Shui Ethnic Minority Culture, Guizhou, China

The remote ancestor of the Shui people was a branch of the ancient "Baiyue" people, which, with the Zhuang, the Dong, etc., was called by a joint name of "Liao" during the period of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) and the Song Dynasty (960 - 1297). "Fushui Prefecture" was set up in the populated area of the Shui people at the time of the Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127). The name of "Shui" was first found in the historical records of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). The names of "Shuijia-Miao" and "Shui-jia" were mostly called in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). The Shui Ethnic Group has been formally named after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The Shui language belongs to the Shui language of the Zhuang and Dong language branch of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family. The ancestors of the Shui people created their own written lanuage, called "Shui" scripts. The shape was similar to that of the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells or to "Jinwen" scripts. However, they had only 400-odd words, mostly used for witchcraft activities. The Shui people have their own calendar, which is basically identical with the traditional Chinese calendar. However, the 8^th month in the traditional Chinese lunar calendar is considered as the end of the year in the Shui calendar and the 9^th month, the beginning of the year.

There are four days for the last of the Twelve Earthly Branches from the end of August to the beginning of October in the traditional Chinese calendar, which are in turn the Spring Festivals for various villages of the Shui people. The Shui people call the Spring Festival "Jieduan" (transliteration from the Shui language), which is celebrated grandly and lively. On the occasion all kinds of recreational activities are carried out, such as drums and gongs beating, Lusheng playing, horse racing, dancing and singing, etc..

There have been not so great differences between men's clothes of the Shui people and theneighboring Han people since 1940s. However, women's clothes and adornments of the Shui people have still kept their own clear ethnic features. Women's clothes, mostly made with the cotton cloth woven by the Shui women themselves, are semi-long or long upper garments with the buttons on the right or short open-front coats without collars. The long garment is long enough down to the knee, without decorative borders. For the clothes in their festivals best or on their wedding ceremonies, they are entirely different from those worn at the ordinary times. Around the shoulder and the cuff of sleeves of the wedding clothes and at the knee of the trousers, they are trimmed with embroidered laces. There are also colorful patterns on their cover-chiefs. With silver crowns on the head, silver neck-lets around the neck, silver bracelets on the wrists, silver Yaling plastron on the chest, silver earrings on the earlobes, embroidered shoes worn on the feet, the bride is gorgeously dressed, cutting quite a fine figure. Besides, the embroidered straps or suspenders by the Shui women are of more artistic quality. For the so-called "belts", in fact, they are a kind of elegant "screen" in "T" form, the size of the screen should be large enough to wrap up and carrying a baby on the back, with belts on the lateral ends of the upper part. The embroidered patterns on the braces, which use white or color silk threads winding on the white horsetail to embroider various patterns well first, then inlaid them on the cloth of the strap. The strap, beautiful and practical, is a very good present for the daughter's marriage from her mother.

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