IPP-115 v5
World Bank and British Government Co-financed
China Poor Rural Community Development (PRCDP)
Xuyong County Minority Development Program
PRCDP Project Office of Xuyong County, Sichuan
CCCC at Sun Yat-sen University
Guangzhou, China
August 2004
CONTENTS
Chapter 1. Minority Overview at Project Areas of Xuyong County 3
Section 1. Composition and Distribution of Nationalities in Project Areas 3
Section 2. History and Culture of Minorities in Project Areas 3
Section 3. Resource Utilization of Minorities in Project Areas 6
Section 4. Means of Livelihood of Minorities in Project Areas 6
I. Miao Nationality 6
II. Yi Nationality 7
Section 5. Social Organizations of Minorities in Project Areas 7
I. Miao Nationality 7
Section 6. Inter-nationality Relations in Project Areas 8
Section 7. Poor Situation of Minorities in Project Areas and Cause Analysis 8
Section 8. MDP Formulation Based on County 10
Chapter 2. Minorities and Project in Project Areas of Xuyong County 11
Section 1. Forecast of Project Impacts 11
Section 2. Suggestions from Minority Villagers 11
Chapter 3. Legal Framework and Idea for Formulation of Minority Development Program 12
Section 1. Legal Framework 12
II. All nationalities enjoy equal right to develop occupied lands and protect their lawfully earned income 13
Section 2. General Idea for Formulation of Xuyong Minority Development Program 14
Chapter 4. Participation of Minority Villagers in the Project 14
Section 1. Participatory Poverty Analysis and Participatory Community Development Plan 14
Section 2. Execution, Supervision and Evaluation of Participatory Project 16
Chapter 5. 2005 Project Execution Plan and Budget 17
Section 1. Formation of Project Planning for Minority Villages 17
Section 2. Year 1 Project Executive Plan and Budget for Minority Villages 18
Chapter 6. Project Supervision and Evaluation 19
I. Supervision Mechanism 19
II. Evaluation Mechanism 19
The World Bank and British Department for International Development stress the importance of the minorities’ present situation of their equal benefits for the project’s execution, as well as the importance of joint development of multiple nationalities, and propose that a key index of result evaluation is the substantial development of the nationalities (especially minorities) in the project areas by participating in the project. Based on the above consideration and the requirements of the World Bank and British Department for International Development, the Foreign-funded Project Management Center at the National Poverty-relief Office entrusted the CCCC at Sun Yat-sen University to formulate the minority development programs (MDP) for the 6 non-minority autonomous counties involved in the China Poor Rural Community Integrated Development Project (PRCDP) together with the PRCDP project offices. Xuyong County in Sichuan Province is one of the 6 non-minority autonomous counties. As required by World Bank policy OD4.20, the Xuyong Minority Development Program for PRCDP was made out based on the information of the distribution, politics, economy, national culture, participation of the minorities in the project areas of Xuyong County investigated and collected. The references to this program came from the data and field investigation findings provided by the province, county and Xiangs (a sub- county administrative region).
Chapter 1. Minority Overview at Project Areas of Xuyong County
Section 1. Composition and Distribution of Nationalities in Project Areas
Xuyong County is a key county of the national poverty-relief and development effort. PRCDP covers 141 villages in 13 Xiangs/towns (Moni, Chishui, Shuiliao, Shiba, Jiancao, Yingshan, Houshan, Fenshui, Huangni, Baila and Gaofeng) of Xuyong County, with a total population of 118,296, including a minority population of 18,819 from minorities mainly including Miao and Yi. The project will involve 19 minority villages, e.g., Yinbang, Jinbang, Tianyi, Nanshan, Huangping, Dita, Muluo, Daba, Linchang, Pojiao, Yantang, Baisa, Changxin, Gaojian, Shuangqiao, Xiandong, Muluodao, Haixi and Gaoqilin.
Section 2. History and Culture of Minorities in Project Areas
I. Miao Nationality
1. History:
There are above 33,000 Miao people in Xuyong County, accounting for 5% of the county’s total population, being the largest nationality except Han. Xuyong County is also the county with the largest Miao population in Sichuan. The Miao people are found in 26 Xiangs/towns of the county, mainly in Zhongsha, Zhaihe, Haifeng, Xiancao, Tanchang, Baila, Zhendong, Lelang, Haiba, Hele, etc. Three Miao Xiangs of Hele, Xiancao and Baile were established in 1984, of which Xiancao is situated in the project region.
