the dong nationality (known as Gaeml) is a minority in China. The residential area is mainly at the junction of Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi, and there are also some Dong people in Enshi, Hubei. The total population of Dong people is 2.96 million (the fifth census in 2).

The Dong people also have a branch in Laos called the Kang people.

The ancestors of the Dong people can be traced back to Baiyue and Ganyue in the Qin and Han Dynasties. Some studies have pointed out that Jiangxi's abbreviation "Gan" comes from the ancient Dong people. "Liao" in the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Song Dynasties, "Dong" in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and later many Han people came to their residence and mixed with the locals.

The name of Dong nationality comes from "Xidong", which is a traditional administrative unit of local people. Today, there are many places called "Dong". After the founding of the People's Republic of China, these local residents were collectively referred to as Dong people.

Chinese name: Dong

mbth: Gaeml

Total population: 2.96 million

Distribution: China, Laos and Vietnam

Language: Dong

Religious belief: polytheism

Brothers: Zhuang, Shui, Buyi, Mulao and Maonan < In addition, there are tens of thousands of Dong people in Jiangsu, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. According to the statistics of the fifth national census in 2, the population of Dong nationality is 296293. Some of the Dong people are North Dong people, and more than one million people who speak North Dong dialect live in the border of Guizhou and Hunan provinces in southern China. Most of the North Dong people live in Xinhuang County of Hunan Province and Tianzhu County of Guizhou Province.

the dong people call themselves Gaeml (pronounced similar to the Chinese word "gan", "Xuan" or "Geng"), which is translated into "Kam" and "Kam People" according to the principle of "the name follows the owner" advocated by the United nations. The name of the Dong nationality was first named "Jingling", which was found in the literature of the Song Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were other names such as "Dong Man", "Dong Miao", "Dong Ren" and "Dong Jia". After the founding of New China, it was collectively called Dong nationality. People often call it "Dong family".

Dong people use Dong language, which belongs to Zhuang-Dong language family, and is divided into two dialects: southern and northern. Originally, there were no characters, and Chinese was used. In 1958, a Dong language program in the form of Latin letters was established. Most commonly used Chinese.

mainly engaged in agriculture, and also engaged in forest. Forestry is famous for producing Chinese fir. Mainly producing fish japonica rice, breeding and cultivating a unique and high-quality rice strain-"Kam Sweet Rice"; Making good use of rice fields to raise fish, the Dongs in Longtu, congjiang county, Guizhou Province created and inherited the cultural heritage of organic agriculture in Dongxiang, which is characterized by "rice, fish and ducks are born". Have their own folk opera-Dong Opera. Drum tower, rain bridge and rain pavilion are the main symbols of Dong nationality. Fengyu Bridge is named after the long corridor-style bridge house that can shelter from the wind and rain. The famous Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge in Sanjiang has been designated as a national key cultural relic. There are five multi-legged pagodas on the bridge, and there are railings on both sides of the passage, which are shaped like verandas. The bridge structure does not need an iron nail, but only cuts holes in the pillars to connect them, and obliquely passes through the straight sleeve. The structure is exquisite and very strong, which is amazing.

Xiao, Di and Lusheng of Dong nationality are one of the traditional musical instruments in China. Dong people are also good at architectural art. Each stockade has a unique wooden building. This kind of wooden structure building without nailing and riveting absorbs part of the essence of ancient pavilions and pavilions in China, and the representative buildings are: wind and rain bridge and diaojiao building.

national history

although historians generally believe that the dong nationality originated from ancient Baiyue, it is still inconclusive which branch of Baiyue originated from. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were many tribes living in Guangdong and Guangxi today, which were collectively called "Luoyue" (a branch of "Baiyue"). Most scholars believe that the Dong nationality originated from the oil painting "Luoyue" of Dong mother and daughter, and quite a few scholars believe that it originated from "Ganyue". After Wei and Jin Dynasties, these tribes were also called "Liao". In "Chiya" written by Kuang Lu in the Ming Dynasty, it is said that the Dong people are also part of the "Liao". The distribution of Dong people is adjacent to the residence of Zhuang, Shui, Maonan and other ethnic groups belonging to the "Baiyue" system, and their languages belong to the Zhuang and Dong language family, and their customs and habits have many similarities. Dong people may have developed from a branch of "Luoyue". After the development stage of primitive society, the Dong people made a direct transition from primitive society to feudal society in the Tang Dynasty. Some people think that after the development stage of slave society. From the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the central dynasty established the system of Jimizhou and Tusi in Dong areas, and the society was in the early feudal society. In the early Qing Dynasty, "returning the land to the stream" was implemented, and the Dong people were directly ruled by the Qing Dynasty, and the land was increasingly concentrated, entering the stage of feudal landlord economic development. However, the remnants of some clan organizations in Dong society, such as "He Kuan" with the nature of tribal alliance linked by region, are still widespread. Every clan or village is presided over by "elders" or "village elders" and maintains social order with customary law. The "combined payment" is divided into sizes. "Xiaokuan" consists of several adjacent villages; "Big money" is combined by several "small money". The "small style" is recommended by the village, and the "big style" is agreed by the "small style". * * * The agreed "agreement" must be abided by, and the people's congress is the highest authority organization, and all adult men must participate, and discuss the matters in the agreement. This organization has been preserved until the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China.

religious belief

They believe in many gods and worship natural objects, such as ancient trees, boulders, wells and bridges. With the female surname "Sasui" (meaning the mother who founded the village) as the supreme god, every village has established "Sasui Temple". Use chicken divination, grass divination, egg divination, snail divination, rice divination and divination to determine good or bad luck. Some places are influenced by the Han nationality and believe in some gods of the Han nationality. Believe in the immortality of the soul. Buddhism has also spread, and there are temples in an tang, but not many people believe in it. Christianity and Catholicism have also been introduced, but there are not many believers.

culture and art

the culture and art of the dong people are rich and colorful, and they have the reputation of "hometown of poetry and ocean of songs". Dong people's poems are rigorous in rhythm, wide in subject matter, healthy and clear in mood, and vivid in metaphor. Among them, lyric poetry is exquisite, sincere and enthusiastic. ; Narrative poetry is euphemistic and tortuous, with profound meaning, and it is a Dong people.