A Mysterious Tribe of Yao People

Abstract
The focus of this study is to investigate the state of survival from the viewpoint of the cultural anthropology. The basis of the study is the culture and economic state of the early 2000s. The study seeks answers to questions such as why they are still troubled in chronic poverty and why they can maintain such cultural traditions. In addition, we are interested in their ancient traditional culture under the conditions of market economy how to face the challenges of the globalization and cultural modernization.

1. Introduction
Yao minority is an international nation with a long history and splendid culture. In Mao Zong Wu’s “language Chih-Yao”(National Press, 1982), he divided Yao minority into 39 lineages according to the language dialects.The Tu Iu-mein of Hezhou is one of the Yao language dialects and they have unique dresses, traditional customs, culture and social organizations. The Tu Iu-mein is one of the minoritis which were long-term neglected. Both the 1950s national survey of social history and linguistic, or the 1980s national inspection have not had been to the in-depth mountainous hinterland, not make any investigation about this Yao lineage.

TU Iu-mien is another tribe outside the thirty-nine branchs of the Yao minority. They can only be found in District Babu, Hezhou City, Guangxi Province. The existing population of the Tu Iu-mien is 1,471 households, 6196 people. They mainly distributed in Ming Mei, Chaodui, DaMing of E-tang Town and in Sidong, Jin Zhu, Xingming of the Shatian Town. There are six villages and 59 villager groups in all. These six villages are located in the Da Gui Shan (大桂山) mountainous area of Hezhou City. The total area is 408.05 square kilometers. There exists cultivated areas of 8,915 Chinese acres, paddy fields are 616 Chinese acres, mountainous region is 8,355 Chinese acres and forest land area is 56,879 Chinese acres.

So far, only a few domestic academics paid attention to the Tu Iu-mein. Dr.Yuan TongKai ,a staff of Sociology Department of Nankai University, published a book with the title of “Entering the classroom with bamboo fences---- about the Tu Yao school education". Dr.Yuan’s "The past and the status of Tu Yao school education: ethnography Perspectives" (Guangxi Institute for Nationalities Journal 2004-03), "Local political power and ethnic minority school education---as an example to Guangxi Tu Yao" ( "Guangxi Ethnic Studies" 2004-04) and " A little girl outside the Classroom windows: an ethnographical study of Tu Yao girls’ school education " (Yu Zhen, "China's ethnic relations and national development", National Press, 2003) . All the papers above are on the educational research. In recent years, Tu Iu-mein has attracted more and more attention of the anthropologists at home and abroad.

The topic of Tu Iu-mein’s historical, cultural ecological and social development is not only has a higher theoretical value, but will play a positive role in the promotion, protection and rescue their traditional culture, eliminate and prevent the chronic poverty.

2. The economical conditions
(1) Living environment
The Tu Iu-mien live in the remote mountainous area.Their living environment is extremely arduous. Many factors are restricting the agricultural development. Statistics have indicated, some 47.5% Tu Iu-mien people do not have paddy fields, and only depend upon the primitive cultivation production method. The outputs of the plants, such as dryland rice and corn, are very low since the ancient times. Their food primarily is rice, miscellaneous grains ,sweet potato, corn , cassava and so on.The Miscellaneous grains, such as cassava, sweet potato, take a main role in the supplement. The grains they produce only meets half a year need, some families lack grain to eat for six or seven months.Therefore, they must go down town or to other villages to buy rice. Their income mainly comes from the bamboo processing, the ginger planter, to cut down the few lumbers. Most of the families lack of cash to buy grains. The average per person net income is below 800 Yuan. The two local towns average per person net incomes are approximately more than 2,800 Yuan.

2) The living conditions
According to the investigation, before 2005, 60% of the people sleep without a mosquito net, about 70% of Tu Iu-mien lack the cold-resistant clothing. According to the government’s statistics, six villages commissions had 1,234 families lack food in 2003, occupies 98.6% of the total families. 126 families eat the gruel and the miscellaneous grain at three meals a day, occupies 10% of the total families. The housing is build from the soil, and covered with tree bark or thatch. Some of their houses are built by bamboo, with bark and bushes screen.

Most housing is joined with the pigsty, the cowshed and the hen house.It is dirty and not healthy. The medicine condition is not so good. When a TU Iu-mien people is sick , they basically depend on the traditional indigenous method treatment. The curing rate is lower. Diseases such as digestive tract disease, respiratory tract disease, skin disease, gynopathy, parasitic disease and anemia offen occurs . Lacking medicine and doctor is a quite serious problem. The village doctor has a low literacy level and technology, only one doctor has middle school graduation, the others has primary schooling, and only received several months of short-term medical training. Therefore, their medical skills are very low. Because many villagers do not have the midwife, the mother and baby care work is poor. The pregnant woman management is nearly non-existent. The hospitalized childbirth rate is also low. It seriously threatens the pregnant woman’s safety. The Tu Iu-mien people's average life span is generally 10 years lower than the Han nationality’s. In addition, because of the close relative marriage, the TU Iu-mien people’s human quality universal is low.The Tu Iu-mien people's life changed greatly Compared with their past. Most of the families used electricity for their production and everyday life.

(3) Transportation Condition
In recent years, the TU Iu-mien people spontaneously constructed a simple village road , the transportation condition have preliminary improvement, but because the mountains have steep slopes, leaving the door of a house have to climb or descend mountains. There are more than 20 kilometers mountainous roads from the nearest village to the town, the farthest had to go more than 60 kilometers.When the TU Iu-mien people go to the market, they must leave home before the daybreak, holding a torch to hurry along. To sell out their agricultural products or to buy any productions, they have to carry on their shoulders. It can be said “the TU Iu-mien people travel difficultly, just as to travel to the blue sky".

