Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T17:12:47.259Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Zhuang Minority Peoples of the Sino-Vietnamese Frontier in the Song Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Jeffrey G. Barlow
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Zhuang of south China are the most numerous of the Chinese minority peoples. In Vietnam the Zhuang were identified historically as the Nung, and more recently as the combined Tay-Nung minority, the largest of Vietnam's 36 minority peoples. One of the most critical points in Zhuang history occurred in the Song era [960–1126 A.D.], when the expanding Han Chinese and the Vietnamese began to make a sustained impact in the Zhuang heartlands. Many Zhuang resisted foreign control, striving for continued independence. Their subsequent defeat meant that the Zhuang were never again to have an opportunity for autonomous development.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , September 1987 , pp. 250 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Zhuang population in October 1982 was 13.37 million, principally in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, but there are also Zhuang in Yunnan, Guangdong and Guizhou. China's Minority Nationalities, (1) China Reconstructs (Beijing, 1984)Google Scholar.

2 Nguyen Khac Vien, Ethnographical Data, Vol. I, #32, Vietnamese Studies (Hanoi, 1972): 5. The combined Tay-Nung number 817,993, of whom 313, 998 appear to be Nung.

3 See Eberhard, Wolfram, China's Minorities: Yesterday and Today (Belmont, California: Wadsworh Publishing Company, 1982), pp. 100–104Google Scholar, for a useful discussion of Chinese attitudes toward minority peoples. The term Zhuang was in use in the Tang era, though applied to only part of the peoples thought today to be ancestral to the Zhuang. It became widespread by Ming times. Some of the Chinese terms may be the self-designations of the minorities; others are attempts to put Tai words into Chinese characters. I assume a common culture and language among the proto-Zhuang peoples by the late neolithic.

4 Guangxi Minorities' Institute Research Centre, Guangxi Xiao-shu Min-zu Gai-yao [An Outline of Guangxi Minority Peoples] (Nanning, 1978), p. 4.Google Scholar

5 Qin Shuguan, “Feng-jian Wang-qiao zai Guangxi Tui-xing-de Min-zu Zheng-ce He Min-zu Guan-xi-de Fa-zhan” [The Feudal Dynasties' Minorities Policies in Guangxi and the Development of the Minority Peoples], Paper presented at Minorities' Studies Conference in Guangzhou, December 1984, p. 1. Henceforth: Qin Shuguan, FJWQ. I am grateful to the author for providing a copy.

6 Yi Guangyuan and Zhou Guoxing, “On the Remains from Liuzhou Region Guangxi”, Beijing Zi-ran Bo-wu-guan Yen-jiu-bao [Research Report of the Beijing Museum of Natural History], qi 20 (December, 1982). Dates from conversation with Mr. Yi at Bai-lian Dong in June 1985.

7 Jichang, Yang, “Lai-ci Guilin Zhen-pi-yan Yi-zhi Dong-wu Zhun” [The Fauna of Zhen Pi Yan Ruins from Guilin, Guangxi], Bo-wu [Natural History], 2 (Beijing, 1981): 29–31Google Scholar. See also Jichang, Yang, “Guilin Zhen-pi-yan Dong-xue Yi-zhi” [Artifacts of Guilin's Zhen-pi-yan Cave], Hua-shi [Fossil], 1 (Beijing, 1980): 25Google Scholar.

8 Cailuan, Qin, “Zhuang-zu Di-qu Xin-shi-qi Shi-dai Mu-zang Ji Qi-you Guan Wen-ti-de Tan-tao” [Inquiry into Problems Relating to the Neolithic Era Tombs in the Zhuang Districts], Guangxi Min-zu Xueyuan Xue-bao [Research Report of the Guangxi Minorities' Institute], 3 (Nanning, 1984): 35–42Google Scholar.

9 Eberhard, China's Minorities, p. 86.

10 Meacham refers to the culture of the southern region as ‘South China Bacsonian’. See Meacham, William, “Origins and Development of the Yueh Coastal Neolithic: A Microcosm of Cultural Change on the Mainland of East Asia”, in The Origins of Chinese Civilization, ed. Keightley, David N. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), p. 156Google Scholar.

