51-552: The Baishou Dance or baishouwu (摆手舞, literally 'hand-waving dance') is a 500-year-old historic group dance of the Tujia , one of 55 ethnic minorities in China . The dance uses 70 ritual gestures to represent war, farming, hunting, courtship and other aspects of traditional life. The Tujia nationality Baishou dance in Xiangxi, Hunan province best reflects the ethnic flavor and ancient customs of
102-414: A yamen . A yamen was the headquarter of local officials that contained infrastructures, such as the courtroom, sacrificial altar, ancestral hall, granary, offices, and the living quarters of official’s family. The structure of government and way of adjudication varied in each domain because of the diversity of tusi' s cultural backgrounds. Normally, there were no statute law in the domain. The will of
153-554: A huge show of military force on the borders of their territories. Most of the Tujia areas returned to central control during the period 1728–1735. While the rule of the Qing government was more orderly compared to the rule of chieftains, many in the Tujia peasantry came to resent the attempts of the Qing court to impose national culture and customs on them. With the weakening of central Qing rule, numerous large-scale uprisings occurred, culminating in
204-507: A total population of over 8 million, the eighth-largest officially recognized ethnic minority in the People's Republic of China . They live in the Wuling Mountains , straddling the common borders of Hunan , Hubei and Guizhou Provinces and Chongqing Municipality . The endonym Bizika means "native dwellers". In Chinese, Tujia literally means "local families", in contrast to
255-532: A tributary state. When he was defeated in battle, the surviving Duan brothers were taken captive and escorted to the capital. There they were given an insignificant office in the interior. From then on, "permanent chieftains were replaced by transferable officials," formally appointed by the Ming court. Local leaders were obliged to provide troops, suppress local rebellions, and pay tribute to Beijing annually, biennially, or triennially according to their distance. The post
306-410: Is performed by over 1,000 dancers when offering sacrifices to Tujia ancestors and is watched by over 10,000 spectators; the small-scale baishou is performed on a small scale when offering sacrifices to ancestors with the same family name. The music of the dance incorporates vocal accompaniment (starting song and baishou song) and musical accompaniment (drum and gong). The song changes flexibly according to
357-844: Is very different. Today there are at most 70,000 native speakers of the Tujia language , most of whom live in the northern parts Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in North-Western Hunan Province . The vast majority of the Tujia use varieties of Chinese , mainly Southwestern Mandarin ; a few speak Hmongic languages . Few monolingual Tujia speakers remain; nearly all are bilingual in some dialect of Chinese. Children now learn Chinese from childhood and many young Tujia prefer to use Chinese when communicating among themselves. Among fluent Tujia speakers, Chinese borrowings and even sentence structures, are more common. The Fifth National Population Census of 2000 recorded 8,028,133 Tujia in China. In Chongqing, Tujia make up 4.67% of
408-722: The Chiefdom of Bozhou which was recognized by the Song and Tang dynasties also received recognition by the subsequent Yuan and Ming dynasties. The Luo clan in Shuixi led by Ahua were recognized by the Yuan emperors, as they were by the Song emperors when led by Pugui and Tang emperors when led by Apei. They descended from the Shu Han era king Huoji who helped Zhuge Liang against Meng Huo . They were also recognized by
459-720: The Chinese tributary system or the Jimi system . Tusi regimes were located primarily in Yunnan , Guizhou , Tibet , Sichuan , Chongqing , the Xiangxi Prefecture of Hunan , and the Enshi Prefecture of Hubei . Tusi entities were also established in the historical dependencies and frontier regions of China in what is today northern Myanmar , Laos , and northern Thailand . The Vietnamese Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties also implemented
510-467: The Hakka ( 客家 ; Kèjiā ), whose name literally means "guest families" and implies migration. Although there are different accounts of their origins, the Tujia may trace their history back over twelve centuries and possibly beyond, to the ancient Ba people who occupied the area around modern-day Chongqing some 2,500 years ago. The Ba Kingdom reached the zenith of its power between 600 BC and 400 BC but
561-626: The Indochinese peninsula nominally on behalf of the central government. As succession to the Tusi position was hereditary, these regimes effectively formed numerous autonomous petty dynasties under the suzerainty of the central court. This arrangement is known as the Tusi System or the Native Chieftain System ( Chinese : 土司 制度 ; pinyin : Tǔsī Zhìdù ). It should not be confused with
