Yao people (Asia)


The Yao people or Dao is a classification for various ethnic minorities in China and Vietnam. Their majority branch is also known as Mien. They originated in the areas around Changsha, which today is the capital of Hunan province. They speak a branch of the Hmong-Mien family of languages and share a strong genetic connection to the Hmong peoples. They are believed to have diverged from the Hmong around 5,800 years ago.
They are one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China and reside in the mountainous southwest and south of the country. They also form one of the 54 ethnic groups officially recognized by Vietnam. They numbered 3,309,341 in the 2020 Chinese census and 891,151 in the 2019 Vietnamese census. An estimated 60,000 Yao of the Iu Mien branch reside in the United States, mostly in the Western coastal states.

History

China

Origin myth

The origins of the Yao or Iu-mienh can be traced back two millennia to Hunan around the Dongting Lake region. According to a Yao tale, the Chinese Emperor Gao Xin was saved from an enemy chieftain by his faithful dog, Pan Hu. As a reward, Pan Hu was turned into a man and given the emperor's daughter in marriage. The descendants of the two became the Yao people. This tale was used as a basis for their connection to the Mo Yao, a group of highlanders who were exempt from forced labour during the Tang dynasty. Between 200 BCE and 900 CE, the Yao migrated into mountainous areas to the south of the Yangtze River.

Historical records

As the Yao lacked their own written language until recently, much of what is known about their ancient history comes from ancient Han Chinese sources. In the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, they are described as "liking five-colored clothes", "going barefoot" and being "colorfully dressed".

Conquest

The Yao or Iu-mienh were conquered by the Han Chinese between the 10th and 13th centuries. However they were covered under a loose reign system known as the Jimi system or Tusi. The local chieftains collected tribute and taxes from their own people and paid taxes to the emperor.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, rule over the Yao was tightened. Ming and Qing authorities sent in their own bureaucrats to directly collect taxes, supplanting the role of the Yao chieftains. The Yao and Miao people were among the rebels during the Miao Rebellions against the Ming dynasty during the 1370s and 1449. Conflict drove the Yao further south into the highlands between Hunan and Guizhou to the north and Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and stretching into Eastern Yunnan. Some left for Southeast Asia.
Around 1890, the Guangdong government started taking action against Yao in Northwestern Guangdong.
After the Mao Zedong's Communist Party won the civil war in the late 1940s, the Yao benefited greatly from the ideology of equality and were able to access education, becoming part of the regional and national elite. They were often recruited as specialists to assist with the ethnic identification program within the framework of a large unified China.

Laotian Civil War

During the Laotian Civil War, the Yao tribes of Laos had a good relationship with U.S. forces and were dubbed to be an "efficient friendly force". They fought in favour of the government against the communists. This relationship caused the new communist Laotian government to target Yao tribal groups once the war was over. This triggered further immigration into Thailand, where the tribes would be put into camps along the Thailand-Laos border.

Immigration to the United States

After obtaining refugee status from the Thai government, and with the help of the United Nations, many Yao people were able to obtain sponsorship into the United States. Most of the Yao who have immigrated to the United States have settled along the Western part of the US, mainly in central and northern California such as Visalia, Oakland, Oroville, Redding, Richmond, Sacramento, but also in parts of Oregon like Portland, Salem, and Beaverton as well as the state of Washington in Seattle and Renton. See Mien American for those identified as Mien.

Culture, society, and economy

Yao society is traditionally patrilineal, with sons inheriting from their fathers. The Yao follow patrilocal residence. Polygyny was allowed until it was banned in China in the 1950s. Adoption was common among the wealthy.
The Yao people have been farmers for over a thousand years, mostly rice cultivation through plowing, although a few practice slash-and-burn agriculture. Where the Yao live nearby forested regions, they also engage in hunting.
During the Southern Song, an imperial Chinese observer, Zhou Qufei, described the Yao as wearing distinctive fine blue clothing produced using indigo.
The Yao celebrate their Pan Wang festival annually on the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month. The festival celebrates the mythical original story of the Yao people, and has evolved "into a happy holiday for the Yao to celebrate a good harvest and worship their ancestors."

Religion

The description of Yao religion is similar to the definition of Chinese folk religion as described by Arthur Wolf and Steve Sangren. Like the Han, the Yao engage in patrilineal ancestor worship, celebrate lunar new year, and recognize a set a 18 gods and goddesses, mostly of Han Chinese origin. The Yao had shaman priests as part of their community who engaged in activity such as exorcism, spiritual communication, and divination using chicken bones or bamboo sticks.
Taoism has historically been important to the Yao. Jinag Yingliang, in a 1948 study, argued that Yao religion was characterized by a process of Han Chinese-influenced Daoisation ; the endurance of pre-Daoist folk religion; and some Buddhist beliefs.
Scholar Zhang Youjun takes issue with claims of "strong Buddhist influence" on the Yao, arguing that "although Yao ritual texts contain Buddhist expression, the Yao do not believe in Buddhism at all. They are resolutely Taoist."

