The Tujia — Ethnic Origins and Historical Evolution
III. Ethnic Origins and Historical Evolution. Origins and Evolution. The Tujia are one of the ethnic minorities with a long history in southern China. Although the ethnic name appeared relatively late, their ancestors had long lived and multiplied in the south. Judging merely from the experience of one branch of the Ba people, ancestors of the Tujia, who cleared the wilderness here, their history spans at least two thousand years. The central dynasties of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing, in order to strengthen...
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III. Ethnic Origin and Historical Evolution
Ethnic Origin and Evolution
The Tujia are one of the ethnic minorities with a long history in southern China. Although their ethnic name appeared relatively late, their ancestors had long lived and multiplied in the south. Judging merely from the experience of one branch of the Ba people, ancestors of the Tujia, who hacked their way through difficulties here, their history goes back at least two thousand years.
To strengthen control over the Tujia areas, the central dynasties of the Yuan, Ming and Qing established and successively reinforced the tusi (native chieftain) offices of Yongshun, Baojing, Sangzhi, Rongmei, Shinan, Sanmao, Sinan and Dejiang in Huguang, and Youyang and Shizhu in Sichuan. They insultingly called the Tujia "Tuman" (native barbarians); only in modern times did the ethnic name "Tujia" appear.
Regarding the origin of the Tujia, opinions in Chinese academic circles currently differ. There are three main different views: one holds that the Tujia originated from the Ba people who settled in the border region of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou after Chu and Qin destroyed Ba; the second, based on Neolithic cultural sites unearthed in Longshan, Luxi, Dayong and other counties in western Hunan and on Tujia-language place names, holds that the Tujia originated from the indigenous people of western Hunan and were formed through fusion with incoming Ba and Han people; the third, based on relevant records in the Record of the Bronze Pillar at Fuxi Prefecture, the Book of Tang, the New Book of Tang, as well as the closeness of the Tujia language to the Yi language and the similarity of Tujia customs to those of some Yi people in Yunnan, holds that the Tujia evolved from part of the Wuman people in the mid-Tang period.
The ancestors of the Tujia experienced the stages of clan tribes and tribal alliances.
In remote primeval times, in the caves around Yishui (present-day Qingjiang) in Hubei lived five clans. The Ba clan of Wuxiang lived in the Red Cave, while the four clans of Hui, Fan, Xiang and Zheng lived in the Black Cave. Originally each of these five clans lived in its own cave, and there was no leader to command and manage everyone's affairs, so they agreed to select a leader by competition. In the first contest, throwing swords, only Ba Wuxiang hit the target. In the second contest, they each boarded earth boats carved with patterns, and whoever's boat did not sink but floated would be chosen; again, it was Ba Wuxiang's boat that floated while the boats of the other four clans sank. Everyone admired Ba Wuxiang's great skill and elected him head of the five clans, calling him "Lin Jun." Later Lin Jun led the five clans along the Yishui River to migrate to Yanyang, a place producing fish and salt. Legend says that at Yanyang there was a matrilineal clan tribe — the Salt Goddess tribe — which invited Lin Jun's clans to settle there, but Lin Jun refused. The next morning the Salt Goddess turned into insects and flew into the sky, blocking the sunlight and making heaven and earth dark, so that Lin Jun's people could not see the direction in which to continue. Lin Jun then sent someone to deliver green threads to the Salt Goddess, saying that she should wear the green threads and see whether they matched in order to decide whether to stay or go. The Salt Goddess agreed to Lin Jun's condition. As a result, when the Salt Goddess put on the green threads, Lin Jun shot an arrow at the green threads and killed the Salt Goddess, and the sky cleared. After defeating this matrilineal clan tribe, Lin Jun reached Yicheng and established his capital there. After Lin Jun died, his ghost turned into a white tiger; from then on, the Ba clan alliance believed in the white tiger. This legend shows that the ancestors of the Tujia once passed through a primitive social stage with the white tiger as totem. Lin Jun was the first native chieftain of the Tujia ancestors.
