Chinese ethnic groups-miao

Distribution and Population:
The Miao ethnic minority has a population of 8,940,116 which is larger than most of minority groups in China. After immigration in a long history, today they live mainly in Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, Hainan Provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Prefecture. They are divided into several branches, such as Black Hmong, White Hmong, Striped Hmong, etc.

Language:
The Miao language, which belongs to the Miao-Yao group of the Sino-Tibetan phylum, has developed into three dialects: the dialect of western Hunan Province, the one of eastern Guizhou Province and the one of ChuanQianDian (Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan). Due to a long time living with the Han and other people, they can also speak the Chinese, Dong and Zhuang languages. They have been writing their own Miao language based on Latin since 1956.

Religion:
The Miao people believe that everything in nature has a spirit, which incombination are mighty enough to control their lives. Every time there are disasters, they will invite a wizard to perform ceremonies designed to drive out the devil ghost. They worship their ancestors so much that memorial ceremonies are very grand. Sacrifices such as wine, meat, and glutinous rice are costly. Some Miao also believe in Catholicism or other Christian religions.

Food and Food Culture:
The staple food of the Miao ethnic minority is rice. Other dishes are meat and acidic soups. Pickled vegetables, hot seasonings and home-made wine are common at the table. Glutinous rice becomes a must during festivals and celebrations.

Crafts:
The Miao people are very skilled at handicrafts, such as embroidering, weaving, paper-cutting, batik, and jewelry casting. The Miao embroidery and silver jewelry are delicate and beautiful. From hats, collars, and cuffs to skirts and baby carriers, the patterns on their clothes are extremely colorful, complicated but with clean lines. Girls of around seven will learn embroidering from mothers and sisters, and when they become teenagers, they are quite deft.

Clothes:
Clothes of the Miao ethnic minority are diverse across regions. Men wear short coats and trousers, while women decorate themselves with very dainty and dazzling skirts and jewels. On their skirts, there are many patterns taking themes from life such as flowers, birds, etc. One of the most attractive, pleated skirts has as many as forty layers!


Festivals:
Divided by regions, the Miao people celebrate their festivals at different times, but they all have many, like the Dragon Boat Festival, the Huashan Festival, the Pure Brightness and the New Rice Tasting Festival (Chixin Jie). Among these, the Miao Spring Festival is the most important one that is held during the lunar ninth to the eleventh month.

The New Rice Tasting Festival is worth mentioning. To express their gratitude for the harvest, they will stream the newly ripe rice, brew wine with new rice, cook dishes with newly-picked vegetables and freshly caught fish.

The Lusheng dance is a unique musical performance of the Miao ethnic minority during nearly every celebration. While playing the lusheng, a kind of wind instrument, they dance in demanding patterns, and sing to each other.

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Some 20 mln Chinese workers lose jobs amid global crisis

BEIJING, February 2 (RIA Novosti) - Around 20 million rural workers in China were forced to return home after losing their jobs as a consequence of the global financial crisis, the Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

About 15.3% or 20 million of the country's 130 million rural migrant workers have lost their jobs as the global slump takes affect and employers halt production, said Chen Xiwen, director for the government office on rural policies.

In December last year, the country's government warned in a document that 2009 could be "possibly the toughest year" and called for extra measures to create jobs and increase rural incomes.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, China's economic growth slowed to 6.8%

China sentences two to death over melamine milk

BEIJING, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - A Chinese court has sentenced two people to death and three others to life behind bars over last year's melamine-tainted milk scandal, the Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

The contaminated milk powder killed at least six children and left another 300,000 ill. The melamine was added to the milk in order to make it appear richer in protein.

The court sentenced Zhang Yujun to death for producing the tainted milk in the Shandong province in eastern China. Geng Jinping was handed the death sentence for selling toxic food to dairy companies.

Another man, Gao Junjie, was also condemned to death, but his sentence has been suspended for two years and could be later converted to life.

Tian Wenhu, the female head of the Sanlu dairy giant at the center of the scandal, was sentenced to life in prison and a $2.9 million fine, Xinhua said. The Sanlu Group was accused of knowing that it was selling toxic milk, and Wenhu pleaded guilty to the charges against her. Two men were also given life sentences.

Six others, including Sanlu employees, were given sentences ranging from five years to 15 years. Another 39 people are still awaiting trial.

The toxic milk scandal led to a ban on Chinese-produced dairy products in Asia, Europe and North America.

World's largest dinosaur fossil field discovered in Shandong

Scientists in east China's Shandong province have discovered what they think could be the world's largest dinosaur fossil field.

So far, the site located in Zhucheng city has produced 7,600 fossils, and more are expected to be found, Zhao Xijin, a paleontologist from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua.

Not only is the field significant in terms of its vast quantity of fossils, but also in the evolutionary sense, as it may help provide an answer as to why dinosaurs disappeared, Zhao said.

Most of the fossils in the area date from the Late Cretaceous of the Mesozoic Period, when dinosaurs became extinct, Xinhua writes.

In the 1960s, a number of duck-billed hadrosaurus fossils were discovered in the area during an oil expedition. The largest one, discovered two decades later, is currently on display in the local museum. Since then, more than 50 tons of fossils have been unearthed there, according to Xinhua.

Last March, several fossil fields were discovered in the towns of Longdu, Shunwang, Jiayue and Zhigou during mining expeditions. The Longdu field alone has so far yielded more than 3,000 fossils, one of them being a 2-meter-long skull of a large ceratopsian, the first one discovered outside of North America, Xu Xing, a researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, told Xinhua.

New genera of ankylosaurus, tyrannosaurus and ceolurus have also been found in the area, Xu said.

According to Zhao, in the time of the dinosaurs, the area might have had abundant water resources and grasslands, which made it an ideal habitat for duck-billed dinosaurs. Researchers say that a volcanic eruption could have caused the dinosaurs' extinction, and that a subsequent flood could have brought the fossils to the current site.

China, which has seen a rapid rise in the number of rare fossils unearthed on its territory in recent years, is facing a growing smuggling problem. Last January, hundreds of kilograms of Chinese dinosaur fossils were recovered from warehouses and cargo containers in sting operations in Australia, according to Reuters.

Excavation in Shandong has been suspended for the winter months, but will resume in the spring, Reuters says. A report of the findings will be published at the end of next year, Zhao said.

Shandong has plans to build a fossil park on the site.

Textsource: Xinhua, Reuters

Paintings of Zhu Xunde

Prelude to Spring


Lasting Flow In


Watering Festival


Lotus Rain


Picking Pepper


Picking Lotus


Early Autumn


Voices of the Mountains

I Like this song (wo hen xi huan zhe ge ge)

China's population to reach 1.5 billion after 2033

BEIJING, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - The population of the People's Republic of China will reach 1.5 billion people not earlier than 2033, a government official said on Thursday.

China is the world's most populous country, with over 1.3 billion people, or one fifth of the global total. India takes second place, with 1.1 billion.

"In the next few decades the population of China [excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan] will grow on average by 8 million annually, and may reach 1.5 billion by 2033," the China News Service quoted the National Population and Family Planning Commission director, Li Bin, as saying.

The official said China enjoys a favorable demographic situation, "which has created a good atmosphere for the country's fast and fruitful socio-economic development."

However, Li said China would maintain its family planning policies "to maintain low birth rates and control population growth."

China has had a one-child policy since 1979, and is expected to maintain the restriction for at least another 10 years.

Since 2000, China's average life expectancy has risen from 71.4 to 73 years.

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