In primeval times, the ancestors of the Miao people were mainly living downstream of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. In the earlier Qin period, the Huaner tribe in the Miao ancestors gradually invaded the region of the Poyang Lake and the Dongting Lake. After the Han dynasty, most Miao ancestors lived centrally in the junction of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou today. In the West Jin period, some Miao ancestors migrated westwards into the boundaries of Xuyong, Gulin in Northwest Guizhou and South Sichuan today.
2. Language:
The Miao language belongs to the Miao branch in the Miao-Yao language group of the Sino- Tibetan family. The Miao language includes 3 dialects: 1) West Hunan dialect (east dialect); 2) East Guizhou dialect (central dialect), 3) Sichuan-Guizhou-Yunnan dialect (west dialect). The Miao people in Xuyong speak the Xuyong subdialect in the Sichuan-Guizhou-Yunnan dialect. Except the elderly and preschool children, they mostly can speak Chinese. The Miao villagers at Qifeng Village under Guanxing Xiang and Pojiao Village under Shiba Xiang use the Miao language each other and use Chinese with other nationalities. There is no universal written Miao language.
3. Religion:
The faiths of the Miao people in this county are ancestor worship, soul worship and witchery. In addition, few people believe in Christianity the Catholicism. For example, the investigation at Qifeng Village under Guanxing Xiang found some Miao villagers who were Christians. Villager ZZX (Miao) said, he joined Christianity in 2000 recruited by someone assigned from the county town’s church, he didn’t do what the church asked but just read the Bible when his relative died.
4. Wedding and funeral:
Marital customs vary from mountain areas to dam areas in the county. At the dam areas, the general procedure is engagement followed by marriage; at the mountain areas, the first step is proposal of marriage and negotiation of bride-price. Miao weddings are sometimes simple and sometimes complicated, expensive. Generally, the 4 steps of proposal of marriage, blind date, eating meat and wedding are gone through. Traditionally, the Miao nationality practices strict system of no marriage with other nationalities or the same surname in the nationality. The investigation of the Appraisal Team at Qifeng Village under Guanxing Xiang indicates, the Miao-Han intermarriage did not appear until the 1990s, but there have been few cases. Wives of local Miao villagers are mainly Miao people from Yunnan, Guizhou and peripheral areas, mostly introduced by matchmakers. Villagers think the key reason for intra-nationality marriage is that the Miao people were too poor before and the Han people look down upon them.
Here, when a Miao person dies, his body is placed on the upper side of the hall, a master is asked to ‘guide the way’ for the dead with an un-castrated cock, a bow and a pair of bamboo gowns before the dead is moved into the coffin. A cowhide drum is hanged on the standing wood of the hall and played along with the reed pipes for mourning. The children, relatives will kill pigs, cattle, cocks or sheep for sacrifice and finally, an inhumation will be made on a lucky day. 3 years later, the children and relatives will make a vegetarian diet for sacrifice before the funeral is completed.
5. Festivals
Chinian. Chinian is namely the Spring Festival, from Jan 1 through 15, including minor and major festivals. The minor festival lasts 3 days (Jan 1-3). The Lantern Festival is Jan 15, i.e., major festival.
Mountain Treading Festival. The Mountain Treading Festival is held by the Miao people throughout the county, during the Spring Festival, but varying in gathering time (Jan 1-3 at Goubianfeng Mount in Xiancao, Jan 1-4 at Gaoqi Forest in Baila, Jan 1-8 at Boyang River in Huangni and Jan 13-15 at Baowa Mountain in Hele), ending before the Lantern Festival. In morning of the 1st day of the Festival, a ranging rod erecting ceremony is held, when people would sing and dance in the most beautiful dress.
Going to national fairs. In spring and autumn, limited to Hele, Zhengdong, Macheng, Moni only, with different timing, June 23 (lunar calendar) in Hele, Feb 7 and Jul 2 in Zhengdong and Macheng, Feb 3 and Jul 3 in Moni, 1 day per fair. The Miao villagers at Qifeng Village under Guanxing Xiang investigated by the Appraisal Team are used to going to the Moni national overturn fair on Jul 3.
July Half. On Jul 3 in the lunar calendar, people would toast with a newly prepared knife head, sacrifice ghosts, gods or ancestors with new millet ears or new corns, so that ancestors will bless favorable weather for the next year and prevent ghosts from making troubles.
6. Garment
Miao women in Xuyong have numerous dressing styles, mainly in 4 types: Type I is mainly found in 14 Xiangs/towns—Fenshui, Huangni, Lianghe, Gaofeng, Baila, Longfeng, Xuyong, Luobu, Houshan, Yingshan, Guanxing, Xiancao, Shiba, Shuiliao; Type II is mainly found in 3 Xiangs/towns—Moni, Chishui, Macheng; Type III is mainly found in Hele and Zhengdong; and Type IV is mainly found in Xinglong Xiang. At Qifeng Village under Guanxing Xiang investigated by the Appraisal Team, the Miao dress belongs to Type I. Except the elderly, the women at the village do not wear the national dress at ordinary times.
