Why do Zhuang people have a large population, but rarely hear the historical records of Zhuang people?

Because the history of Zhuang nationality is very short, it evolved from other nationalities. It was after the founding of the People's Republic of China that the name Zhuang was changed.

Zhuang people originated from "Xi 'ou" and "Luoyue" recorded in the historical records of the Han nationality in the pre-Qin, Qin and Han dynasties, and they are distributed in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, mainly living in the south.

The scope starts from Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County in Guangdong Province in the east, reaches Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province in the west, reaches congjiang county in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province in the north, and reaches Beibu Gulf in the south. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is the main distribution area of Zhuang nationality.

on October 12th, 1965, according to the proposal of Zhou Enlai, then Prime Minister of the State Council, and with the consent of the Zhuang people, the State Council officially approved the change of the word "Tong" to the strong word "Zhuang". According to the statistics of the sixth national census in 21, the total population of Zhuang nationality is 16,926,381.

Extended information:

Belief

There is no unified religious belief in Zhuang people. Zhuang people believe in many gods, and worship the gods, such as God, Raytheon, Earth God, Boulder God, Tree God, Frog God, Flower Goddess and Ancestor God.

After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the introduction of Taoism and Buddhism into the Zhuang area, the religious belief system of the Zhuang nationality changed under its influence, forming a "religion" with primitive Mohism as the mainstay, integrating Taoism and Buddhism, and believing in many gods, and a semi-professional clergyman, Shi Gong, appeared.

Teachers have relatively complete religious rules and organizations, but they don't have strict practice rituals like Taoism. Their function is to pray for the people and exorcise ghosts and serve the gods. The legal acts performed have the characteristics of witchcraft, Taoism and Buddhism. At the same time, Zheng Yi and Tai Yi of Han Taoism are also popular in Zhuang areas, and their clergy praise the public in Zhuang language, because they specialize in chanting spells and seldom understand scriptures, so they are also called "Mr. Nan Xu" among the people.

Although Daogong abided by the teachings and canon of Taoism, he has also been transformed into an alchemist through the local religious culture of Zhuang nationality. Taoist priests have no fixed monasteries, and most of them hold temporary ritual activities in the form of setting up altars and organizing classes. In addition to those unique to Taoism, they also add Buddhism and local Zhuang gods.

Buddhism has little influence on Zhuang society because its teachings and rules, such as Elysium, abstinence and vegetarianism, contradict Zhuang values and customs.

Although there are sporadic Buddhist temples in Zhuang area, the scale and the number of monks and nuns are far below those in the Central Plains, and most of their followers are Han people living in the south.

Even so, some Buddhist teachings and ideas, such as accumulating virtue and doing good deeds, and being charitable, have been recognized by the Zhuang people, and even the word "not practicing in the past life", which embodies the Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation of life and death, has become the mantra of some Zhuang women's remorse.

Since the mid-19th century, Christianity and Catholicism have been introduced into the Zhuang area, and Christian and Catholic churches have been established in some towns in the Zhuang area to develop believers, but the influence is mainly limited to some urban residents.

Diet

The Zhuang nationality is one of the earliest people who cultivated and planted rice. The rice cultivation culture is very developed, and rice has naturally become the staple food of the Zhuang people. There are many ways to make rice, such as steaming, boiling, frying, stewing and frying. All kinds of rice, rice porridge, rice flour, rice cake, rice cake, zongzi and glutinous rice balls are the daily favorite foods of Zhuang people.

If mixed with other materials, many more delicious and nutritious foods can be made, such as eight-treasure rice, eight-treasure porridge, bamboo rice, pumpkin rice, "colored glutinous rice" and so on. Zhuang people living in arid mountainous areas, because it is not suitable to grow rice, take corn as their staple food.

Zhuang people like to eat aquatic products, and fish, clams and snails are all rare. Mushrooms, cicadas, snakes, birds and beasts in the mountains are also the daily delicacies of the Zhuang people.

betel nut chewing is a traditional custom of Zhuang nationality, and Zhuang women in Longzhou and other places in Guangxi still have this preference. In some places, betel nut is a necessity for entertaining guests.

Architecture

Most houses of Zhuang nationality are the same as those of local Han nationality. Zhuang villages in southwest and northwest Guangxi still maintain the ancient traditional housing form "Ganlan", also known as "Malan". There are two floors, one for people, the other for livestock and sundries.

This kind of housing form is the housing feature of Baiyue nationality in ancient times, which has a history of thousands of years. Because it has the advantages of adapting to the topography and climate in the southern mountainous areas and preventing the intrusion of poisonous snakes and beasts, it has been extended to modern times.

With the development of the times, houses in Debao, Jingxi, Bama and other places have developed in the direction of modern living rooms, which are made of masonry or reinforced concrete, but some houses still retain the basic features of dry columns.

The "Ganlan" architecture in Longji Zhuang inhabited area in Longsheng Autonomous County is the most complete preserved

Baidu Encyclopedia-Zhuang Nationality.