The Miao ethnic group has a current population of 7.398 million. In addition to large Miao inhabited areas in Guizhou, Yunnan, and western Hunan, they are also distributed in Guangxi, Sichuan, Hainan, and Hubei.
The Miao language belongs to the Miao-Yao language group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. In 1956, a Latin alphabet pinyin writing plan for Miao script was formulated.
The main religious beliefs of the Miao people are nature worship and ancestor worship. Some people also believe in Catholicism and Christianity.
The Miao people are mainly engaged in agriculture and also engage in economic forestry such as camellia oleifera, tung oil tree, and lacquer tree.
According to legend, the Miao people originated from the "Jiuli" tribe who lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River more than 5,000 years ago. They later migrated to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and formed the Sanmiao (Sanmiao: ancient ethnic name) tribe. Over the long years, the Miao people's migration footprints have not only spread across the mountains and rivers of South China, but also traveled across the ocean to foreign lands. Today, there are Miao people living in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Europe, America and other countries and regions.
The Miao area is rich in wood, so most of the houses in the past were made of wood. Diaojiao buildings built in mountainous areas are generally divided into two floors, with the upper floor housing people and the lower floor housing livestock or stacking debris.
The Miao costumes come in various styles and bright colors. There are five streams in "Book of the Later Han Dynasty". Wuxi: The junction of present-day Xiangxi and Guizhou, Sichuan, and Hubei. It is named after the five streams in the area. There is a record of the Miao people's "love of five-color clothes"; Du Fu, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, also wrote a famous poem about "the clothes of five streams and the sky". There are more than 100 styles of Miao women's clothing, which can be regarded as the most popular among Chinese national costumes. The more representative traditional "costumes" include dozens of headdresses inserted in the bun.
Miao women generally wear narrow-sleeved, large-collared, double-breasted shorts on the upper body and pleated skirts on the lower body. The dresses may be long enough to reach the foot, elegant and colorful, or short and graceful to the knees. When wearing casual clothes, they usually wear a turban on their head, a short jacket with a large skirt on the upper body, trousers on the lower body, embroidered lace, an embroidered apron, and some exquisite silver ornaments to set it off. Miao men's attire is relatively simple. The tops are mostly double-breasted shorts or right-sided long shirts, wool felt with geometric patterns woven over their shoulders, a cyan Baotou on their head, and leggings on their calves.
The Miao people have a vast distribution area, and the natural environment varies greatly from place to place. Therefore, the varieties of crops and people's eating habits are different. However, in general, the Miao people eat rice, wheat, cereals, etc. as their staple food. The Miao people like to eat sour food, and the sour foods they make include sour peppers, sauerkraut, sour soup, and sour fish. The Miao people also often use wine to express their respect and express their feelings. At different times, places and with different people, the etiquette and customs of drinking are also different, such as wine at the roadside, wine at the door, double glasses of wine, and hand-over glasses of wine, to name a few, which reflect the Miao people's Rich and colorful wine culture.
The traditional festivals of the Miao people include the Miao New Year, April 8th, the Dragon Boat Festival, the New Eating Festival, the Autumn Festival, etc. Among them, the Miao New Year is the most grand. The Miao Year is equivalent to the Spring Festival of the Han people, usually held after autumn. On the morning of the festival, people place prepared delicacies on the stove next to the fire pit to worship their ancestors, and rub wine on the nose of the cow to show reward for their hard work for a year. Young people in costumes
Men and women danced the hall dance. At night, the sound of bronze drums can be heard in the village. Young men from other villages carry lanterns and play reeds and flutes to the nearby villages for "touring" (i.e., social and love activities for young men and women). Singing continues in every village.
The Dragon Boat Festival is held from the 24th to the 27th of the fifth lunar month every year. At this time, thousands of people dressed in costumes gather on the riverside to participate in the sacrificial activities before the dragon boat departure. At the beginning of the competition, dozens of dragon boats advanced through the waves, gongs, drums and salutes from both sides of the Taiwan Strait were fired, and the audience roared with earth-shattering shouts. Activities such as antiphonal singing and Lusheng dance were also held on the shore. At night, before the fun is over, young men and women gather together to sing to each other and express their true feelings.
The Miao people are good at singing and dancing. The "Fei Ge" of the Miao people is high-pitched, loud and contagious; the dances include Lusheng dance, bench dance, copper drum dance, etc., with Lusheng dance being the most common. Lusheng dance is performed on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the third day of the third lunar month, the Double Ninth Festival and other festivals, as well as on days such as house building, harvest, and wedding receptions. The dance postures include multiple changes in the lower limbs. The folk mass Lusheng dance is usually led by two to five men playing the Lusheng, while others dance in a circle to the music. The scene is spectacular and the atmosphere is warm. Competitive Lusheng dance is usually performed at festivals or gatherings by a small number of highly skilled men and women, usually two to four people. The movements include squatting, bending, even lying on one's back, handstands and other difficult movements, and is very popular with the masses.