The ancient and young shepherds - Qiang people
The Qiang people are one of the ethnic minorities in China. The current population is 198,252; the main settlement area is Mao County in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and the rest are scattered in Wenchuan, Li, Heishui, Songpan and other counties in the state, Danba County in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and Beichuan County in Mianyang City , Shiqian County and Jiangkou County in Guizhou Province.
The Qiang people are an ancient nation. As early as more than 3,000 years ago, there were records about the Qiang people in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin Dynasty. Emperor Yan Shennong is the legendary ancestor of agriculture in my country. His surname is Jiang. He was the first Qiang people to turn to agricultural production. They mainly live on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The mountains here are high, the valleys are deep, the forests are luxuriant, the rivers are fast, and the natural resources are abundant. It is rich in precious medicinal materials. It is also the habitat of the national treasure giant panda and rare golden monkey.
The Qiang people mainly rely on agriculture, with animal husbandry as a subsidiary, and hunting and various sideline industries as supplements.
The Qiang language belongs to the Qiang branch of the Burmese family of the Sino-Tibetan language family (otherwise known as the Tibetan branch). It is divided into two dialects: southern and northern dialects. Many people understand Chinese. There is no written language, and Chinese is commonly used for a long time. Dangxiang Qiang, the ancestor of the Qiang people, created and used Xixia script. The Tangut documents that have been preserved to this day were not interpreted by a few scholars until the beginning of the 20th century.
The ancient Qiang people were one of the earliest developers of the Northwest and a major component of the Xia Dynasty. The Qiang Fang was the Fang Kingdom of the Shang Dynasty and mainly lived in the Gansu and Qinghai areas. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it entered northern Tibet and northern Sichuan. In the Song Dynasty, the party Xiang Qiang established the Xixia Kingdom, and in the Yuan Dynasty, many generals were from the Qiang ethnic group who were brave and good at fighting. During the Opium War, some Qiang native troops went to Guangdong and Zhejiang to fight against the enemy. The Revolution of 1911 and the Red Army's Long March received strong support from the Qiang people. During the War of Liberation, there was an armed struggle against the Kuomintang reactionaries in the Qiang areas.
Diaolou Towering Pillars Southwest
The Qiang architecture is most famous for its watchtowers, stone houses, cable bridges, plank roads and water conservancy weirs.
The Qiang language calls the watchtower "Qiong Cong". As early as 2000 years ago, "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Southwest Yi" recorded that the Rangu people "lived close to the mountains and built houses with piles of rocks, some of which were more than ten feet tall." Watchtowers are mostly built next to village houses, with a height between 10 and 30 meters, and are used to defend against enemies and store food and firewood. Diaolou come in four-corner, hexagonal and octagonal forms. Some are as high as thirteen or four stories. The building materials are stone chips and yellow soil. The wall foundation is 1.35 meters deep and made of stone flakes. The inner side of the stone wall is perpendicular to the ground, and the outer side is slightly tilted from bottom to top. There are no drawings, hanging wires, or column supports during construction, and it is all based on superb skills and experience. The building is solid and durable and will last for a long time. The ruins of an ancient castle from the Ming Dynasty, "Yongping Castle", was discovered in Yong'an Village, Qiang Township, Beichuan County, Sichuan Province in 1988. It has been well preserved after hundreds of years of vicissitudes.
According to an article by Du Lin and Li Binlin in "Sichuan Daily" on July 12, 2001: Among the existing ancient Qiang villages, the Taoping Qiang village in Li County is the most typical. According to historical records, this Qiang village Founded in 111 BC, it has a history of more than 2,000 years. There are 8 gates outside the Taoping Qiang Village, which is a Bagua layout. There are 31 passages in the village, extending in all directions, connecting each family. There are hidden holes everywhere for shooting from the outside, prepared for war against enemies in the old days. Currently, there are only two stone watchtowers left in the village, each with 9 floors and more than 30 meters. Because it was praised by UNESCO officials, preparations have begun to declare it a cultural heritage of mankind.
The Qiang folk houses are square-shaped flat-roofed houses made of stone flakes. Most of them have three floors, with each floor more than 3 meters high. The bottom of the roof platform is a wooden board or stone slab, which extends out of the wall to form an eaves. Wooden boards or stone slabs are densely covered with tree branches or bamboo branches, and then covered with loess and chicken dung. The thickness is about 0.35 meters. There are gullies to divert water, which prevents rain and snow from leaking. It is warm in winter and cool in summer. The roof platform is a place for threshing, drying grain, doing needlework, and playing games and resting for children and the elderly. Some buildings have cross-street buildings (arcades) to facilitate travel.
The Qiang area has high mountains and dangerous rivers. To facilitate transportation, the Qiang people created a rope bridge (rope bridge) more than 1,400 years ago. Stone cave doors are built on both sides of the bank, with stone foundations or large wooden pillars erected inside the doors. There are dozens of bamboo ropes as thick as arms tied to the foundations and pillars. The bamboo ropes are covered with wooden boards, and bamboo rope handrails more than 1 meter above the bridge deck are set up on both sides.