In western Hunan and Hubei there is another legend: in ancient times, the universe was once chaotic, with no distinction between day and night. Later Zhang Gulao made the sky and Li Guniang made the earth. Taibai Jinxing gave Li Guniang eight immortal pills; after eating them she became pregnant and gave birth to seven boys and one girl. The eldest brother was called Qili, the second Manli, the third Tiehan, the fourth Tonghan, the fifth Yake, the sixth Changjiao, the seventh Fuxi, and the eighth sister Yibu. Later, when a great flood covered the sky, Fuxi and Yibu survived by hiding in a gourd. Only after divine instruction from heaven did the brother and sister marry, and they gave birth to one hundred and twenty surnames. But twenty surnames were scorched to death by sixteen suns, and only then were there ordinary people. The core of this legend is that only after Fuxi and Yibu married did human beings and common people come into existence. Longshan and Yongshun also worship the Eight Great Gods; in fact, they are the chieftains of the eight tribes of the Tujia ancestors. Because they rendered meritorious service to the Tujia, the Tujia perform the hand-waving dance to sacrifice to them.
Native Officials and Tusi
After Qin Shi Huang unified China, the descendants of the Ba people who still lived in the border region of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou began their social life within a unified multi-ethnic feudal state.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the tusi and native-official system was formally established in Tujia areas. From the Ming Dynasty to the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, the feudal government continuously perfected and strengthened the policy of "ruling the natives through the natives." The Ming and Qing courts also established large numbers of garrisons or passes in and around the minority areas at the junction of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou to control the tusi. Only with "replacing native officials with appointed officials" (gaituguiliu) were native officials replaced by appointed officials to administer the areas where Tujia, Miao and other peoples lived. The Tujia people all called the tusi "native emperor" or "native king." Tusi at all levels had tusi yamen with various officials such as prime ministers, household managers and sheba to handle affairs for the native king. The size of each tusi's territory was marked by boundary steles, and the native people of the villages and dong under their jurisdiction could not cross the boundary by even one step — that is, "the barbarians do not leave the dong, and the Han do not enter the territory" — still less could they move or migrate at will. The descendants of the native people had to be serfs of the native king for generation after generation, and their lives were extremely poor.
Within the tusi territories of Huguang and southeastern Sichuan, a system combining military and administrative functions was implemented. For the native people, this meant being both native subjects (native soldiers) and native troops. The tusi established military organizations called "banners," each with a "banner chief" who managed households and corvée and trained native soldiers. Each banner consisted of anywhere from several dozen to more than a hundred native soldiers, and each banner had its own emblem; when the Tujia sacrificed to the native king, they would enter the grounds carrying these banners, and during the hand-waving dance they performed simulated movements of military drill and combat. In peacetime, some native soldiers guarded the tusi's royal city, while others took turns guarding the villages and townships of the dong or the strategic checkpoints on the tusi borders. Tusi at all levels served as generals and military officers; native soldiers farmed in the farming season, trained in their spare time, and sometimes served as garrison troops and corvée laborers. When native soldiers were conscripted, they also had to bring their own weapons, baggage and grain to the battlefield. If native soldiers resisted carrying out the orders of native officials, they were punished or even executed. Struggling ceaselessly for the country and the people
The Tujia are a brave, warm, forthright and patriotic people. Their ancestors, the Ba people, took part in King Wu of Zhou's campaign against the Shang king Zhou, charging into battle so fiercely that the Yin people turned their weapons around, leading to the fall of the Shang Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the power of the Ba people was once at its height; when Chu called itself king, Ba also called itself king. The story of General Manzi of Ba, who cut his own throat and died for righteousness, circulated widely among the people.
In Ba Commandery, Nan Commandery and other places during the Qin period, there was once a tiger menace, and the Tujia people rendered meritorious service by shooting and killing groups of tigers with white bamboo crossbows and arrows. They esteemed martial valor and were skilled in battle, and took part in Qin's war to unify the country. After the Qin and Han dynasties, rulers of almost every dynasty used their soldiers in campaigns, because the native soldiers fought bravely and often won; people at the time called them "divine soldiers," "loyal and righteous victorious armies," "fierce warriors" and so on.