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#1733105979772612-427: The Tusi system. In 2015, UNESCO designated three Tusi castles ( Laosicheng , Tangya , and Hailongtun ) as part of the " Tusi Sites " World Heritage Site in China, owing to the unique system of governance. It has been described on at least one occasion as sharing similarities with the "U.S. federal government's recognition of some Native American tribes as in some ways sovereign entities." The tusi system
663-559: The Yi people instigated the She-An Rebellion in Sichuan and Guizhou, which lasted until 1629 and took an astronomical toll on Ming resources before it was quelled. Gaitu guiliu (改土歸流) was a policy of abolishing the rule of local tusi (土司) and replace ( gai 改) them by a "mainstream" ( liu 流) direct administration. Gaitu guiliu was heavily enforced during the Ming and Qing periods. During
714-546: The Chinese court. For their spring festival they prepare handmade glutinous rice cakes called ciba cake . They gather round the fire to sing folk songs and eat grilled ciba. Regarding religion, most of the Tujia worship a white tiger totem, although some Tujia in western Hunan worship a turtle totem. Tujia is a Sino-Tibetan language and is usually considered an isolate within this group. It has some grammatical and phonological similarities with Nuosu , though its vocabulary
765-536: The Ming Ministry of Personnel or the Ministry of War . Areas of tusi administration tended to explode into violence or turmoil intermittently and would invariably provoke Ming military intervention. However, these incidents are generally attributed to provocations by Chinese settlers or corrupt officials and not the fault of the tribes themselves. The native chieftain system was a mutual-beneficial cooperation between
816-418: The Ming army in the battle. Those soldiers supplied by tusi were called Tu Bing ("native soldier"). In the campaign against Annam, the Ming court recruited a large number of native soldiers from the southern provinces. Also, tusi were required to pay tributes to the Ming court. The periodic tribute goods sent by native chieftains contained various goods: Tusi received no regular salary or stipend from
867-822: The Ming dynasty, there were 179 tusi and 255 tuguan ( Chinese : 土官 , "native civilian commanders") in Yunnan and titles were generally retained with the exception of punishment for severe crimes. The tusi were greatly reduced during the Ming-Qing era. By the time of the Yongzheng Emperor , there were only around 41 left in Yunnan, including Cheli , Gengma , Longchuan , Ganya (modern Yingjiang ), Nandian , Menglian , Zhefang , Zhanda , Lujiang , Mangshi , Mengmao ( Ruili ), Nalou, Kuirong , Shierguan , Menghua , Jingdong , Mengding , Yongning , Fuzhou , Wandian , Zhenkang , and Beishengzhou . Under Ming administration,
918-510: The Ming dynasty. In 1364, Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Huguang . Rather than building a bureaucratic system of his own in Huguang, Zhu chose to keep the native chieftaincy system implemented by the Yuan dynasty. He reappointed many tusi to the same posts as they had during the Yuan dynasty. After reunifying China under the Ming dynasty and becoming the Hongwu Emperor, he brought this practice to
969-402: The Ming emperor but had almost unfettered power within their domains. All the native chieftains were nominally subordinate to Pacification Commissioners ( Xuanfushi , Xuanweishi , Anfushi ). The Pacification Commissioners were also native chieftains who received their title from the Ming court. As a way of checking their power, Pacification Commissioners were put under the supervision of
1020-463: The Ministry of War. Throughout its 276 year history, the Ming dynasty bestowed a total of 1608 tusi titles, 960 of which were military-rank and 648 were civilian-rank, the majority of which were in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. In Tibet, Qinghai and Sichuan, the Ming court sometimes gave both tusi titles and religious titles to leaders. As a result, those tusi had double identities. They played both
1071-465: The Nine Ranks system ( Jiu Pin ; "九品").The Nine Ranks system is a system of gradations used by regimes from post-Han to Qing. Under this system, all the officials in the bureaucracy were put into nine major categories: upper-upper, upper-middle, upper-lower, middle-upper, middle-middle, middle-lower, lower-upper, lower-middle, and lower-lower. Each category was given a rank numbered from 1 to 9. The rank 1