11 One point of contention in this argument is the origins of the bronze drums characteristic of southern cultures. For a discussion which touches upon the claims of the ‘Vietnamese Lesser Hegemonists’ to be the hearth of the bronze-drum cultures, see Bangcun, Lin, “Tan-tan Wo-guo Zao-qi Tong-gu” [A Discussion of our Country's Early Bronze Drums] in Jiang-han Kao-gu [Jiang-han Archaeology], 2 (1980): 51–55Google Scholar. For a more general polemic against all Vietnamese claims to historical importance, see Kelai, Dai and Yongzhang, Xu, “Wei Di-qu Ba-quan-ju-yi Fu-wu-de Wei-shi-jia” [Bogus Historians in the Service of Local Hegemonism], Hong-qi [Red Flag ], qi 395 (1 April 1982): 44–48Google Scholar.

12 Qin Shuguan, FJWQ, p. 1. I am indebted to Professor Qin for patiently introducing me to Zhuang history and culture in Guilin from August of 1984 to July of 1985.

13 Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 4, Pt. III (London: Cambridge University Press, 1971), p. 300Google Scholar.

14 Zechang, Xiao and Yigui, Zhang, Liu-zhou Shi-hua [History of Liu-zhou] (Nanning: Guangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1983), p. 14Google Scholar.

15 Weiqun, Wang (ed.), Nan-yue Wu-zhu Zhuan. Ji Qi-ta Qi-zhong [Commentary on The Five Lords of Southern Yue and Seven other Pieces] (Guangzhou: Guangdong Renmin Chubanshe, 1982), p. 5Google Scholar. Based on the Qing copy and commentary by Liang Yannan.

16 This period and its implications for Chinese historiography and Vietnamese history are covered in Taylor, K. W., The Birth of Vietnam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), pp. 23–29Google Scholar. I am indebted to Taylor for commenting upon earlier versions of this mss.

17 Duhong, Zeng, Shuguan, Qin and Hualing, Wei, Guilin Jian-shi [A Brief History of Guilin] (Nanning: Guangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1984), p. 14Google Scholar.

18 Guangxi Zhuang-zu Zi-zhi-qu Wen-wu-guan-li Wei-yuan-hui [Cultural Artifacts Administrative Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region] (ed.), Guangxi Qu-tu Wen-wu [Artifacts Unearthed in Guangxi] (Beijing: Wenwu Chubanshe, 1978), p. 13Google Scholar.

19 Ibid. He-pu was known in the Tang era as a pearl-collecting point, a salt-production centre and a port for the coastal trade. Jie, Mo (ed.), Guangxi Feng-wu Zhi [Scenic Sites of Guangxi] (Nanning: Guangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1984), p. 252Google Scholar.

20 Zhuang-zu Jian-shi Pian-xie-zu [Editorial Committee, History of the Zhuang People], Zhuang-zu Jian-shi [A Brief History of the Zhuang Peoples] (Nanning: Guangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1980), p. 21Google Scholar. Henceforth: Zhuang-zu Jian-shi.

21 Holmgren, Jennifer, Chinese Colonisation of Northern Vietnam, Oriental Monograph Series, no. 27 (Canberra: Australian National University, 1980), p. 6Google Scholar.

22 Qin Shuguan, FJWC, p. 3.

23 K. W. Taylor indicates that the Sui campaigns against indigenous peoples, termed “Li” [] by the Chinese, were hard-fought and prolonged. Taylor, Birth, pp. 158–61. The Chinese used “Li” as a generic term for southern peoples; the groups resisting the Chinese included most if not all of the tribal peoples of the region, as well as the Vietnamese. The term “Li” refers in particular to a people located along the southern coastal regions of the Ling-nan. They were absorbed into the Zhuang in the Qing era and should be regarded as among the Zhuang ancestors. Zhengyi, Shi (ed.), Min-zu Ci-dian [Encyclopedia of Nationalities] (Chengdu: Sichuan Minzu Chubanshe, 1984), p. 119Google Scholar.

24 Tirong, Huang (ed.), Guangxi Li-shi Di-li [Guangxi Historical Geography] (Nanning: Guangxi Minzu Chubanshe, 1985), p. 69Google Scholar.

25 Xiao Zechang and Zhang Yigui, Liu-zhou, p. 21.

26 The poet Liu Zongyuan served at Liu-zhou from 815 to 819. His poems contain many details about local life and culture. Liu Zongyuan Ji [Collected Works of Liu Zongyuan], cited in Xiao Zechang and Zhang Yigui, Liu-zhou, passim.

