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| Alternative names: Anan |
| Total population |
|---|
| 107,000 (est.) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Guangxi, China |
| Languages |
|
Maonan |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
The Maonan (self name: Anan meaning local people) people are an ethnic group. They are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.
The Maonan ethnic minority has a population of 107,166, living in the northern part of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to the Chinese government site.
Contents |
Language
Their language belongs to the Kam-Sui branch of the Tai-Kadai languages or Kradai languages. Maonan is a tonal language with 8 tones (see A Grammar of Maonan.Lu, Tianqiao. Florida: Universal Publishers. 2008. pp90-91), featuring an SVO clause construction, i.e. SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT (ibid. p169), for example, man (he/she) shoot (drink) ka:u (wine) "He/She drinks wine", man (he/she) ba:i (go) hə (market) "He/She goes to the market", etc. It displays a head-first modification structure, i.e. the modifier occurring after the modifiee (ibid. p170), for example, ka:u (wine) hulia:ng (broomcorn) "broomcorn wine", mu (pig) la:u (big) "big pig", nok (bird) vin (fly) "flying bird", among others. Occasionally, a head-final modification structure is also possible with the involvement of a possessive particle (P.P.) di, e.g. ya:n (house/family) nda:u (we/our) di (P.P.) bo (buffalo) "Our family's buffalo" (cf. the more common bo ya:n nda:u) (ibid. pp173-174). Approximately half of the members of this ethnic group are capable of speaking this language. In addition to this, many Maonan also speak Chinese or Zhuang. About 1/3 of the Maonan people who concentrate in the southern part of Guizhou province (bordering the northern part of Guangxi province) speak a mutually unintelligible dialect commonly called Yanghuang, hence the group name Yanghuang People. The Maonan do not have a writing system.
Culture
Interestly, more than one 80% of the Maonan share the same surname: Tan. Maonan with the surname "Tan" believe that they are descended from the old inhabitants of the province of Hunan that emigrated to Guangxi and married Maonan women. Other frequent surnames found in this ethnic group are: Lu, Meng, Wei and Yan.
The towns of the Maonan do not surpass more than 100 dwellings. Their towns are organized by clan. Their dwellings, are very similar to those of the Zhuang, they are usually made up of two floors and constructed out of clay. The upper floor is used as the living quarters while the lower one serves as a granary and stable.
Traditionally, the marriages were arranged by the parents when the future newlyweds still children. Traditionally when a Maonan woman became a widow, the brother of her late husband took her as his wife.
During the funeral service, the children of the deceased had that "to buy" water of a river to be able to wash the corpse. Before proceeding to the burial, the blood of a chicken was poured on the land to purify it and to bless the spirit of the dead person.
References
2. LU, Tianqiao. 2008. A Grammar of Maonan Florida: Universal Publishers.
External links
- http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-maonan.htm (Chinese government site)
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