There are two types of planks: wooden planks and stone planks. The wooden stack is built in the dense forest, with wood paved as a road and mixed with earth and rocks; the stone stack is built on the cliff, with holes drilled in the edge rock and wood inserted into the bridge.
Qiang folk masons often go out to work in their spare time. The world-famous Dujiangyan Irrigation Project in Guan County, Sichuan has a history of more than 2,000 years and is still benefiting the people. It embodies the blood, sweat and wisdom of the ancient Qiang people.
The Qiang flute has been passed down through the ages
The long history and long-term isolated living environment have preserved many simple and profound ancient traditions in the spiritual culture of the Qiang people. The two earliest literary forms produced in ancient my country were ancient poetry and ancient mythology. These two literary forms still have a huge influence on the Qiang people today, and many excellent works have been passed down. Men, women, old and young of the Qiang people mostly sing folk songs. Most of the lyrics are 4 or 7 syllables per sentence, similar to four-character poems and seven-character poems in Chinese. In terms of content, there are bitter songs, folk songs, love songs, drinking songs, festive songs and funeral songs, etc. The famous myths of the Qiang people include "The Creation of the World", "The Formation of the Mountain Valley and Heping Dam", "The Creation of Humanity", "Dou An Zhu and Mu Jie Zhu", etc. Among them, the story of the sister and brother getting married and shooting down eight suns is full of twists and turns. It reflects the life of the Qiang people in primitive society.
The most famous Qiang musical instrument is the Qiang flute.
Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty said in "Shuowen Jiezi": "The Qiang flute has three holes." Ma Rong's "Flute Fu" says: "Double flutes originated from Qiang in modern times". The "Yuefu Miscellanies" of the Tang Dynasty recorded: "The flute is also Qiang music." Chen Yang's "Yue Shu" of the Song Dynasty recorded: "The Qiang flute has five holes." It can be seen that it has a long history. Of course, the Qiang flute's far-reaching fame and long-lasting reputation are closely related to the eternal masterpiece "Liangzhou Ci" written by Wang Zhihuan, a famous poet in the early Tang Dynasty. "Far above the Yellow River, among the white clouds, there is an isolated city called Wanren Mountain. Why should the Qiang flute complain about the willows? The spring breeze does not reach Yumen Pass." In the past, this poem could be recited by young children. If today's poets can write more masterpieces about minority culture and spread them, it will definitely play a positive role in the cultural dissemination and exchanges of various ethnic groups. The Qiang flute, which has been popular in the Qiang area of ??Sichuan in modern times, is made of bamboo or bone. The bamboo is oil bamboo from the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, cut into square shapes; the bones are the leg bones of sheep or birds. Today's Qiang flute pipe is 17 cm long and 1 cm in diameter. It has single reed, double pipe, vertical blowing, six-tone scale, and many solos. The sound is bright and soft, sad and melodious, melodious and lyrical. Shepherds often play it in the mountains to entertain themselves. The ancient Qiang flute was both a musical instrument and a whip pole, hence the saying of "blowing the whip".
Folk dances mainly include "Tiao Shalang" (Qiang Guozhuang Dance), "Dance Armor" (also known as "Armor Dance"), "Tiao Leather Drum", "Lan Qian Shou", etc. "Armor Dance" is an ancient traditional sacrificial custom dance. In the past, it was often danced at the funerals of soldiers with military exploits. Dozens of dancers wear rawhide armor, leather helmets with pheasant feathers and wheat stalks on their heads, hang copper bells on their shoulders, and hold weapons (mostly long knives) in their hands. Magnificent, it vividly expresses the brave and unyielding, bold and open-minded national character, and vividly reappears the rough and simple ancient folk customs.
The lingering aroma of sipping wine
The Qiang people also have a very long history of making wine. One of the reasons is that a branch of the ancient Qiang people first engaged in agriculture. The second reason is that "Yu flourished in the Western Qiang", and the ancestor of winemaking in my country, Yi Di, was a minister of Yu, and Du Kang was a descendant of Yu. Qiang men have a lot of energy, so although they like to drink heavily, they rarely get drunk and cause trouble. A unique way of drinking alcohol is sipping. The wine is brewed from highland barley, barley, and corn, and is sealed in a jar. When drinking, the wine is unsealed, boiled water is poured in, and bamboo tubes are inserted. Everyone takes turns sucking, or each person drinks from a straw, so it is called drinking "sucking wine". Drink as much or as little as you can, to the best of your ability, and never to force you to drink. Add water while drinking until the taste is light. Yajiu is a low-alcohol mash wine. When drinking, the oldest person present will first say four or eight auspicious words in rhyming words as a "toast", and then take turns in order of age. When ordinary people drink wine together, they can each put a bamboo tube in the altar and drink at the same time.
The Qiang people also have "Double Ninth Festival Wine" and "Yumai Steamed Wine". Children and women often drink sweet wine with honey.