27 Zong-yuan, Liu, “From the City-tower of Liu-chou”, in Bynner, Witter (tr.), Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty (Taibei: Dong Hai Book Co., 1967), p. 97Google Scholar.

28 E. G. Pulleyblank, “The Chinese and Their Neighbors in Prehistoric and Early Historic Times” in Keightley, Origins, pp. 430–31, discusses this term. The original term used by the Zhuang carried the meaning ‘long’[] and seems to have meant an area which had been ditched and diked for agriculture. Xianfan, Huang, Nong Zhi-gao (Nanning: Guangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1983), p. 4Google Scholar. Henceforth: Huang Xianfan, NZG. In today's standard Wu-ming Zhuang dialect, the terms rendered by the Chinese characters ‘dong’ and ‘Zhuang’ are quite close, congh and cuengh respectively. Sawlih Gun-cuengh (Gauj, Dong) [A Zhuang-Han Vocabulary] (Nanning: Gvanghsih Minzcuz Cuzbanjse, 1983)Google Scholar. There are many possible sources for Chinese confusion between the peoples themselves, their political systems, and the places where they lived.

29 A similar system, termed muong (muang) survived among the Tai peoples in recent Vietnam. McAlister, John T. Jr., “Mountain Minorities and the Viet Minh: A Key to the Indochina War”, in Southeast Asian Tribes, Minorities and Nations, Kunstadter, Peter (ed.), 2 vols. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967), II, p. 779Google Scholar.

30 In 740 the Tang tried to reopen a major route from Chang-an into An-nan via Sichuan and eastern Yunnan. The project sparked tribal risings, culminating in the defeat of Tang forces by Nan Zhao in 752. Stott, Wilfrid, “The Expansion of the Nan-chao Kingdom Between the Years A.D. 750–860 and the Causes that Lay Behind it as Shown in the T'ai Ho Inscription and the Man Shu”, T'oung Pao 50 (1963): 190–220CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The risings in the Guang-yuan zhou may have been part of an area-wide anti-Chinese rising by predominantly Tai tribal peoples.

31 Zhongshi, Hu, Zhuang-zu Wen-xue Gai-lun [An Introduction to Zhuang Literature] (Nanning: Renmin Chubanshe, 1982), p. 12Google Scholar. See also Zhen-an Fang-zhi [The Zhen-an Gazeteer] in Zhong-guo Fang-zhi Ye-shu [Chinese Gazeteers], #14, Guangxi (based upon the Qing Guangxu 18 Fang-zhi) (Beijing: Chengwen Chubanshe), 18th zhuan, p. 324Google Scholar.

32 Xianfan, Huang, Guangxi Zhuang-zu Jian-shi [A Brief History of the Zhuang Peoples] (Nanning: Guangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1980), p. 38Google Scholar.

33 Taylor, Birth, p. 228.

34 For the origins of Nan Zhao, see Blackmore, M., “The Rise of Nan Chao in Yunnan”, Journal of Southeast Asian History 1, No. 2 (Sept., 1960): 47–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar. As Nan Zhao and Dali were populated by a mixture of Tibeto-Burman and Tai speaking peoples, linguistic affinities as well as anti-Chinese unity may have contributed to the Zhuang/Nan Zhao-Dali alliance.

35 Zeng Duhong, Guilin, p. 22.

36 Guangxi Tong-zhi [Guangxi Encyclopedia], ce 55, zhuan 184. See also Song Shi [Song History], Zhonghua Shuju, Jiao-zhi zhuan.

37 The fragments of the former Tang empire focused upon the northern and coastal regions, leaving the Zhuang outside the Chinese state system. Worthy, Edmund H. Jr., “Diplomacy for Survival: Domestic and Foreign Relations of Wu Yueh, 907–978”, in China Among Equals, ed. Rossabi, Morris (Berkeley: University of California, 1983)Google Scholar.

38 Song Shi, zhuan 495, pp. 14214–15.

39 Guangxi Tong-zhi, ce 55, p. 4, QS 6.

40 The Xin Tang Shu ties Nan Zhao to the rise of the Nong clan. Xin Tang Shu, Guang-yuan Man-zhuan. Excerpted in Yunnan-sheng Li-shi Yan-jiu-suo [Yunnan Province, History Research Committee] (ed.), Yunnan Xiao-shu Min-zu [The Minority Peoples of Yunnan] (Kunming: Yunnan Renmin Chubanshe, 1983), p. 117Google Scholar. The reference suggests that by allying with Nan Zhao, the Nong overthrew the dominant Huang clan.