When Wang Mang usurped the Han throne, the Tujia leader Tian Qiang and his three sons Tian Lu, Tian Yu and Tian Cang refused to submit to Wang Mang's rule, echoing from afar the struggles of the Green Forest and Red Eyebrow peasant rebel armies. In the Eastern Han period, because prefectural, commandery and county officials collected excessive taxes, Tujia leaders and peasants in Ba, Nan and Wuling commanderies repeatedly rose in uprising against tyrannical rule. From the Qin and Han to the Ming and Qing, struggles by Tujia peasants against feudal oppression and exploitation occurred in almost every dynasty.
The Tujia people have a fine patriotic tradition in history. In the mid-Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, when Japanese pirates invaded China's coast, the Ming court mobilized large numbers of government troops to form an anti-pirate force. Yongshun, Baojing, Sangzhi, Zhenxi, Rongmei, Maliao, Youyang and Jiuxi and other places formed native troop units composed mainly of Tujia with Miao participation; they were a powerful anti-pirate force and repeatedly won merit in battle. In 1556, Tian Shijue, tusi of Rongmei, led his sons Tian Jiuxiao and Tian Jiulong in pursuing Japanese pirates and won a great victory in the Battle of Shengxian. Especially in the Battle of Zhoushan, Rongmei native troops fought in coordination with the native troops led by Peng Yinan of Yongshun tusi and Xiang Hefeng of Sangzhi tusi, annihilating the pirates harassing Zhejiang and making a major contribution to defending the motherland's coastal waters.
In modern times, patriotic generals and revolutionary martyrs emerged in succession among the Tujia. During the Opium War, Chen Liansheng, a Qing deputy general and a Tujia from Hefeng, and his son Chen Peng were successively transferred to the Sanjiangkou, Shajiao and Dajiao forts in Guangdong, where they built fortifications and closely guarded the coastal waters. In early 1841, Chen Liansheng led more than 600 Chu soldiers in fierce battle against the invading army coming by sea; unfortunately, father and son both died for their country. When the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Dagu Fort in Tianjin, Luo Rongguang, a Tujia from western Hunan, was the Tianjin town commander-in-chief. At that time, although he had been promoted, he had not yet taken up the new post and still remained to guard the fortress. He sternly rejected the invaders' coercion and threats; when the enemy attacked, he took the lead and resolutely fought back, dying heroically in fierce battle with the enemy.
During the Guangxu period, some foreign missionaries carried out illegal activities in southeastern Sichuan and western Hubei and caused incidents in Youyang, Qianjiang, Lichuan, Shinan, Changle and other places, and were therefore jointly struck back by the local Tujia and Han people. Xiang Xietang, Ran Congzhi, Yang Zhenting, Xiang Xuting (also known as Xiang Ce'an) and others were all outstanding figures who opposed the invaders. To this day, the Tujia people still praise with reverence, in the form of "Ten Songs," the glorious deeds of the brave martyr Xiang Xietang, who died in 1904: "In the first month, joy fills the air, Huabei rose up in rebellion — Xiang Xietang, his fame spread across the five lakes and four seas. ... In the fifth month comes the Dragon Boat Festival, Xietang trained troops and made guns, ... In the sixth month the mist is vast and dim, the bishop and priests went to the battlefield, alas, they met the King of Hell. ..."