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#17331059797721122-515: The Tujia nationality. It is popular in Longshan county, Baojing county and Yongshun county, Xiangxi Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan province. The dance is usually performed from the third to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. It originates from an ancestor worship ceremony and dates back nearly 1,000 years ago, according to the broken stele in the Temple of Eight Clan Leaders (Qing Dynasty) and
1173-572: The Yuan maps of Yunnan and led a considerable army to serve as guides for the Yuan army. By the end of 1256, Yunnan was considered to have been pacified. Under the Yuan dynasty, the native officials, or tusi , were the clients of a patron-client relationship. The patron, the Yuan emperors, exercised jurisdictional control over the client, but not his/her territory itself. The tusi chieftains and local tribe leaders and kingdoms in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan submitted to Yuan rule and were allowed to keep their titles. The Han Chinese Yang family ruling
1224-411: The almost unfettered judicial power of a tusi in his domain. Tusi were given the power of collecting tax in their domain. For seasonal religious rituals or sacrifices, tusi had rights to collect rice and copper coins from each local household. As the head of clan, each tusi had right to disposal the property of his clan. Apart from bodyguards, tusi were allowed to maintain a private military,
1275-503: The beginning, of China's colonization of the southwest. In sum, gaitu guiliu was the process of replacing tusi with state-appointed officials, the transition from jurisdictional sovereignty to territorial sovereignty, and the start of formal empire rather than informal. In Guangxi, the Qing Yongzheng Emperor took on a campaign to reform native Zhuang following which 87 out of 128 tusis were replaced by officials. At
1326-559: The border zone. The Ming tusi were categorized into civil and military ranks. The civilian tusi were given the titles of Tu Zhifu ("native prefecture"), Tu Zhizhou ("native department") and Tu Zhixian ("native county") according to the size and population of their domains. Nominally, they had the same rank as their counterparts in the regular administration system The central government gave more autonomy to those military tusi who controlled areas with fewer Han Chinese people and had underdeveloped infrastructure. They pledged loyalty to
1377-475: The central government and native chieftains. For a quite long time after the foundation of Ming, the rulers knew that the central government could only use limited amount of resources. Having a large number of armies stationed in southern borderland, an area with harsh natural environment and large number of Non-Han people, was too costly for Ming rulers. Thus, they decided to transfer part of ruling power to those local political rulers in exchange for their defense of
1428-625: The central government as a tusi , he would receive a patent of appointment, a bronze official seal, a belt decorated with gold, and a formal attire as uniform. The title of tusi was hereditary and passed down to an heir. The entire clan of a tusi enjoyed privileges within the domain. In Ming China, the clan of a tusi was called Guanzu ("official clan"). Members of the official clan had higher social ranks than commoners and slaves. Only members of official clan, Han Chinese, and descendants of former officials were allowed to receive education and take examinations. Each tusi could build and live in
1479-690: The content and movements of the dance. Dancers' movements and postures indicate power and freedom and feature turning, bending knees, shaking, and lowering the body. The dance is valuable for studying the history, war, religion, migration, farming, life, courtship and folk customs of the Tujia nationality. This dance-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tujia people The Tujia ( Northern Tujia : Bifjixkhar / Bifzixkar , IPA : /bi˧˥ dʑi˥ kʰa˨˩/ /pi˧˥ tsi˥ kʰa˨˩/ , Southern Tujia: Mongrzzir , /mõ˨˩ dzi˨˩/ ; Chinese : 土家族 ; pinyin : Tǔjiāzú ; Wade–Giles : Tu -chia -tsu ) are an ethnic group and, with
1530-699: The county annals. The Tujia nationality baishou dance integrates singing, dancing, music and opera elements. It presents numerous topics concerning history and human existence, including the creation of the world, human reproduction, migration, hunting & fishing, sericulture & weaving, slash-and-burn cultivation, ancient stories, myths, legends and daily life. The dance uses ritual gestures. Dancers' movements and postures are powerful and aesthetic. They wave one hand, wave two hands, wave hand(s) when circling around, or wave hand(s) with foot movements. The dance, usually performed on level ground, can be classified into grand baishou and small-scale baishou. The grand baishou
