Everything about The Shui totally explained
The
Shui people are an
ethnic group living in the
Guangxi,
Guizhou, and
Yunnan areas of southwestern
China. They are counted as one of the
56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the
People's Republic of China.
History
It is believed that the Shui are descended from the
Luo-Yue that inhabited the southeast coast of China before the
Han dynasty.
Their name of Shui, which means "water", was adopted during the
Ming dynasty.
Culture
The Shui are organized around the family clans. The houses are usually one story, although some of their homes are two storied. In these last, the second floor is used for the living quarters whereas the first floor is used primarily as a stable and food storage.If a woman is widowed, she covers her hair with a fabric of white color for three years. The Shui possess a lunar calendar that's initiated in the ninth lunar month. Their funeral services are elaborate and long ceremonies where animal sacrifices are carried out in honor of the dead.
Religion
The Shui are mainly polytheists and they practice ancestor worship as well. In the antiquity was hired to the chamanes so that they carried out prayers and sacrifices in the houses of those that were sick or close to the death.
Language
The Shui speak the
Sui language of the
Tai-Kadai family. Their language has eight tones, fewer than the
Dong language which has 13. However, it does have a large number of consonants with forty-two. Some other features of the language includes
palatal stops,
postvelar stops,
prenasalized stops (
mb, nd), "preglottalized" stops and nasals (ie.
qb, qm).
Ethnologue describes native language use by the Shui as "vigorous" and credits them with a "positive language attitude".
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A simple system of writing for this language exists although only their shamans know it and isn't utilized for everyday use by the Shui. This system is used for geomancy and divination purposes. A few of these 150 or so graphs are drawings, such as of a bird or a fish, and a few are schematic representations of a characteristic quality, for example a snail is represented by a drawing of an inward curving spiral. The majority of these characters are borrowings from
Chinese characters and are written backwards, apparently for more magical power. The Shui use written Chinese for their daily activities.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Shui'.
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