Many people of lofty ideals among the Tujia joined revolutionary groups such as the Tongmenghui led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and struggled to realize a republic of all ethnic groups. Wen Chaozhong, Huang Yushan and others of the Tujia on the Sichuan-Hubei border organized the "Sichuan-Hubei-Hunan-Guizhou Iron-Blood United Heroes Society" (formerly the "Iron-Blood Heroes Society"), with the program of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and defeating the foreign powers. They successively mobilized about 70,000 people of all ethnic groups in Qianjiang, Xianfeng, Lichuan, Pengshui, Youyang and other places and launched the Qianjiang armed uprising, once capturing Qianjiang county town and shaking the Qing court; those who died heroically were praised as "Iron-Blood Heroes," and the people offered sacrifices to them in shrines. To this day, the field songs sung by Tujia farmers while weeding still praise their revolutionary spirit. Deng Yulin, a Tujia from Badong, Mou Hongxun, a Tujia from Lichuan, and Tian Feifeng, a Tujia from Wufeng, were all important members of the Gongjinhui and made outstanding contributions in preparing to launch the 1911 Revolution, establishing a new government and defending Wuhan. After the success of the 1911 Revolution, Mou Hongxun served as president of the Republic of China Gazette, propagating Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary ideas and promoting the new culture, and rendered merit for the democratic revolution.
After the founding of the Communist Party of China, the Tujia, Miao, Han and other peoples in the border region of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou all carried out revolutionary activities locally and elsewhere under the leadership and influence of the Communist Party of China. Wan Tao (Tujia), born in 1904 in Guihua Village, Fengjiaba, Qianjiang, joined the Communist Party of China in 1924 while studying in Chongqing. He was one of the leaders who created the Hunan-Hubei-Western Revolutionary Base Area during the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Thereafter he served as deputy secretary and organization minister of the CPC Western Hubei Special Committee, secretary of the front committee of the Third Red Army, political commissar and other posts, working tirelessly to consolidate and develop the Hunan-Hubei-Western Revolutionary Base Area. He later died at the age of only 28 after being persecuted under an erroneous line. His revolutionary spirit of diligent study, selflessness, brave struggle and uprightness inspired the people of all ethnic groups to continue striving.
During the Second Revolutionary Civil War, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China successively dispatched He Long, Zhou Yiqun, Ren Bishi, Guan Xiangying, Wang Zhen, Xiao Ke and others to establish and build the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Revolutionary Base Area. People of all ethnic groups in the border region of the four provinces and nearby areas enthusiastically joined and supported the revolution, making great contributions and sacrifices. In the Soviet governments at the provincial, county, district and township levels established at that time, Tujia cadres participated. In the Hefeng County Soviet Government established in 1929, the Tujia Wu Tianci once served as chairman. In 1928, He Long and others returned to western Hunan, organized the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, which was later reorganized into the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. In the process of opposing the Kuomintang's "encirclement and suppression" and consolidating and developing the revolutionary base areas, many Tujia, Miao and Han sons and daughters of the border region of the four provinces joined the Party, enlisted in the army, participated in politics and supported the front, making tremendous contributions to founding and defending the revolutionary base areas and strengthening revolutionary forces. The Tujia father and son Chen Nianzhen and Chen Zongyu of Hefeng organized the "Divine Soldiers Battalion" in the Wuyang area in 1926 with the aim of "resisting taxes and levies, resisting conscription and forced labor." In 1928, Chen Zongyu joined the Party; in early 1929, He Long reorganized the Divine Soldiers Battalion into the 4th Regiment of the 4th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, with Chen Zongyu as regiment commander and Chen Nianzhen as commander of the 5th Route Army of the Red 4th Army. In the battles against "encirclement and suppression," they repeatedly distinguished themselves in battle, and later both father and son sacrificed themselves for the revolution. The five Tujia brothers of the Fan family in Yunnanzhuang, Hefeng — Huiyan, Huiqiang, Huiyuan, Huijiu and Huitong — all joined the Red Army, fought bravely, and were praised by people as the "Five Tigers of the Fan Family." With outstanding military exploits, they successively laid down their lives for the revolution, a whole household of heroes. The Tujia Zhou Nianmin of Xiaohe, Lichuan County, after joining the Party in Wuhan, returned to his hometown and organized a guerrilla force of more than 300 people in the Lishuiba area of Qianjiang; in 1933, He Long reorganized the guerrillas into the Independent Regiment of the Red 3rd Army, with Zhou Nianmin as regiment commander. Later he also served as chief of staff of the 9th Division of the Red 3rd Army, fighting across the border region of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou, and sacrificed his life at the young age of 30.
