Currently (2005), the Zhuang people have the largest population out of all the ethnic minority groups in China. According to a population census conducted in the year 2000, the Zhuang population numbered 16,178,811.1
Census Office of the State Council, Population and Social Statistical Section of the National Bureau of Statistics, 2002, “2000 Census Data of China” (Beijing: China Statistics Press), p. 22.
Although the Zhuang people have names that they use to refer to their own ethnic group and its sub-groups, in 1965 Zhou Enlai suggested that the derogatory names “Zhuangzu” (僮族) and “Zhuangzu” (獞族) be dropped and replaced with the official name “Zhuang Nationality.”
The majority of the Zhuang population resides in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, but some Zhuang people are scattered across Guangdong, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Shanxi provinces.2
Fan Hong-Gui, Gu You-Shi et al, 1997, History and Culture of the Zhuang People (Zhuangzu lishi yu wenhua). Nanning: Guangxi Minzu Chubanshe, p. 2.
Members of the Zhuang people and the Tai-Kadai Language Family can also be found outside of China in Vietnam, Laos (老撾), Thailand, Myanmar, and even India.
The Zhuang people have been known by different names in different periods throughout history. Some researchers, including Fan Hong-Gui and Gu You-Shi, hold the view that before the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.) two large ethnic groups by the name of Xiou (西甌) and Luoyue (駱越) had been occupying the region that we consider as Zhuang territory today; the inhabitants of this region were known as “Li” (俚), “Wuhu” (烏滸) and “Liao” (僚) from the Eastern Han Dynasty through the Song Dynasty(960-1279 A.D.), after which they started to be known as “Tong ren” (僮人), “Tu ren” (土人), “Sha ren” (沙人), “Nong ren” (儂人), and “Lang ren” (俍人); Chinese documents from the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911 A.D.) and the Republican Era show that dozens of names had been used to refer to the local aboriginals, such as Tong (僮), Tu (土), Nong (儂), Sha (沙), Liang (俍), Ban (板), Yang (佯), Rui (銳), Pian (偏), Dai (代), Liao (僚), Min (敏), Ling (伶), and Nong (弄), et cetera.3
Same as footnote 2.
The name “Zhuang Nationality” has been legitimatized by the Chinese government, but Zhuang people everywhere continue to use the names that they have always used to refer to themselves. Some Zhuang people have named themselves after their geographical surroundings—for example, Zhuang people living in valleys call themselves “Bunong” (布弄), those living by rice paddies call themselves “Buna” (布那), and village residents are called “Buban” (布板) or “Genban” (根板). Some Zhuang people base their subgroup names on the hometown of their ancestors—for example, those whose ancestors migrated from Guangxi’s Long’an County to Jingxi County call themselves “Nong’an” (儂安), and those who call themselves “Butuo” (布拖) or “Gentuo” (根拖), which translates into “aborigines” or “locals,” simply want to emphasize their aboriginal status. This type of name often matches the dialect spoken by the group of people to which the name belongs; in other words, those who refer to themselves as aborigines speak local Zhuang dialects, and those whose forefathers originated in Long’an County speak the Long’an dialect.
