NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 1 5 



to say that there are at least 150 tribes or ethnic groups in West 

 China, with a population of about 20 million.^ 



The following is an estimate of the population of the provinces of 

 West China about 1935 : 



Province millions 



Szechwan and Sikang 75 



Kweichow 11 



Yunnan 12 



Hsinchiang or Kokonor 2J 



Kansu 6 



Shensi 17 



Total 2 i23i 



It is evident that there are approximately 120 million people in 

 West China, of whom about 100 million are Chinese. The population 

 of Szechwan is between 50 and 70 millions. Culturally it is the most 

 important part, one might even say the heart, of West China. 



There is no city, village, region, or ethnic group in West China to 

 which influences have not penetrated from East China and from the 

 rest of the world. On the other hand, owing to the meagerness of the 

 facilities for travel, transportation, and communications, and because 

 of comparative isolation, there are many localities and groups in which 

 change, material progress, and modernization have been slow. 



ECONOMIC LIFE 



We have already stated that the first inhabitants of central West 

 China probably came by river. Certain it is that travel by water in 

 boats and on rafts has for millennia played a large role in the lives 

 of the people of West China. Everywhere wooden boats are used, 

 and there are places such as the Ya River between Ya-an and Lo-shan 

 where there are more bamboo rafts than boats. The wooden boats 

 vary in size from a small canoe to a great cargo vessel requiring 20 

 to 30 men to navigate it, and an even larger number on the rapids. 

 Houseboats are of medium size. Then, too, there are smaller boats, 

 one called zvti-pan because it has five boards on a side, and another 

 called san-pan because it has three boards on a side. Some of the 



^ The writer has had first-hand contacts with the Wa-ssu, the Chia-jung, the 

 Bo-lo-tzu, the Hsi-fan, the Lolos, and the Tibetans, and more intimate contacts 

 with the Ch'uan Miao and the Ch'iang. Some customs and religious practices 

 of the Ch'uan Miao, the Lolos, the Ch'iang, and the Tibetans will be briefly 

 described later. 



2 Compare Cressy, George Babcock, 1934, p. 55. 



