Tujia

Tujia women in traditional costume

The Tujia ( Chinese 土家族 , Pinyin Tǔjiāzú ) are one of the 55 peoples that are officially recognized by the People's Republic of China as a national minority . The 8,353,912 (2010 census) Tujia live mainly in the provinces of Hunan , Hubei and Guizhou , as well as in the government-direct city of Chongqing .

The origins of the Tujia are not precisely established, although their history can be traced back over twelve centuries. They have had close contact with the Chinese Han majority for almost a thousand years , but it was not until the 20th century that the Tujia culture was observed to disappear, as a result of its adaptation and assimilation to the Han culture. Today there are only about 70,000 speakers of the Tujia language, while the vast majority of Tujia speak standard Chinese or one of the Miao languages . Tujia traditions have only survived in the most remote areas.

The remains of their own religion are made up of Daoism , ancestor cult and shamanistic rituals. The Tujia are known for the baishou hand dance. This community dance, roughly 500 years old, is accompanied by singing and uses 70 ritual gestures to represent war, agriculture, hunting, court life, and other aspects of traditional life.

The Tujia who live in the Shennong Xi area now earn a majority of their livelihood from tourism by offering guided sampan boat trips in the Shennong Gorge area for the cruise ships operating on the Yangtze River .

Spread of the Tujia

Provincial level

In the 2000 census, 8,028,133 Tujia were counted in China.

Distribution of the Tujia population in China

province	Tujia people	% Share of all Tujia in China
Province Hunan	2,639,534	32.88%
Hubei Province	2,177,409	27.12%
Guizhou Province	1.430.286	17.82%
Chongqing city	1,424,352	17.74%
Province Guangdong	135,431	1.69%
Zhejiang Province	55,310	0.69%
Province Sichuan	41,246	0.51%
Fujian Province	29,046	0.36%
Rest of China	95,519	1.19%

Tujia is 4.67% of the total population in Chongqing, 4.17% in Hunan, 4.06% in Guizhou, 3.66% in Hubei and 0.16% in Guangdong.

District level

Distribution areas of Tujia at county level (2000)

Only values from 0.5% were taken into account here. AB = Autonomous District; AK = autonomous district; RB = administrative district.

superior provincial level	superior district level	District, city, municipality	Number of Tujia	% of all Tujia in China
Chongqing city	no	AK Youyang of Tujia and Miao	462,444	5.76%
Province Hunan	Zhangjiajie City	Circle of Cili	399.906	4.98%
Hubei Province	AB Enshi 's Tujia and Miao	Lichuan city	388.035	4.83%
Province Hunan	Changde City	Shimen circle	387,480	4.83%
Guizhou Province	RB Tongren	AK Yanhe of Tujia	383,499	4.78%
Chongqing city	no	AK Shizhu of Tujia	348,790	4.34%
Province Hunan	AB Xiangxi the Tujia and Miao	district Yongshun	342,570	4.27%
Province Hunan	Zhangjiajie City	Yongding Municipality	319,330	3.98%
Guizhou Province	RB Tongren	circle Dejiang	300,432	3.74%
Hubei Province	AB Enshi 's Tujia and Miao	Xianfeng County	276.394	3.44%
Hubei Province	AB Enshi 's Tujia and Miao	City of Enshi	270.753	3.37%
Chongqing city	no	Qianjiang District	261,327	3.26%
Province Hunan	Zhangjiajie City	circle Sangzhi	260.092	3.24%
Province Hunan	AB Xiangxi the Tujia and Miao	Longshan County	251.007	3.13%
Guizhou Province	RB Tongren	AK Yinjiang of Tujia and Miao	233,802	2.91%
Hubei Province	AB Enshi 's Tujia and Miao	Kreis Badong	212,424	2.65%
Hubei Province	Yichang City	AK Changyang of Tujia	211.129	2.63%
Chongqing city	no	AK Xiushan 's Tujia and Miao	197,570	2.46%
Hubei Province	Yichang City	AK Wufeng of Tujia	174,546	2.17%
Hubei Province	AB Enshi 's Tujia and Miao	circle Jianshi	173.984	2.17%
Guizhou Province	RB Tongren	Sinan County	160.089	1.99%
Province Hunan	AB Xiangxi the Tujia and Miao	county Baojing	148.291	1.85%
Hubei Province	AB Enshi 's Tujia and Miao	District of Hefeng	142,805	1.78%
Hubei Province	AB Enshi 's Tujia and Miao	circle Xuan'en	140.837	1.75%
Province Hunan	AB Xiangxi the Tujia and Miao	Jishou City	103,242	1.29%
Province Hunan	Huaihua City	Yuanling County	102,636	1.28%
Hubei Province	AB Enshi 's Tujia and Miao	Laifeng District	93,471	1.16%
Guizhou Province	RB Tongren	Jiangkou County	77,791	0.97%
Chongqing city	no	AK Pengshui of Miao and Tujia	74,591	0.93%
Guizhou Province	City of Tongren	Bijiang District	70.286	0.88%
Province Hunan	AB Xiangxi the Tujia and Miao	Fenghuang County	64,727	0.81%
Province Hunan	AB Xiangxi the Tujia and Miao	county Guzhang	47,162	0.59%
Guizhou Province	Zunyi city	AK Wuchuan of Gelao and Miao	46,253	0.58%
Province Hunan	Huaihua City	circle Xupu	45,900	0.57%
Province Hunan	Zhangjiajie City	District Wulingyuan	41,910	0.52%
Province Hunan	AB Xiangxi the Tujia and Miao	Luxi district	40,643	0.51%
Rest of China			771.985	9.62%

literature

Zhou, Chao: Trackers of Shen Nong Xi (2005) (Badong District Local Tourism Agency Tours Publication)

Web links

Commons : Tujia - collection of images, videos and audio files