The Qabiao people ( vi, Pu Péo) are an ethnic group living in

Hà Giang Province Hà is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean. Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is also the anglicized variation of Hạ. Notable people with the surname Hà * Hà Kiều Anh, ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

and

Malipo County Malipo County (, vi, Ma Lật Pha) is under the administration of the Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in the southeast of Yunnan province, China, bordering Ha Giang Province to the southeast. Administrative divisions In the presen ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The total population was 903 as of the 2019 census, while Liang (2007) cites a total population of 777. In China, they are classified with the

Yi people The Yi or Nuosu people,; zh, c=彝族, p=Yízú, l=Yi ethnicity historically known as the Lolo,; vi, Lô Lô; th, โล-โล, Lo-Lo are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering nine million people, they are the seve ...

. Their autonym is '. The Chinese also refer to the Qabiao as 'Bendi Lolo', which translates as 'indigenous Lolo'.

History

Historically, the Qabiao have inhabited either side of the China-Vietnam border, although nowhere were they existing in large numbers. One survey conducted in 1990 showed that there were 307 Qabiao living in southern China, whereas 382 dwelt in northern Vietnam. In China, the Qabiao are concentrated near the Vietnam border, namely in the Tiechang, Matong, Punong, Pucha, and Pufeng villages of

in the Wenshan Zhuang-Miao Prefecture of

province. The Qabiao live in seven communes of Đồng Văn District in

in Vietnam. SaPhin

Culture and traditions

The Qabiao women's traditional attire consisted of an ankle length skirt. For the upper body the women usually wore two vests. Now, there is an increasingly popular custom of wearing only the inner vest. Bok tam, as the inner vest is known, consists of five panels and has buttons under the right armpit. Bands of colored cloth are sewn around the hems, neck and sleeves of the dress, which resemble the embellishments found in the costumes of the Giay. Trang phuc Pu Peo

Religion

The Qabiao practice animism. Souls and spirits are cornerstones of their belief system. The Qabiao believe a person has eight souls and nine spirits, all of which control his or her actions and existence. Most Qabiao homes have a small altar at which are seen three sandstone jars. Each jar represents a generation of ancestors. Other paraphernalia include dried pumpkin and a bundle of oxtail hair attached to a stick. These items are said to be the deceased ancestors' clue to identifying their descendants. The Qabiao have an oath of preserving the sacred forest.

Mythology

The Qabiao people have the following pantheon: *': principal god *': sky god – controls the wind, rain, thunder, lightning *': land god – controls rivers and mountains *': tree god

History

Culture and traditions

Religion

Mythology

References

See also