II. Yi Nationality
1. History
In the Qin-Han age, the ancient Yi people mainly lived in the Dian, Qiong areas, and later expanded to northeast Yunnan, Northwest Guizhou and Southwest Sichuan. At the end of the East Han dynasty, the descendants of the Heng tribe of the Yi nationalities moved northwards, came to the middle/upper reaches of the Chishui River and entered the Xuyong area. After the land and system reform in the early Qing dynasty, the Yi people in Xuyong mainly inhabited Shiba, Shuiliao and Moni.
2. Language
The Yi language belongs to the Yi branch in the Tibetan-Burmese language group of the Sino-Tibetan family, including north, east, south, southeast, west and central dialects. The Yi people in Xuyong County mainly speak the north dialect of the Yi language. Except elderly people and preschool children, most people in Xuyong County can understand both Chinese and the Yi language, but few people know the Yi written language. No bilingual education is given.
3. Festivals
The festivals of the Yi people in Xuyong County today have little difference from the Han nationality.
4. Marriage
The traditional marriage system of the Yi nationality can be summarized as “intra-nationality marriage, intra-strata marriage, extra-family branch marriage, no marriage between maternal cousins, prior marriage for cousinship”. This marriage system has changed somewhat at different areas. Intermarriage with other nationalities is popular.
5. Clothes
In the daily life, the Yi people’s dress has no difference from the Han nationality. On festivals, women would wear the national clothes.
Section 3. Resource Utilization of Minorities in Project Areas
The project areas are poor areas mainly dealing with farming, forest and livestock production.
The main crops in the project areas are corn, paddy, potato, sweet potato and beans, the main cash crops are cured tobacco and pepper, the main economic forest woods include citruses, plum, peach, date, walnut, palm tree and varnish tree, the domestic animals mainly include pig and cattle, the poultries are mainly chicken, duck and goose. The main sources of income include selling cash crops products, economic forest products, livestock and labor export. Few farmer families earn money by selling grains.
The places where the minorities live are mostly high-altitude mountainside areas with cold climate. The arable lands are mostly dry lands and sloping fields, there are less paddy fields. Every village has a wide range of mountain forests, which were an important source of cash income of the villagers. However, with the execution of returning land for farming to forestry and the natural forest reservation project, deforestation is no longer allowed. However, the implementation of the compensation measures after returning land for farming to forestry, the basic livelihood of many villagers was met.
Section 4. Means of Livelihood of Minorities in Project Areas
I. Miao Nationality
The Miao people in Xuyong County live mainly on faming and stockbreeding, producing grain, cured tobacco, bamboo, pig and cattle. There is also a limited scale of planting of cash crops, including tealeaf, fruit trees, mulberry, rape, peanut, sugarcane, beans, Chinese herbal medicines and coarse cereals. Except the grain production, the income of the Miao people comes completely from cured tobacco, pig and cattle, with an unstable key source of finance. The agricultural production suffers from natural disasters and diseases to different extents every year. Except being restricted by climatic conditions, the economic pillar cured tobacco is also faced with severe market challenges, yielding volatile revenue. For example, Zhang Zaixing (Miao) at Qifeng Village under Guanxing Xiang has 5mu land, mainly planting corn, cured tobacco and potato, raises 2 pigs and a horse. The annual corn output is over 2,000 jin. Owing to the cold weather, the harvest of his cured tobacco is postponed to April. As a result, he got Grade-3 tobacco, selling 4-5yuan/jin only, even 0.4yuan. The income from tobacco is merely 200yuan. To grow tobacco, he has borrowed 1200yuan from the credit cooperative and will not be able to repay this loan this year.
II. Yi Nationality
The crop cultivation focused on grain is the industry for Yi people to ensure their livelihood, including corn, potato and buckwheat. Very few Yi people grow paddy rice. The cultivation technique is very simple, generally extensive surface cultivation, short of irrigation facilities, mostly “relying on nature”, many Yi villagers cannot eat to their fill for this reason. After the execution of the measures for return of land from farming to forestry, many Yi villagers have obtained grain and cash granted by the State, the situation of grain shortage in Yi areas has been greatly relieved.
Stockbreeding enjoys a very prominent position in the traditional Yi production. Livestock includes cattle, horse, goat, sheep and pig, herded on slopes and lawns openly. Herders are mostly the elderly or children. In summer, herders below the Erban Mountain would drive sheep flocks up the elevated pastures for herding.