The Tujia — Population Distribution and Ethnic Name
I. Population Distribution and Ethnic Name. In the inland mountain valleys where the four provinces and municipalities of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou meet, several ethnic minorities reside, one of which is the Tujia. The Tujia are mainly distributed in the high mountain zones of the Wuling Range. According to the fifth national census of 2000, the total Tujia population nationwide was 8,028,133, making them...
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I. Population Distribution and Ethnic Name
In the inland mountain valleys where China's Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou provinces and municipalities meet, several ethnic minorities live, one of which is the Tujia.
The Tujia are mainly distributed in the high mountain areas of the Wuling Mountains. According to the statistics of China's fifth national census in 2000, the total Tujia population nationwide was 8,028,133, making them one of the more populous ethnic minorities in China.
In Longshan, Yongshun, Baojing, Guzhang, Dayong, and other counties of the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hunan Province, the Tujia population living in concentrated communities is relatively large, and some Tujia also live in the prefecture's other three counties and cities. Zhangjiajie City, a tourist city that China has opened to the world, is also an area where Tujia people live in concentrated communities. In Laifeng, Hefeng, Xianfeng, Xuan'en, Lichuan, and other five counties and cities within the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hubei Province, the Tujia make up a relatively large proportion of the total population. The Tujia in Enshi, Jianshi, and Badong counties and cities mostly live in concentrated communities south of the Qingjiang River, showing a pattern in which Tujia people in southwestern Hubei live more to the south and Han people more to the north.
The Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, where Tujia people live in concentrated communities in the Yichang area of Hubei, has 11 districts and towns and 36 townships. Apart from the three districts and towns in its east, which are areas where Tujia and Han live together, the central and western parts of the county are places where Tujia people are relatively concentrated. In Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, Tujia people make up 47.46% of the county's total population, and the vast majority live in concentrated communities among the high mountain valleys within the county.
In the Qianjiang area on the southeastern border of Chongqing, relatively many Tujia people live in concentrated communities in Xiushan Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, and Qianjiang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County. Some Tujia people in Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County live together with Miao and Han people. The Tujia population of Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County is 53% of the county's total population.
In the Tongren area of northeastern Guizhou Province, places where Tujia people live in concentrated communities include Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County and Yinjiang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County.
The above circumstances show that the Tujia are a mountain people living in concentrated communities among the streams and caves of the Wuling and Dalou mountain ranges south of the Yangtze River in China. Generally speaking, the places where Tujia people live in concentrated communities are mostly areas where the tusi system was established during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Historically, in the surrounding border zones of these areas and in a few strongholds within individual tusi areas, feudal dynasties also established garrisons and passes, and the number of Tujia living there was much smaller than in the tusi areas. In the non-tusi and garrison areas of this region, Tujia people also lived scattered. Due to ethnic migration and movement, in today's areas where ethnic groups live mixed or scattered, there are still individual Tujia settlements where people live in concentrated communities.
For historical reasons, the Tujia live in the inland mountains close to the Central Plains, on the edge of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, guarding the throat of the southwestern stream-and-cave frontier, and live interspersed with the relatively numerous Han people in the area. Tujia people mostly live by clan in concentrated communities, and few live as isolated single households; some have one surname to a village, or several surnames to a village. Tujia villages are mostly distributed in mountainous rural areas and are generally places that can be defended by terrain; Han residents mostly live in towns or villages adjacent to small towns.
The concentrated communities of the Tujia are often close to the concentrated communities of the Miao or other ethnic minorities. In the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, the Miao villages in Huayuan, Jishou, Fenghuang, and Luxi counties are relatively dense, and for a long period Guzhang County had Han, Miao, and Tujia residents each making up one third. In the four counties of southern Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, many Tujia live together with Miao and Dong residents. In the five autonomous counties of southeastern Chongqing, except for Shizhu, Miao and Tujia residents all live together on the same land.
In the places where Tujia and Miao live in concentrated communities in western Hunan and Hubei, southeastern Chongqing, and northeastern Guizhou, there are also concentrated communities of other ethnic minorities. For example, Sangzhi, Hefeng, and other counties have some Bai villages; Longshan has Hui villages; Xuan'en and Enshi have some Dong villages. Hefeng and other counties also have Mongolian settlements.
