SONGS AND STORIES OF THE CH'UAN MIAO 

 By David Crockett Graham 



(With 24 Plates) 



I. INTRODUCTION 

 THE PEOPLE 



The Ch'uan Miao are an ethnic group hving on the borders of Szechwan, 

 Cweichow, and Yunnan Provinces, western China. The country is very moun- 

 ainous with numerous peaks rising 3,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. There are 

 nany streams, forests, waterfalls, perpendicular or overhanging cliffs, natural caves 

 md natural bridges, and deep holes or pits where the water disappears into the 

 x)weis of the earth. While the roads between the Chinese towns and villages are 

 2^enerally paved with stones, most of the roads are narrow footpaths up and down 

 :he steep mountainsides or through fields and forests. 



It is estimated that the number of Ch'uan Miao people is about 150,000. In 

 Szechw^an Province, they are found as far north as Kung Hsien tftSl^ and Ch'ang 

 Ning ;M:^^ and about 100 li east of Yung Ning ;^5p:. They extend a short dis- 

 tance into the northeastern tip of Kweichow, south in Yunnan as far as Ta Kuan 

 ;fcll9 and below Cheng Hsiung, and a short distance westward toward Hsii 

 Kiang ^^?I. They do not live in villages, towns, or cities but are interspersed 

 among a much larger population of Chinese who live in the towns and cities and 

 in many of the farmhouses. 



These people resemble the Chinese in having light, olive-brown skin and little 

 hair on their faces and bodies but differ from the Chinese in West China by 

 being slightly shorter in stature and having a slightly less evident epicanthic fold 

 to the eyes. There are greater physical differences between the Ch'uan Miao and 

 the Lolos and Tibetans than between the Ch'uan Miao and the Chinese. A com- 

 parison of the languages and dialects and the social and religious customs makes 

 it evident that the Ch'uan Miao are a branch of the Miao-yao group of the 

 Mon-Khmer family.^ 



The word Ch'uan means river. It is apparently an abbreviation of the word 

 Szechwan, which means four rivers, for Szechwan is the province of four rivers. 

 The Szechwan people are called Ch'uan Jen jlIA? and the Szechwan soldiers 

 are called Ch'uan ping )\\^. It is evident that these people are called Ch'uan 

 Miao because many of them live in Szechwan. 



The word Miao means sons of the soil. It is written in Chinese with the grass 

 character above the character meaning field. The name has often been indis- 

 criminately applied to non-Chinese groups in China. 



^Clarke, S. R., Among the tribes of Southwest China, pp. 307-315. Morgan and Scott, London, 1911; 

 Davies, H. R., Yunnan, pp. 331-347. Cambridge University Press, 1909. 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 123, NO. 1 



