Introduce a nation in our country
The Li nationality is one of the Lingnan ethnic groups in my country. They mainly live in seven counties and two cities in central and southern Hainan Province, including Qiongzhong County, Baisha County, Changjiang County, Dongfang County, Ledong County, Lingshui County, Baoting County, Tongshi City, and Sanya City. The rest live scattered in Wanning, Tunchang, Qionghai, Chengmai, Danxian, Ding'an and other counties in Hainan Province. Due to differences in distribution areas, dialects, clothing, etc., they call themselves "Ban", "Qi", "Qi", "Meifu", "Local", etc. According to the fifth national census in 2000, the population of the Li ethnic group was 1,247,814. The Li language is spoken, belonging to the Li branch of the Zhuang-Dong language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and has different dialects in different regions. There are also many people who are fluent in Chinese. In 1957, a Lebanese script in Latin alphabet was created.
The Li ethnic group originated from a branch of Baiyue in ancient times. Some ethnic minorities in southern China were generally referred to as "Luoyue" in the Western Han Dynasty, "Li" and "Man" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and "Li" and "Liao" in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The ancestors of the Li ethnic group in Hainan Island are also included in these general terms. The exclusive clan name "Li" began in the late Tang Dynasty and was not fixed until the Song Dynasty and is still used today.
According to archaeological discoveries, there are 130 primitive cultural sites of the Neolithic Age in Hainan Island, dating back about 5,000 years. According to historical and ethnological studies, the owners of these Neolithic relics are the ancestors of the Li people. It was the ancestors of the Li ethnic group who developed Hainan Island. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Hainan Island had a close relationship with the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent troops to open up Qiongdao several times and established Zhuya and Dan'er counties. Some mainland Han people moved to Hainan Island and mixed with the Li indigenous residents. Later, Han people immigrated to Hainan Island in large numbers. "Village people", Miao and Hui people also migrated to the island. The immigration of a large number of immigrants brought advanced production tools (ironware) and production technology (farming), and social productivity further developed. In the middle of the 1st century AD, feudal rule gradually became stable.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the early Sui Dynasty, the central government's rule over Hainan Island became more consolidated, and the leader of the sect, Mrs. Xian, played an important role. She led more than 1,000 tribesmen (including ancestors of the Li ethnic group) and other Yue people in Lingnan to first request orders from the Liang Dynasty and then to the Sui Dynasty. Mrs. Xian has a deep understanding of justice and is committed to unity, which has strengthened the relationship between the Central Plains and Hainan Island and promoted the social and economic development of the Li people. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Hainan Island had a closer relationship with the Central Dynasty, and Hainan Island served as a transportation hub for trade between the Tang Dynasty and the South China Sea countries. The Tang Dynasty attached great importance to the rule and development of Hainan Island. Gold, silver, pearls, tortoise shells, spices, etc. produced in Li areas are both "tributes" and foreign trade products. At the same time, the feudal landlord economy in Li areas further matured. The working people of the Li ethnic group are also increasingly subject to slavery and exploitation.
At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Huang Daopo, an outstanding female weaver, fled to Yazhou when she was young because she could not bear the abuse of her feudal family. She stayed in Yazhou for more than 40 years (some say more than 30 years) and learned cotton skills from Li women. Textile technology, after returning to his hometown of Wunijing (today's Huajing Town, Shanghai County), he improved on the traditional textile technology of the Li people and created a set of advanced cotton textile tools and technology, making contributions to the development of science and technology. In the early Yuan Dynasty, the feudal rulers adopted a policy of restraint and appointed "Tongshou" as hereditary "ten thousand households" and "thousand households", which accelerated the class differentiation within Li society, further intensified class and ethnic conflicts, and provoked continuous uprisings among the Li people. .
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the feudal landlord economy has dominated the Li society. The productivity level in most Li areas is similar to that of the local Han people. Regular markets and markets have appeared, and betel nut, coconut and cattle Just waiting to become a bulk shipment to the mainland. In the hinterland of Wuzhishan, the remaining farming production methods of the original commune are still preserved.
Socioeconomic
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Li people mainly focused on agriculture, planting rice, potatoes, corn and other crops; handicrafts, fishing and hunting, raising livestock and poultry, and collecting Wild plants are an important household sideline, and commodity production and trade are underdeveloped. At this time, although the social form of the Li area was a feudal society, its development was uneven. There were two types: one was the general area that accounted for more than 94% of the Li population and total area. Like the local Han people, it was in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The landlord's economy developed relatively quickly.
They use a variety of different textile tools, from ginning, elasticizing, spinning, dyeing, warping, weaving, and embroidery, until they produce colorful brocades, quilts, sheets, tube skirts, flower ribbons, etc., which have formed a The production process of the entire system. And to this day, the famous "Yazhou quilt" and "double-sided embroidery" are famous for their exquisite techniques, bright colors and distinctive features. In addition, the Li people are also very famous for their wooden utensil making and bamboo and rattan weaving craftsmanship.
An important festival with customs and habits
The Li people practice a monogamous patrilineal family, and the children live in "living rooms" outside the house when they grow up. Once the wife settles in her husband's home after marriage, the couple will live separately from their parents. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, marriages were mostly early and were decided by parents, but people were free to fall in love before marriage. There is a popular custom of staying with the husband's family after marriage (the bride returns to her natal family to live for one or two years or even seven or eight years before settling in her husband's family after marriage). Children born out of wedlock are not subject to discrimination. Divorce and widow remarriage were relatively free.
Li women wear buns on the back of their heads, hairpins made of porcupine hair or metal or ox bone, wear embroidered headscarves, unbuttoned tops, and wear unbuttoned plackets at the bottom. They wear skirts with embroidered patterns, and when dressed up, they wear necklaces, bracelets, anklets, earrings, etc. In some places, women have many and heavy earrings, and the roots of their ears hang down to their shoulders, which is known as "dan ears" in history. Residents in some areas still retain the ancient custom of tattooing faces and tattoos called "diaoti". Especially women have the custom of tattooing, which usually starts from the age of 12 or 13 and is completed before marriage, and some are completed after marriage. The tattooing tools are plant needles, small bamboo sticks and plant dyes. The main places for tattoos are the face, neck, chest and limbs. Tattoo patterns vary greatly from region to region. This custom has basically disappeared and can only be seen in remote areas. The man wears a mane wrapped around his head, his coat is collarless and front and back, and he wears two pieces of cloth at the front and back. These clothes are made of cotton and linen, spun, woven, dyed and sewn by themselves. The diet is relatively simple, with rice, sweet potatoes, and corn as the staple food, and mostly the income from hunting and gathering as non-staple food. They only grow a small amount of vegetables, most of which are introduced from the Han area. Women love to chew betel nut. Most of the houses are gold-shaped thatched huts, with mud and bamboo rafters as walls. In the remote mountainous areas and Hemu areas of Baisha County, there are still boat-shaped houses with roofs resembling boat canopies and floors elevated off the ground.
Funeral rituals vary from place to place. Those close to the Han area have the custom of stopping the coffin for worship and choosing a place to raise the grave based on Feng Shui. The deceased in the Hemu area are buried in the clan's public cemetery, in a single wooden coffin, without building a tomb or erecting a monument, and no memorial service is performed after the burial.
Religious beliefs
The Li people have not formed a unified religion. They mainly worship ancestors in various places, and also worship nature. In some areas, there are still traces of clan totem worship. The Li people believe in ghosts, especially the ghosts of their ancestors. Worshiping ancestors is an important religious activity of the Li people, in order to pray for their ancestors and keep their families safe