Groups and languages

There are several distinct groups within the Yao nationality, and they speak several different languages, The Iu Mien comprise 70% of the Yao population.
In addition to China, Yao also live in northern Vietnam, northern Laos, and Myanmar. There are around 60,000 Yao in northern Thailand, where they are one of the six main hill tribes. The lowland-living Lanten of Laos, who speak Kim Mun, and the highland-living Iu Mien of Laos are two different Yao groups. There are also many Iu Mien Americans, mainly refugees from the highlands of Laos. The Iu Mien do not call themselves "Yao". Not all "Yao" are Iu Mien. A group of 61,000 people on Hainan speak the Yao language Kim Mun; 139,000 speakers of Kim Mun live in other parts of China, and 174,500 live in Laos and Vietnam.
The Bunu people call themselves Nuox, Buod nuox, Dungb nuox, or their official name Yaof zuf. Only 258,000 of the 439,000 people categorised as Bunu in the 1982 census speak Bunu; 100,000 speak the Tai–Kadai Zhuang languages, and 181,000 speak Chinese and the Tai–Kadai Bouyei language.

Mao (2004)

Mao Zongwu gives a detailed list of various Yao endonyms and the Chinese names of various groups and clans associated with them. Endonyms are written in the International Phonetic Alphabet with numerical Chao tones.
  • Autonym 勉 or Iu Mien language| 优勉: Pangu Yao 盘古瑶, Pan Yao 盘瑶, Panhu Yao 盘瓠瑶, Trans-Mountain / Guoshan Yao 过山瑶, Large-Board / Daban Yao 大板瑶, Small-Board / Xiaoban Yao 小板瑶, Board / Ban Yao 板瑶, Top-Board / Dingban Yao 顶板瑶, Sharp-Headed / Jiantou Yao 尖头瑶, Level-Headed / Pingtou Yao 平头瑶, Red-Head / Hongtou Yao 红头瑶, Arrow-Pole / Jian'gan Yao 箭杆瑶, Cattle-Horn Yao / Niujiao 牛角瑶, Tu Yao 土瑶, Native / Bendi Yao 本地瑶, Flowery / Hua Yao 花瑶, Ao Yao 坳瑶, Zheng Yao 正瑶, Liang Yao 粮瑶
  • Autonym Kim Mun language| 金门 or 甘迪门: Blue-Indigo / Landian Yao 蓝靛瑶, Shanzi Yao 山子瑶, Flowery-Headed / Huatou Yao 花头瑶, Sand / Sha Yao 沙瑶, Level-Headed / Pingtou Yao 平头瑶, Bazi Yao 坝子瑶
  • Autonym 标曼 or 史门: Min Yao 民瑶, "Four Great" Min Yao 四大民瑶
  • Autonym Biao Min language| 标敏 or 交公勉: East Mountain / Dongshan Yao 东山瑶, Dog-Headed / Goutou Yao 狗头瑶
  • Autonym Dzao Min language| 藻勉: Bapai Yao 八排瑶
  • Autonym 优念, 炳多优, or San Chay people| 珊介: Red Yao 红瑶, Plains / Pingdi Yao 平地瑶
  • Autonym Bu-Nao language| 布努: Beilou Yao 背篓瑶, Beilong Yao 背陇瑶, West Mountain / Xishan Yao 西山瑶, East Mountain Yao / Dongshan 东山瑶, Tudi Yao 土地瑶, Tu Yao 土瑶, Mountain / Shan Yao 山瑶, Man Yao 蛮瑶, East Valley / Dongnong Yao 东弄瑶, West Valley / Xinong Yao 西弄瑶, Fan Yao 反瑶, Anding Yao 安定瑶, White Yao 白瑶, Black Yao 黑瑶, Black-Trouser / Heiku Yao 黑裤瑶, Long-Shirt / Changshan Yao 长衫瑶
  • Autonym Bu-Nao language| 瑙格劳 or Bu-Nao language| 包诺: Siting Yao 四亭瑶, Situan Yao 四团瑶
  • Autonym Kiong Nai language| 炯奈: Hualan Yao 花蓝瑶
  • Autonym Pa-Hng language| 巴哼: Dog Yao 狗瑶, Eight-Surname / Baxing Yao 八姓瑶, Red Yao 红瑶, Wood Yao 木瑶
  • Autonym Hm Nai language| 唔奈: Flowery Yao 花瑶
  • Autonym Younuo language| 优诺: Red Yao 红瑶
  • Autonym Lakkja language| 拉珈: Tea Mountain / Chashan Yao 茶山瑶

    Plains Yao

Groups considered to be "Plains Yao" include:
  • Autonym Bingduoyou 炳多尤 : in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County 江华 of Hunan; Gongcheng 恭城, Fuchuan 富川, Zhongshan 钟山, and Lingui 临桂 counties of Guangxi
  • Autonym Yeheni 爷贺尼 : in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County 江华, Hunan. The Yeheni speak a divergent Chinese dialect. It is spoken in Taoxu Town 涛圩镇 and Helukou Town 河路口镇 in Jianghua County, Hunan.
  • Autonym Younian 优念 : in Longsheng 龙胜 and Guanyang 灌阳 counties of Guangxi. According to Chen Qiguang, the ' number about 10,000 speakers in Sishui 泗水, Madi 马堤, Mengshan 孟山, Jiangliu 江柳, and other locations of Longsheng County.
  • Autonym Shanjie 珊介 : in Fangcheng 防城, Guangxi
  • Autonym Youjia 优嘉 : in Guanyang County 灌阳, Guangxi
  • Jingdong Yao 景东县瑶族' : Jingdong County 景东彝族自治县, Yunnan. According to the Jingdong County Gazetteer'', ethnic Yao numbered 3,889 individuals in 1990, and lived mainly in Chaqing 岔箐 and Dasongshu 大松树 of Taizhong 太忠乡.