1581-428: The early 18th century, the Qing court finally felt secure enough to establish direct control over minority areas as well. This process, known as gaituguiliu (literally 'replace the local [ruler], return to mainstream [central rule]'), was carried out throughout South-West China gradually and, in general, peacefully. The court adopted a carrot and stick approach of lavish pensions for compliant chieftains , coupled with
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1632-589: The emperor to suppress revolts by other minorities. On numerous occasions, they helped defend China against outside invaders, such as the wokou ("Japanese" pirates) who ravaged the coast during the 16th century. The Manchus invaded and conquered the Ming in 1644 and established the Great Qing Empire, known in China as the Qing dynasty . Ever suspicious of local rulers, the Qing emperors always tried to replace Han officials with Manchu officials wherever they could. In
1683-513: The entire southern border zone of the empire. In 1381, Hongwu sent a force against the last remnant of the forces of the Yuan dynasty, led by the Prince of Liang Basalawarmi , who committed suicide. This left Duan Gong, a successor of Duan Xingzhi, as the last representative of the remaining Yuan forces. He refused to surrender and attempted to have the former realm of the Dali Kingdom recognized as
1734-491: The government but they were allowed to collect tax from their subjects. These taxes could be paid with crops, textiles and money. Some tusi required their subjects to pay them copper coin and chickens as gifts at some specific events of their clan. For example, in Anping of Guangxi province, each household was required to donate 400 copper coins during weddings and funerals of members of the tusi' s family. Tusi could get paid by
1785-554: The government for their assistance in the battles, but this did not happen regularly. In 1388 the Ming–Mong Mao War was fought between the general Mu Ying and the semi-independent tusi of Mong Mao , Si Lunfa, located in what is now Tengchong in southwestern Yunnan. In 1397 the Ming intervened in a Mong Mao succession dispute, known as the Ming–Mong Mao Intervention . In the late 1300s, Đại Việt attacked
1836-542: The jurisdictional authority of tusi began to be replaced with state territorial authority. The tusi acted as stop gaps until enough Chinese settlers arrived for a "tipping point" to be reached, and they were then converted into official prefectures and counties to be fully annexed into the central bureaucratic system of the Ming dynasty. This process was known as gaitu guiliu ( simplified Chinese : 改土归流 ; traditional Chinese : 改土歸流 ), or "turning native rule into regular administration". The most notable example of this
1887-503: The most remote areas. The Tujia are renowned for their singing and song composing abilities and for their tradition of the Baishou dance (摆手舞), a 500-year-old collective dance which uses 70 ritual gestures to represent war, farming, hunting, courtship and other aspects of traditional life. They are also famous for their richly patterned brocade , known as xilankapu , a product that in earlier days regularly figured in their tribute payments to
1938-569: The role of political leaders and religious leaders within their domains. For example, during the reign of the Yongle Emperor , the leader of the Jinchuan monastery assisted the Ming army in a battle against the Mongols. The leader was later given the title Yanhua Chanshi ( 演化禅师 ), or "Evolved Chan Master", and the power to rule 15 villages as his domain as a reward. After a chieftain was recognized by
1989-450: The size of which depended on their domain's resources, to better defend the borderland and suppress rebellion. The tusi were considered vassals of the Ming emperor. They enjoyed autonomy or semi-autonomy in their domains, but were expected to maintain order and defend the border zones for the Ming dynasty. When the Ming court wanted to start any campaign near their domains, the chieftains were required to lead their private armies and assist
2040-571: The southwest were only a few small autonomous polities, and the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories (sanfan zhi luan; 1673-81) did much to erase these from the landscape. In short, the Yongzheng Emperor's appointment of his trusted Manchu official Ortai (1680-1745) and the aggressive campaign against tusi offices they initiated in the 1720s in the southwest should be seen as the end point, not
2091-636: The start of the 20th century, there were eight tusis remaining, all within present-day Daxin County . In 1928, Xincheng , the last tusi in Guangxi was converted to a county, ending the gaitu guiliu reforms. On 23 January 1953, the P.R. China (PRC) established the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Region and ended the last Tusi system in Sipsongpanna . The native chieftain system also fit in
