68 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



THE LESSER RELIGIONS 



NON-CHINESE 



ch'uan miao 



The Ch'uan Miao are an ethnic group living in the high mountains 

 on the borders of Szechwan, Kweichow, and Yunnan Provinces. 

 Here they have Hved for centuries, but their traditions say that they 

 formerly lived in Kwangtung or in Kiangsi Province. They assert 

 that in a war with the Chinese the Miao were defeated and their 

 land, property, and weapons confiscated. They were brought in a 

 forced migration, with their hands tied behind their backs, and re- 

 leased in the mountainous land where they now live (Graham, 1937b). 



Though the Ch'uan Miao have clung tenaciously to their own lan- 

 guage and customs, there is evidence of cultural diffusion before 

 the migration to West China, as well as in more recent times. For 

 instance, after a corpse has been buried a number of years, the grave 

 is opened, the old cofifin is thrown away or burned, a new coffm and 

 new clothing are provided, the bones are washed with wine and care- 

 fully laid in order on the new clothing, the lid is laid on the coffin, 

 and the coffin is covered with dirt. This is an old Chinese custom in 

 Fukien and in Kwangtung. 



Most of these people speak Qiinese as well as the Miao language, 

 but up until recent years they had no writing of their own, and very 

 few, if any, of them could read or write Chinese. Their traditions 

 and folktales have been made into poetry and, as songs, are sung by 

 individuals who have learned them ; thus they are handed down from 

 generation to generation. 



The language of the Chinese in southern Szechwan and in Yunnan 

 has five tones and is monosyllabic and tonal, whereas the language 

 of the Ch'uan IMiao, which is also monosyllabic and tonal, has nine 

 tones. 



The Ch'uan Aliao have no tribal organization that includes the 

 whole group. They have local rulers called gil leo or "old clubs," and 

 sometimes several local rulers cooperate temporarily for the good 

 of the people. If they are a tribe, it is only because they have a com- 

 mon language, common customs, common ideals, and a strong sense 

 of unity. 



All the Ch'uan Miao are farmers. They are on occasion carpenters, 

 blacksmiths, masons, or priests, but all depend primarily on farm- 

 ing for a living. Tools and farming implements are the same as 



