nationality is rich in bamboo, which provide plentiful raw material for bamboo weaving. The bamboo hat, bamboo mat, straw hat and straw mat occupy a leading position.
Add On:Zhuang Nationality
Tujia Nationality
Yao Nationality
Li Nationality
Sophie