41 Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14214.

42 In this, the Zhuang were similar to the Vietnamese. See Taylor, Birth, p. 36; Marr, David, Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920–1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981), ch. 5Google Scholar.

43 Zhuang-zuJian-Shi, p. 62.

44 Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14217. Human sacrifices are also referred to in the Song Hui-yaoJi-ben, Jialuo, Yang (ed.), 7 vols. (Taibei: Shijie Shuju, 1964)Google Scholar, ce 198, Man-yi 5–65. Henceforth: Song Hui-yao.

45 Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14215.

46 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 4.

47 Ibid., pp. 6–7.

48 I am indebted to Dr K. W. Taylor for draft portions of a forthcoming book which much clarified Vietnamese perspectives on these issues and many others.

49 Honggui, Fan, “Nong Zhi-gao” in Guangxi Min-zu Xue-yuan Min-zu Yan-jiu Shi-pian [Research Group of the Guangxi Minorities' Studies Institute] (ed.), Zhuang-zu Li-shi Ren-wu-zhuan [Biographies of Zhuang Historical Personages] (Nanning: Guangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1983), p. 1Google Scholar. I am indebted to Professor Fan for several stimulating discussions at the Minorities' Institute in Nanning.

50 Guangxi Tong-zhi, ce 55, p. 6, QS6.

51 Fan Honggui, Nong Zhi-gao, p. 1.

52 Song Hui-yao, ce 198, Man-yi 5–61.

53 Si-Ma Guang, Su-shui Ji-wen, zhuan 13, p. 139.

54 Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14215. Huang is the most common Zhuang name. The Huang from Canton may have had kinship ties among the Nong followers.

55 Dongbing, Li and Dehua, Yu, “Zhou Qufei He Ling-wai Dai-da” [Zhou Qufei and the Prefatory Report from the Ling-nan] in Guangxi Li-shi Ren-wu Zhuan [Biographies of Guangxi Historical Personages], Naiqun, Mo (ed.), 5 vols. (Nanning: Guangxi Difang Shizhi Yanjiu Zupian, 1981), vol. 1, pp. 26–40Google Scholar.

56 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 35.

57 Si-ma Guang, zhuan 13, p. 139.

58 Fan Honggui, Nong Zhi-gao, p. 4. The Song Hui-yao suggests that the city had less than two day's warning of the Zhuang arrival, which emphasizes the speed with which they moved. 198th ce, Man-yi 5–62.

59 On the siege, see Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14216; Si-ma Guang, zhuan 11, p. 113.

60 Qin Shuguan, FJWC, p. 7. One set of figures suggests that by 1529 only 60 per cent of the population of Guangxi were ‘barbarians’. Huang Xianfan, Guangxi Zhuang-zu, p. 10. To the degree that these statistics are reliable, the population in the Song had to have been 60 to 70 per cent non-Han.

61 Huang Shou-ling was the strongest of the leaders of the 36 dong of the upper reaches of the Zuo and You rivers. Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 45.

62 Si-ma Guang, zhuan 13, p. 145.

63 Biography of Qing, Di in Zhong-guo Li-shi Da-ci-djan: Song History [The Encyclopedia of Chinese History: Song period] (Shanghai: Cishu Chubanshe, 1984), p. 211Google Scholar.

64 Fan Honggui, Nong Zhi-gao, p. 6; Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14216.

65 Song Hui-yao, ce 19, Man-yi 4–33. Contemporary Vietnamese interpretation of this event is that the Ly wished both to assist the Chinese, and to punish the Nong. Vuong, Tan Quuoc, translator and annotator, A Summarized History of Vietnam (Hanoi: Literature-History-Geography Publishing House, 1960)Google Scholar. Cited in a personal communication of 6 June 1986, from Professor Van Tao, Director, Institute of History, Hanoi.

