Dong (people)

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Members of the Dong in festive clothing (Liping district)
Dong Bridge in Chengyang , Guangxi
Dong Bridge in Chenyang, Guangxi

The Dong ( Chinese  侗族 , Pinyin Dòngzú ; own name in official spelling: lagx Gaeml ; otherwise also written Gaeml , Kam or in the outdated spelling T'ung ) are one of the 56 ethnic groups recognized by the People's Republic of China and number 2,879,974 people (2010 census ).

Cultural idiosyncrasies

Within China, the Dong are considered virtuoso of the language game. Their mother tongue is the dong of the same name , which can be divided into numerous dialects. The people only got to know a written culture in the context of the upheavals in China in the 20th century; before that, oral tradition was chosen, often in the form of songs. A peculiarity of dong singing, especially in polyphonic choir singing, is the imitation of bird calls. Women of the people are traditionally characterized by their unique and colorful art of embroidery, crochet and lace. Traditional courtship consisted of a reciprocal exchange of clothes and songs.

The minority is also known for the water buffalo fight, in which two animals previously raised in a privileged manner compete against each other. The defeated animal is slaughtered for the festival.

Traditional Dong architecture used only wood without metal screws and nails. The pagoda-like, holy drum towers are known as the meeting place of the clans, as well as the artfully ornamented, roofed "wind-and-rain bridges", which are a tourist attraction.

The dong are also ascribed a closer relationship to nature and the spirit world than is common in modern China.

history

The Dong migrated around the year 1000 BC. From the north of today's Thailand in China. As the Han expanded , they were later pushed back south. Today the Dong mainly settle in Guangxi and Guizhou , for example along the Li Jiang . One of the centers of their culture is in Liping .

Web links

Commons : Dong  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Tilman Spengler : The Dong: A life like in the emperor's time In: GEO . March 1991, pp. 111-124.