In short, in the area where Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou meet, although it is a place where Tujia and Miao live in concentrated communities, there are also scattered settlements of other ethnic minorities, and even more Han people live locally. Such an ethnic distribution situation is conducive to mutual exchanges among the people of all ethnic groups and to learning and exchanging experience with one another, providing extremely favorable conditions for the common progress and prosperity of all ethnic groups.
Ethnic Name
Before the founding of New China, few people knew the ethnic name of the Tujia. In fact, the Tujia had long existed in the world as an ethnic group. But in the past, the ancestors of the Tujia were either insultingly called "barbarians," or called "Tuman," "Turen," "Tuding," and so on. The Republican-era Xianfeng County Gazetteer called them "Tujia," saying they were collateral descendants and common people of the tusi who historically lived in Huguang and the southeastern Chongqing area.
In the Tujia language, the Tujia people call their own ethnic group "Bizika," "Mijika," or "Beijinka," which arose because of differences in pronunciation of the Tujia language in places where they live at the border of the four provinces and municipalities. What is the meaning of the ethnic name? "Ka" is translated into Chinese as "family" or "ethnic group," but what Chinese word "Bizi" corresponds to or what Chinese character it should be translated as has not yet reached a unified conclusion. Some say it can refer to "local people" or "people born and raised here"; others say it means the area's "earliest inhabitants" or "indigenous people."
In Chinese, the Tujia people call their own ethnic group "Tujia," call Han people "Kejia," and call Miao people "Miaojia"; in their own ethnic language, Tujia people call Han people "Paka" and Miao people "Baika." Judging from these mutual names among ethnic groups, the Tujia's self-designation still evolved from the meaning of "local people" or "born and raised locally," and also contains an element of exonym.
The ethnic name of the Tujia cannot be abbreviated as "Tu." This is because east of Qinghai Lake in Qinghai Province, south of the Qilian Mountains, and in the area of the Huangshui and Datong Rivers, there lives another ethnic group called the "Tu." The "Tujia" and the "Tu" are not only distributed in different places, but the two ethnic groups also differ in economy, culture, way of life, language, and psychological qualities.
Although the Tujia have a long history, rulers of successive dynasties implemented policies of ethnic discrimination and ethnic oppression against the Tujia people, fundamentally refusing to recognize the Tujia, let alone their equal status and role in the state. After the founding of New China, the people's government implemented policies of equality, unity, progress, and common prosperity for all ethnic groups. In October 1956, the State Council announced that the Tujia are a single ethnic minority in China, enjoying rights equal to all ethnic groups. Since reform and opening up, the state's ethnic policies have been further implemented, and the ethnic identity of some Tujia residents living in the border area of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou has been restored, thereby mobilizing the enthusiasm of the Tujia people to accelerate modernization.
Language
The Tujia have their own ethnic language but no writing system. Among those who currently speak Tujia, some also speak Chinese. The Tujia language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. As for the language subgroup, academic circles still have different views at present.
According to a survey in the 1950s, there were about 70,000 to 80,000 Tujia who could only speak Tujia and not Chinese. They were mostly distributed in Tujia villages in remote mountainous areas around Longshan, Yongshun, Baojing, Guzhang, Xiushan, and Laifeng, and were mostly elderly people. At present, according to a survey by the Tujia language group, in Tujia villages along the You River, more than 200,000 people speak Tujia and also use Chinese as a tool for social interaction and expressing feelings in daily life.
The Tujia language is divided into northern and southern dialects. Its basic characteristics are that it has tones, no consonant clusters, relatively many compound vowels, and relatively few consonant endings; its vocabulary consists mostly of polysyllabic words. The basic word order of sentences is: subject-predicate, subject-object-predicate, and so on.
They accepted the influence of Han culture relatively early and deeply, and the Chinese they use is mostly Southwestern Mandarin. Now, the vast majority of Tujia people commonly use Chinese and are accustomed to using Chinese writing.
In areas where Tujia people live in concentrated communities, some Tujia language is disappearing; some disappeared earlier; and some has been mixed into the local Chinese used there. The Tujia's habitual use of Chinese language and writing is conducive to exchanges among the people of all ethnic groups and plays a good role in promoting the development and prosperity of the Tujia economy and culture.