66 Fan Honggui, Nong Zhi-gao, p. 7; Si-ma Guang, zhuan 13, p. 142.

67 Guangxi Min-zu yan-jiu suo (eds.) [Guangxi Peoples' Research Group], Guangxi Xiao-shu Min-zu Diqu Shi-ke Bei-wen-ji [Stone Inscriptions of the Guangxi Minority Regions], p. 137. The story is from the “Da Song Ping-man Pai” [The Barbarian-subduing Memorial of the Song] still standing in Guilin.

68 Guangxi Tong-zhi, ce 55, p. 18.

69 There are slightly differing accounts of the battle in the Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14217; Si-ma Guang, zhuan 13, p. 142; Guangxi Tong-zhi, ce 55, pp. 19–20.

70 Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14217.

71 The Nong clan had ranged over the entire area from Yunnan into Vietnam and east into Guangxi. See Yunnan Xiao-shu Min-zu, p. 117.

72 Si-ma Guang, zhuan 13, p. 143.

73 Song Shi, zhuan 495.

74 Zhen-an Fang-zhi, zhuan 18, p. 325.

75 Li Dongbing and Yu Dehua, Zhou Qufei, p. 27.

76 Ming Shi [Ming History], ed. Zhang Yanyu et at., Qing edition, Zhonghua Shuju, zhuan 317, “Guangxi Tu-si”.

77 This Song preoccupation with horses is reflected in the reforms of Wang An-shi, who tried to develop new methods of assuring a constant supply. See the debates of 1073 in Tao, Li, Xu-zi Zhi-tong Jian-changpian, 15 vols. (Taibei: Shijie Shuju, 1961)Google Scholar, ce 7, zhuan 233,2. Henceforth: Li Tao.

78 Zhou Qufei, zhuan 9, pp. 51–55,97.

79 Youzhi, Gu, “Shi-lun Zhuang-zu Tu-bing-de Xing-zhi Zuo-yong Ji Qi She-hui Ying-xiang” [A Discussion of the Nature, Function and Social Influences of the Zhuang Peoples' Local Troops], Guangxi Min-zu Xueyuan Xue-bao [The Report of the Guangxi Minority Peoples' Institute] 2 (Nanning, 1984), p. 81Google Scholar.

80 Xiufu, Mo, Guilin Feng-tu Ji [Recollections of Guilin Local Conditions and Customs], 2 vols., Shangwu Yinshuguan. No date or place of publicationGoogle Scholar.

81 For information on Song era Zhuang handicrafts, consult Li Dongbing and Yu Dehua, Zhou Qufei, pp. 37–39. The original source is Zhou Qufei, cited above. In the Tang era the imperial court had prized the Zhuang brocades and the emperor often wore them. See Zeng Duhong, Guilin, p. 23.

82 Zhou Qufei, pp. 54–55.

83 Mo Xiufu, p. 77.

84 Yang Yuan estimates that 20 per cent of Tang mineral production came from the Ling-nan, surpassed only by the 27 per cent of the Jiang-nan. Yuan, Yang, Tang-dai-de Kuang-chan [Tang Dynasty Mineral Production] (Taibei: Xueshu Shuju, 1982), p. 104Google Scholar.

85 Qin Shuguan, FJWC, p. 6.

86 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 98.

87 Ibid., p. 99.

88 Qufei's close observations on women and gender roles in Zhuang society are revealing of Han attitudes toward Zhuang women in this period. He says “The (Zhuang) males' bodies are inferior; their colour dark and miserable. The women, on the other hand, though dark are fully-fleshed. They are seldom sick and very energetic. They are everywhere in the markets of the towns and cities, trading and selling, pursuing profit.” Zhou Qufei, Vol. II, zhuan 10, p. 119. These attitudes might be contrasted with the lurid tales of the Ming-era scholar Kuang Lu who presented Zhuang women as demonic seductresses skilled in poison and necromancy. Lu, Kuang, Chi-ya San-zhuan [Three Simple Yet Elegant Scrolls] (Shanghai: Guji Dian, n.d.)Google Scholar.

89 For the details of the system in Zhuang areas, see Huang Xianfan, Guangxi Zhuang-zu, pp. 25–37; Yunnan Xiao-shu Min-zu, pp. 122–23.

90 Song Hui-yao, 197th ce, Man-yi 34–6. These Viet concerns caused alarms at the Song court, which feared for the stability of the border region. Li Tao, ce 7, zhuan 228, 1.