3. Culture
(1)Language and entertainment
The Yao’s culture in China is richly colorful and characteristic. Yao nationality move frequently. They have absorbed in different local or different nationality's culture. Therefore, every different series' of Yao nationality respectively has its cultural characteristic. The difference is very big. The language used by the Tu Iu-mien is an example. It belongs to mien branch of miao-yao language family,But their language also has the different dialect. The Han or Zhuang people in the nearby villages can not understand their language, even the Yao people belonging to other branches can not understand their language. Many Tu Iu-mien can also speak Chinese and use Chinese characters to write down their love songs.

Because the Tu Iu-mien populace live dispersed, a natural village only has several households. The six village commissions do not have the collective economy income, do not have the cultural facilities, without any library and recreation area, even without any recreational activity, but they have some folk songs all the year round as self-entertainment. Since they manage the miniature small water electricity, most peasant households use electricity, for developed the TU Iu-mien mountain populace's culture to create the advantage. Now some TU Iu-mien populace can use a radio cassette player, television, video compact disk machine. This has enriched the cultural life in the certain degree. After the reform and opening policy, the TU Iu-mien populace cultural life has made great progress.

(2) The Mountain Announcement
The Tu Iu-mien not only has richly transmited orally the historical myths and legends, but also has remote spreads "the Mountain Announcement" .In Chinese, they called it “Guo Shan Bang” or “Ping Huang Quan Die” (《过山榜》or 《评皇券帖》). "The Mountain Announcement" has appeared at the time probably in first year of KaiHuang in the Sui Dynasty (the A.D. 581-582 year). It has discovered in mainland China and in Southeast Asia of Yao nationalitis, and more than 100 kinds. "The Mountain Announcement" has narrated the Yao nationality’s origin, the original surname, the ancestor’s movement and has concerned the mountain cultivation content. "The Mountain Announcement" in the Yao’s culture has provided many important ancient times clues for the research. It is a key to unlock Yao nationality riddle of culture in the ancient times. "The Mountain Announcement" has collected since the ancient times for Yao nationality, and is the Yao’s cultural treasure.

(3) The inherited morals
The Yao’s ancient moral standards are continuously inherited until now. The Tu Iu-mien still retain the majority of traditional moral standards. In traditional morals many ideas always had the very tremendous influence to Iu-mien. The Iu-mien’s primitive equal idea, mutually cooperating idea, the unselfish idea, speaks the credit idea and so on, has satisfied the good function to maintain the social order and the impetus society progresses, until now it still has the certain practical significance.

4. Education
In 2003, six Tu Iu-mien nationality villages had six small elementary schools and 20 teaching spots. The school building total area is 3075.3 square meters. There are 44 substitute teachers among the whole 69 staffs. The elementary school enrolled 1,032 students, and the enrollment is 83%. The junior middle school enrolled 113 students, the enrollment is 73% and the graduation rate 53%. The proportion of students entering schools of a higher grade is 8.6%, and has 1155 illiterate people, completely concentrated in three Tu Iu-mien villages of the E-tang town. 23 teachers are graduated from Babu normal school, 11 teachers graduated from Guilin nationality normal school in the 70's, and the others are graduated from the local senior middle schools, or even junior middle schools. Their cultural quality is relatively lower and some normal teaching duties are unable to be completed. Because the Tu Iu-mien people live in difficultly, which adds to the bad teaching conditions. There are many children of school age not to be able to accept the education on time. The problem of out of school children is serious. As the statistics we made indicated, from the liberation of PRC to the end of 2002, in more than 6,000 Tu Iu-mien people, only have 14 persons of high schools, but no one has graduated. The junior middle school graduation records 7 persons. The senior middle school enrollment record has only 2 persons. In 2001, the municipal party committee and the municipal government of Hezhou recommended a youth to study at the Agricultural Department of Guangxi University. The Tu Iu-mien had the first college student in their history, and had realized the zero breakthrough.

5. Conclusion
This paper has identified the most significant aspect of the Tu Iu-mien. They have their unique language, traditional cultures and living habits. In the long-term hardships, they has created the courageous, tenacious, resolute characters, and they are not afraid of the difficulties. They are still very poor. Their education, health, are also still backward, but their culture preserves a good original ecology. We should help them to reduce poverty. We must try our best to improve their living conditions by providing better access to quality health services, to invest in education of the women and children. On the basis of protection, to develop their traditional cultural resources and increase their income. Only in this way, can their building of harmonious society and their modernization process be accelerate.

Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge Gao Zhuishong, Zhao Tushong, Chen CaiJia for their great help during my fieldwork.

There were also contributors from the Tu Iu-miem village. Zhao Mowang, Zhao Mozhuan provided many original materials for the study. Comments were received from Prophsor Zhong WenDian. Any errors and interpretations are the responsibility of the author and not of the HeZhou College or Guangxi Normal University.
Financial support from the HeZhou College is gratefully acknowledged.

Author Contact Information
Li XiaoMing
School of Politic and Adminstration
Guangxi Normal University,
15,Yucai Road, Guilin City , Guangxi, China
Post Code: 542800
Telephone Cumber: 0773-3127980
E-mail: xmli2008@163.com

References
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Yuan TongKai, "Local political power and ethnic minority school education---as an example to Guangxi Tu Yao"，Guangxi Ethnic Studies" 2004-04
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