The poor and hired peasants, women and children of all ethnic groups in Tujia areas also made contributions during the agrarian revolutionary movement. The Tujia Wei Guangkuan of Dacun, Xianfeng County, was skilled in medicine. He not only contributed his family property and children to the revolution, but in just two months, October and November 1933, he treated more than twenty wounded Red Army soldiers. Later, he followed the army on the Long March to Baiyu City on the border of Kham and Tibet, and died heroically in a battle with enemy forces.
Li Fengchun of Bai Guoyuan in the Haoping District of Wufeng was an advanced Tujia woman. She joined the Party in 1928, and in 1932 organized the Haoping Women's Association and was elected its chairman. She led women in supporting the Red Army — washing clothes, making military shoes and preparing dry rations — and composed the "Women's Song of Supporting the Front": "A thousand-layered sole, ten thousand threads, hard to express the deep bond with the Red Army; uppers and soles closely stitched, make a pair of military shoes for the front; a humble gift with a heart of devotion, let the Red Army wear them to kill the enemy." She publicized, mobilized and organized the broad masses of women to support the front. In the spring of 1931 alone, she led women in making more than twenty thousand pairs of military shoes and over a thousand pairs of cloth and straw sandals for the Red 2nd Army Corps and sent them to the front. When the Red Army attacked the enemy, she helped the troops cover the retreat of the wounded, and organized women to gather medicinal herbs in the mountains, nursing and treating the wounded together with other women so that they could return to the front as soon as possible. In peacetime she organized women to stand guard and sentry, and in wartime she organized women to scout enemy movements; she once went to Yuyangguan, Changleping and other places and outstandingly completed reconnaissance missions. In 1930, she served as Party representative of the 2nd Battalion of the Red Army's Independent 50th Division. She not only personally conducted reconnaissance but also led some soldiers of the 2nd Battalion in a surprise attack on Yuyangguan, achieving brilliant results. In 1931, when she was a member of the Party Committee of the Haoping District of the CPC, she was unfortunately captured during a breakout battle in the counter-"encirclement and suppression" campaign. Under the enemy's cruel torture and threats of the butcher's knife, she was unafraid, and even when about to be killed she still shouted, "The Red Army cannot be wiped out! The Women's Association cannot be wiped out!" She was only 29 years old, truly worthy of the name of a woman martyr and heroine. After the Red Army went north in 1935, when women recalled the Red Army they sang: "Plum blossoms bloom again one by one, why has the Red Army not yet come? Mother has mended the old clothes, and I have finished weaving the palm-straw sandals."
Li Qingcheng, a Tujia of Bafeng Mountain in Hefeng, was a young hero. Li Qingcheng's family was poor. In his childhood he loved to hear stirring revolutionary stories such as He Long's uprising with two kitchen knives, and often went with his companions to Heming Academy to listen to old Red Army soldiers explain revolutionary principles. In January 1929, he heard He Long speak at the founding meeting of the Hefeng County Soviet: "The Soviet government is a government that lets the poor stand up and be masters. We will also establish the Youth League and the Children's Corps, overthrow the local tyrants and divide the land." After the meeting, he was the first to ask to join the Children's Corps, and later became its commander-in-chief. He led Tujia children in beating the "mute evil gentry" (referring to beating the "Eight Great Gods"), destroying idols, banning opium and catching gamblers, and together with his companions promoted the new culture revolutionary movement. After the Red Army broke out eastward in 1932, he stayed in his hometown to carry out revolutionary activities and was unfortunately arrested. When the reactionaries beheaded him, he fearlessly shouted, "Long live the Soviet government!" He was only 16 when he sacrificed his life.
Between 1937 and 1945, many Tujia sons and daughters followed the Red Army north to resist Japan. Under the organizational leadership of the underground Party, the Tujia, Miao and Han peoples of all ethnic groups in the border region of the four provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou actively participated in the anti-Japanese national salvation movement. In the guerrilla warfare in the Sichuan-Hubei border area, many Tujia soldiers also gave their precious lives.