91 GuYouzhi.p. 81.

92 Zhou Qufei, zhuan 3, p. 35.

93 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 104. As an extraordinary gesture of reconciliation the Song emperor granted the Nong survivors the right to use his own family name, Zhao [ ], and many did so.

94 Coedes, G., The Making of South East Asia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), p. 84Google Scholar.

95 Song Hui-yao, ce 7, zhuan 229,13; zhuan 229,16.

96 Xiong Gongzhe, in Wang An-shi Zheng-lue [Wang An-shi's Political Strategy] (Taibei: Taiwan Shangwu Yinshuguan, 1960), pp. 145–56, cites many examples of times at which Wang An-shi pointed out the limitations of the use of arms in border disputes. (One example was the failed campaign against Dai Viet.) As Wang said in a court debate over this issue, “When one raises troops, it is difficult to guarantee that there will later be no calamities.” See Song Hui-yao, ce 7, zhuan 226, 3.

97 The issue of ultimate culpability for the Sino-Vietnamese war of the 1070's is addressed in Dai Kelai and Xu Yongzhang, “Wei Di-qu Ba-quan-ju-yi”. The authors castigate Ly Thuong Kiet as an expansionist and blame him for derailing Wang An-shi's reforms.

98 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 22. See also Zeng Duhong, Guilin, p. 49.

99 I an indebted to Dr K. W. Taylor for a careful exegesis of this process.

100 Zeng Duhong, Guilin, p. 49. See also Zhou Qufei, zhuan 3, p. 33.

101 This interpretation is widely represented in the secondary materials. The problem of racial conflict in the past is troublesome for Chinese historians constrained to celebrate the multi-racial nature of contemporary China. See, for example, Zhao Huafu's article in Zhongguo Min-zu Guan-xi Shi Yen-jiu Xueshu Zuo-tan-hui [Conference on Research into the History of Chinese Minorities], May 1981, p. 38. Conference jointly sponsored by the Chinese Social Science Institute and the Minorities' Research Institute.

102 Huang Xianfan in NZG, cites “Lue-lun Nong Zhi-gao Qi-yi-bing-de Xing-ge” [A Brief Discussion of the Nature of Nong Zhi-gao's Rebel Annies], Guangxi Ribao, 23 Nov. 1961, p. 64, as representing this point of view.

103 “Xiao-shu Min-zu Shi-ren Wu-ren Tan” [Five Minority Poets Talk] in Min-zu Wen-xue [Minority Literature] 10 (Beijing, 1982): 86–89Google Scholar. See also the foreword by Huang Yushan in Hu Zhongshi, Zhuang-zu wen-xue, pp. 1–2.

104 For materials relating to the general problem of minority history and culture and the GPCR see Xiao Zhiguang, “Criticism of the Gang of Four”, Zhongguo Min-zu Guan-xi, p. 594.

105 Zhou Oufei, p. 7; Ci-hai, Di-li Fence [Historical Geography] (Shanghai: Cishu Chubanshe, 1980), p. 23Google Scholar; Qixiang, Tan, Zhongguo Li-shi Di-tu Ji [A Collection of Chinese Historical Maps], 6 vols. (Shanghai: Zhongguo Ditu Xueshe, 1975), ce 6, pp. 27–28Google Scholar.

106 I am indebted to Dr David Marr of Australian National University for this information. He cites Nong Trung writing in Nghien Cuu Lich Su, 45 (Dec., 1962), pp. 38–44 for ethnographic material. Nong Zhigao (Nung Tri Cao in Vietnamese transcription) has been covered in five articles in Nghien Cuu Lich Su, most extensively in an article by Van Tan, #100 (July, 1967). Dr David Marr, personal communication, 19–8–85.

107 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 72.

108 The current tendency in ethnic analysis in China is not to follow Marx, but rather Stalin's application of Marx. See Zhaohou, Xu, “Ru-he Ren-shi He Chu-li Zhong-guo Li-shi-shang-de Min-zu He Min-zu Guan-xi Wen-ti” [How to recognize and Analyze Peoples and Problems related to Peoples in Chinese History], Heluo Chun-chiu 1 (Loyang, 1984): 1–11Google Scholar.

109 Others describe Zhuang society as yet in the clan stage in the Song period. See Huang Xianfan, Guangxi Zhuang-zu, pp. 22–23.