The main festivals of the Qiang people include the "Qiang Calendar Year", "June Festival", "Mountain Sacrifice Meeting", "May 5th", etc. On every festival, there are gatherings in the countryside, where relatives and friends reunite, singing and dancing. Celebrate, drink and talk about love. If there is singing and dancing in the courtyard, the wine jar will be placed beside the venue; if the party is in a blockhouse, the wine jar will be placed under the table or next to the wall. Anyone who is tired from the group dance and wants to have a drink and take a break can go to the wine jar to drink, chat and watch the show.
It is a custom of most ethnic groups to drink wine at weddings, and the Qiang people are no exception. On the night before the wedding of the Qiang people, both men and women's families must hold a banquet to entertain their respective elders and sip wine, which is called "eating the wine from the altar".
Weddings of the Qiang people generally last for three days, including flower night, full circle, and return home. "Flower Night" refers to the wedding ceremony, which is held by both men and women, but the focus is on the bride's family, so it is also called "Flower Night". During the ceremony, the man’s Hongye (matchmaker and wedding master of ceremonies) will deliver a “Wedding Speech” in Qiang language. The main content is to praise the moral character of the man and woman and the beauty of the marriage, emphasizing that “land and real estate are not important, but good people are what counts.” Beautiful in-laws." The woman's foreign manager said in her "Answers" that "the two families have been relatives since ancient times. There is no need to mention houses and property. Friendship is not about the bride price. The old relatives are closer." The girl who is about to go out must worship her family gods and relatives, and hand over a large backpack of shoes that she has made in recent years to the master of ceremony, who will express her gratitude on behalf of the girl and distribute them to her elders and relatives. Drink and sip wine and dance till late at night. "Zhengyuan", also known as "Zhengyuan", is the most solemn wedding ceremony. When the bride's father prays to the family gods, the bride begins to cry loudly to express her farewell and attachment to her parents and relatives. When the bride went out surrounded by seven or eight bridesmaids, her relatives and friends burst into tears, choked with sobs and kept expressing their blessings. It is a mixture of sadness and joy, with complex emotions and deeply touching. When the bride arrived at the groom's village, the whole village was filled with joy. First there were several gun salutes, then firecrackers went off, the band played a happy tune, and the neighbors cheered. The instructions given by relatives to the newlyweds at the wedding mainly said: "It is your duty to respect the elderly and love the young, be humble and avoid arguing with others, raise children and manage the home well, and build a family business through hard work." On the third day, you "return to the door", which is called "thank you" in some places. It is the bride who returns to her natal home and takes the groom with her to thank her relatives and friends. In the Qiang society, uncles have a prominent position, and their and other elders' teachings are mostly: "Now that you have a family, you don't have to rely on your parents any more than you did in the past. You must be diligent in production, and you must also be frugal to run the family." After the luncheon, the guests leave, and the housekeepers and those who help organize the wedding will have a feast, sing and dance at the bride's house that night.
The glistening white stone symbolizes God
Among the religious beliefs of the Qiang people in the past, the most prominent one was the worship of nature and the belief that all things have animism. There are still many remains among the people today, who regard white stones and cedar trees as symbols of the gods. White stone is a white quartz stone.
Every year on the third day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar, every household celebrates the White Stone Respecting Festival. In front of the white stone shrine on the roof of every house, offerings such as wine and steamed buns are placed, and cypress branches are used to light fires and make smoke to worship the gods. The cigarette smoke in the village is misty, and the night is coming to an end, as if the heaven and earth are one, giving people a sense of mystery that humans and gods are connected. The mountain gods, goat gods, stone princes, Bodhisattvas, cattle princes, treasures, etc. in the minds of the Qiang people are all symbolized by white stones, or white stone statues are used as objects of sacrifice. The folk saying goes: "White stones are placed on the road, and black stones are placed on the roadside." This shows that they can distinguish between black and white, and also shows that white stones have a high status in their consciousness. White represents fairness and justice, and black represents evil and irregularity. The purpose of erecting a white stone shrine on the roof is to suppress evil with good and keep the family safe. Regarding the origin of Jingbaishi, the folklore is that during the great migration of ancient Qiang people, they came to the upper reaches of the Minjiang River where they currently live, and were invaded by the "Goji people". The leader of the Qiang people was inspired by God and defeated the enemy with white stones and hardwood sticks as weapons. The Qiang people were grateful to the gods but did not know the image of the gods, so they replaced them with white stones and worshiped them from generation to generation. When we analyze this phenomenon with a scientific attitude, we can regard it as a memory and reverence for our ancestors, because they created stone tools and combined them with hardwood sticks to form primitive agricultural tools and weapons. They are very important to their ancestors. life is crucial. Stones are respected by primitive humans for their hardness and firmness, and are universal to a certain extent in China. Nuwa filled the sky with colorful stones, and Jingwei filled the sea with stones. The legend of "Mount Tai is brave enough to be a stone" is exemplified by the giant stone worship in many places in the south. The Qiang people build their houses and weirs with stone and are famous for their exquisite masonry skills. It is not surprising that they worship white stone.