NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 89 



lem for the Chinese and other neighboring ethnic groups. This is 

 partly because of the high and rugged mountains which make it diffi- 

 cult for an army to penetrate, partly because of their fierce bravery, 

 and partly because the Lolo society is founded on a system of slavery. 

 Until this slavery is overthrown or changed, the problem will never 

 be solved. When there are no longer any slaves, the Lolos may be- 

 come a much less significant tribe or ethnic group on the borderland, 

 for the slaves are not really Lolos, and the "blackbones," or pure 

 Lolos, comprise approximately only one-tenth of the population. 



THE ch'iang 



The Ch'iang live in the highlands of western Szechwan on the 

 T'o, or Tsa-ku-nao, and the Min Rivers. Their home is between 

 Tieh-ch'i on the north and So-ch'iao on the south, and from a few 

 miles east of Wei-chou and Mao-chou on the east to P'u-ch'i-kou, 

 20 li up the Tsa-ku-nao River from Li-fan, on the west. Their coun- 

 try is one of steep hillsides, narrow valleys, high mountains, and rush- 

 ing mountain streams. They number, probably, between 50,000 and 

 100,000 people. The country is semiarid, and occasional droughts and 

 failures of crops bring much hardship to the people. There are also 

 occasional earthquakes and floods.'' 



References to the Ch'iang can be found in the earliest Chinese his- 

 tories. It is stated that Shun found the San Miao so refractory that 

 he banished them to western China, and some recent Chinese scholars 

 believe that the San Miao were Ch'iang, There are many references 

 to the Ch'iang on the oracle bones, which are dated during the Shang 

 dynasty, 1401-1121 B. C. Under pressure from the Chinese, some 

 moved westward into Kansu, while others turned southward into 

 northern and western Szechwan. At one time they extended beyond 

 Sungpan into Kansu on the north, and to Yueh-sui, southwest of 

 Yaan, on the south. Now they are confined to a small district in 

 western Szechwan, 



To their northwest are the Ile-shui and the Lu-hua tribcspeople ; 

 to their southwest, the Chia-jung. To their south are the Wa-ssu 

 people, and to the east and in the valleys, especially in the towns and 

 cities, are the Chinese. By all these the Ch'iang have been influenced, 

 and from them they have borrowed traits and customs. 



The language is monosyllabic and tonal, with four tones. Accord- 



"^ Practically all the statements in this section are documented in the writer's 

 book, "The Customs and Religion of the Ch'iang" (1958). 