110 Professor Huang was denounced in 1957 as a Zhuang Separatist. See Moseley, George V. H. III, The Consolidation of the South China Frontier (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973), p. 88Google Scholar. One of Huang's provocative articles can be found in the Guang-ming Ri-bao, #2489, 10 May 1956, p. 3. He was rehabilitated shortly before his recent death. The new edition of his major work, Nong Zhi-gao, which was substantially destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, is prefaced with a disclaimer stating that some of his “conclusions are disputed by historical circles”. The fact that Huang was rehabilitated and his controversial book reissued shows greatly increased toleration for disagreements in historical circles.

111 Huang simply states that the extended Zhuang resistance against the Qin, the highly organized Zhuang army, the common concern for territory, a common tongue, and the suggestions of a class system which can be inferred from feudal ranks among the resistors, all indicate the presence of a state which had recently emerged from the tribal level. See NZG, p. 66. This position reflects the Marxist argument that the state emerges from the tribal level, a position supported by many Western anthropologists. See Professor Fried's provocative dissent on this point: Morton H. Fried, “Tribe to State or State to Tribe in Ancient China” in Keightley, Origins, pp. 467–93.

112 Eberhard, Wolfram, The Local Cultures of South and East China (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968), p. 432Google Scholar. Taylor makes a persuasive case for this position, with emendations which much clarify it: Birth, pp. 14–17, 42–43, 314–16.

113 Norman, Jerry and Mei, Tsu-lin, “The Austroasiatics in Ancient South China: Some Lexical Evidence”, Monumenta Sinica 32 (1976): 274–301CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

114 The forward to Zhuang-zu Li-shi Ren-wu Zhuan, p. 2, identifies the Sui dynasty female leader of Nan Yue, Xi Furen, and the Tang dynasty Yue leader Gong Feng-ang as Zhuang.

115 Chang states that Yue materials are quite distinctive, however. Kwang-chih, Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China, 3rd edition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977), p. 422Google Scholar.

116 Guangxi was on the fringes of these centres; the artifacts discovered there thus far are minimal in numbers. The archaeological record in the isolated upper reaches of the Zuo and You rivers is poorly established. The region was probably oriented toward Yunnan, and not Guangdong or Dong-son.

117 Von Dewall, Magdalene, “Local Workshop Centres of the Late Bronze Age in Highland South East Asia”, in Smith, B. and Watson, W., Early South East Asia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 137–66Google Scholar. See also Michele Pirazzoli-T'serstevens, “The Bronze Drums of Shihzhai Shan, their Social and Ritual Significance”, in ibid., p. 126.

118 The Min-zu Ci-dian, Shi Zhengyi (ed.), p. 19, recognizes Western Ou as a state of the Luo Yue peoples of the interior and holds them to be directly related to the origins of today's Zhuang.

119 Taylor, Birth, p. 16.

120 Jonathan Haas' excellent treatment of theories of the origin of the state suggests that there are many possible origins and evolutionary paths for primitive states, including those posited by Huang Xianfan. See The Evolution of the Prehistoric State (New York: Columbia University Press, 1982), Ch. 5Google Scholar.

121 Song Shi, zhuan 495, p. 14215.

122 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 24.

123 Bei-wen-ji, “Du-zhun-bei”, p. 113. The primary spirits of Zhuang animism were the gods of lightning and thunder.

124 Yunnan Xiao-shu Min-zu, p. 118.

125 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 61.

126 Ibid., pp. 83–84.

127 The Nong-clan members who remained in Guangxi dropped one element of the original ‘Nong’ character [] to distance themselves from the rising, yielding the related character ‘Nong’ []. The Nong minority of Vietnam use the shortened form as well, suggesting a substantial later migration from Yunnan and Guangxi.

128 de Jonquiere, E. Lunet, Ethnographie du Tonkin Septentnonale (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1906)Google Scholar, and Abadie, Maurice, Les Races du Haut-Tonkin de Phong-tho à Lang-son (Paris: Societé d'Editions Geographiques Maritimes et Coloniales, 1924)Google Scholar both argue for marked similarity between Tho (Tay) and Nong culture and language. This similarity may well have developed relatively recently.

129 Huang Xianfan, NZG, p. 36.

130 For a brief description of the legend of Third Sister Liu see Eberhard, China's Minorities: Yesterday and Today, p. 142.