Hui'an maidens or Hui'an women () are a

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

subgroup In group theory, a branch of mathematics, given a group ''G'' under a binary operation ∗, a subset ''H'' of ''G'' is called a subgroup of ''G'' if ''H'' also forms a group under the operation ∗. More precisely, ''H'' is a subgroup ...

that are a part of a distinct Han community residing in

Hui'an County () is a county under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Quanzhou, Fujian, People's Republic of China. It is situated in the middle of the Fujian coast, between Quanzhou and Meizhou Bay. The county has a population of 921,794, as o ...

Quanzhou Quanzhou, postal map romanization, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metrop ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. They have a distinct dress and marital customs that have been the focus of both anthropologists and governmental censure.

History

The Hui'an are categorized as Han Chinese as they speak Sinitic languages, adopted Han culture, and practise Chinese religions but their origin traces back to the ancient

Minyue Minyue () was an ancient kingdom in what is now the Fujian province in southern China. It was a contemporary of the Han dynasty, and was later annexed by the Han empire as the dynasty expanded southward. The kingdom existed approximately from ...

people of more than two thousand years ago. The isolation on the eastern peninsula of Hui'an prevented Hui'an maidens from completely assimilating into the Han culture, so many of their distinctive customs and traditions still survive today. Other

Baiyue The Baiyue (, ), Hundred Yue, or simply Yue (; ), were various ethnic groups who inhabited the regions of East China, South China and Northern Vietnam during the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium AD. They were known for their short hair, ...

peoples who continue to retain a cultural distinction from the Han despite adopting many of their practises and now speak a Sinitic language include the

Tanka people The Tankas or boat people are a sinicised ethnic group in Southern China who have traditionally lived on junks in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang and along the Yangtze river, as well as Hong Kong, and ...

and

Pinghua Pinghua (; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Pìhng Wá''; sometimes disambiguated as /) is a pair of Sinitic languages spoken mainly in parts of the Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with some speakers in Hunan province. Pinghua ...

Culture

Costumes

Typical Hui'an maidens wear short cyan jackets and skintight black hiphuggers which flare out at the legs and they cover their heads with colorful scarves and conical hats.

Marriage

Hui'an maidens have very distinct customs regarding their marriage. Newlyweds are not allowed to stay together on their wedding night, so the groom stays in a friend's house. On the second day, the bride pays respects to the groom's family and gives gifts to the elders. On the third day, the groom's sister leads the bride to the communal well to draw two buckets of water. After five days of obeying various customs, she returns to her parents' home. The bride and groom are forbidden to live together or even talk to each other until the bride bears a child. Younger generations no longer practice these customs.

Religion

The majority of the Hui'an people have the same religious practices as other Han Chinese.

References

Bibliography

External links

Hui'an Women

Hui'an women's dance practice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hui'an Maidens Ethnic groups in China Han Chinese