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2142-551: The title "Dali chief steward" ( Chinese : 大理 總管 , p Dàlǐ Zǒngguǎn ), and local leaders were co-opted under a variety of titles as administrators of the region. Some credit the Turkoman governor Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar with introducing the system into China. Duan Xingzhi, the last emperor of Dali, was appointed as the first local ruler, and he accepted the stationing of a pacification commissioner there. Duan Xingzhi offered
2193-829: The total population; in Hunan, 4.17%; in Guizhou, 4.06%; in Hubei, 3.66%; and in Guangdong, 0.16%. (Only includes counties or county-equivalents containing >0.5% of China's Tujia population.) Tusi Tusi , often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan , Ming , and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain ethnic minorities in central China, western China, southwestern China, and
2244-506: The tusi was the law. A tusi had court and jail in his yamen and could imprison or punish his subjects as long as he thought it was necessary. For instance, Li Depu, the native official of Anping subprefecture in Guangxi province, brutally punished a serf for wearing white stockings because according to his dress rule only official clans were allowed to do so. Commoners ruled by tusi often called them Tu Huangdi ("local emperor"). This analogy between tusi and emperors in some way reflected
2295-700: The tusis on the Guangxi border. This in conjunction with the overthrow of the Trần dynasty by the Hồ dynasty led to the Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam . In 1438 the Mong Mao rebelled again and their leader Si Renfa attacked local tusi along the Yunnan border. Si Renfa was defeated in 1442 and captured by the Ava king, who turned him over to Ming custody, where he died in 1446. In 1621
2346-401: The violent Taiping Rebellion . Following the collapse of the Qing, the Tujia found themselves caught between various competing warlords . More and more land was given over to the cultivation of high-earning opium at the insistence of wealthy landlords and banditry was rife. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Tujia areas came under communist control and banditry
2397-587: Was destroyed by the Qin in 316 BC. After being referred to by a long succession of different names in ancient documents, the Tujia appeared in historical records from about 14th century onwards. The Tujia tusi chieftains reached the zenith of their power under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when they were accorded comparatively high status by the imperial court. They achieved this through their reputation as providers of fierce, highly disciplined fighting men, who were employed by
2448-755: Was hereditary as opposed to the examination system in China proper , but succession, promotion, and demotion were all controlled by the Ming administration which required each tusi to use a seal and an official charter. To establish legitimate successions, tusi were ordered to list their sons and nephews in AD 1436, to redo the list in quadruplicate in 1441, and to renew the list triennially in 1441 and again in 1485. The Ming dynasty also took over regencies of children younger than 15 in 1489. Tusi chiefs could sometimes be female according to local customs and had full authority over their own tribesmen, but were kept under supervision by
2499-579: Was inspired by the Jimi system ( Chinese : 羈縻制度 ) implemented in regions of ethnic minorities groups during the Tang dynasty . It was established as a specific political term during the Yuan dynasty and was used as a political institution to administer newly acquired territories following their conquest of the Dali Kingdom in 1253. Members of the former Duan imperial clan of the Dali Kingdom were appointed as governors-general with nominal authority using
2550-513: Was rapidly eradicated. The Great Leap Forward led to mass famine in Tujia communities. The Tujia were officially recognized as one of the 55 ethnic minorities in January 1957 and a number of autonomous prefectures and counties were subsequently established. State Councillor Dai Bingguo , one of China's top officials on foreign policy, is the most prominent Tujia in the Chinese government. Today, traditional Tujia customs can only be found in
2601-478: Was the consolidation of southwestern tusi chiefdoms into the province of Guizhou in 1413. Building upon the Yuan precedent, the Ming began its colonization of the southwest in the 1370s, and though its military strength waxed and waned, it was able to eliminate the largest autonomous kingdoms in the southwest by the early decades of the seventeenth century. By the time of the Ming-Qing transition , what remained in
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