Tribasia Blog

After spending a couple of days resting in Jinghong, the capital city of Xishuangbanna, southern China, we decided it was time to go for some good old exploration! We left Jinghong in a local minivan to visit one of the smallest -officially recognized- minorities in China: the Jinuo.

Numbering 20,000 individuals, Jinuo township is the only area in the whole Chinese territory where this minority can be found in numbers.
Their villages are sitting on top of hills, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation.
We visited a traditional wooden longhouse on pillars where many families could live under the same roof. A long hearth is built at the centre of a common room. A series of private rooms for each family were built either side of the building entrance for some privacy.
This type of structure is on the wane as Jinuo's way of living have changed. In the last ten years, they have built invidual homes and opted for long-lasting cement and bricks instead of wood for building them.

Jinuo clothing takes months to weave. Both man and woman's cotton clothing were dyed using traditional techniques with natural plants. Men wore long white-legged pants with a sleevless jacket and a fitted tubular headdress whereas women wore a long-sleeved jacket, a knee-length skirt and a white pointy headdress. They used to adorn their pierced earlobes with flowers. The more flowers you could fit inside, the better. Now again, the young generation has discontinued such practice.

Traditionally, the woman's pointy hat is adorned on its back panel with colourful embroidered shapes. The fitted knee-length skirt and short-length top are also richly embroidered with colourful stripes.
The young generation sports sun and star-like embroidered shapes on their outfit and sometimes opt for cheaper silky materials instead of cotton for their clothing.

Unlike most minorities, the Jinuo people have no festival of their own but they follow particular customs when it comes to wedding ceremonies and the likes. They also have a rich dancing and singing culture.
The Jinuo language has not written form. The young generation can speak it but we realized that they were not fluent. The Jinuo's main language is now 'putonghua', i.e. mandarin.

The Jinuo are undoubtedly losing their distinctive way of living. Another micro-culture is going down the drain...

Labels: China, ethnic minorities, Jinuo, tribal, Xishuangbanna