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1 Who are Tujia?
1 Who are Tujia?
Tujia (or called ‘Bifzixkar’ in their own language) ethnic group has a population of over 8 millions and is the 8th-largest among the 55 ethnic minorities in China. They originated in in Wuling Mountains, located in the southeastern part of China. Now, most of them still live in wooden stilted buildings of Wuling Mountains, but a small fraction of them have moved to other cities across China and even abroad.
-Tujia Population Distribution Map
-Tujia Women
Originally, they have many unique cultural traditions. They speak their own language, the Tujia language (or called ‘Bifzivsar’ in their own language); they believe in Nuo folk religion; they celebrate Tujia New Year; they produce Xilankapu, the Tujia brocade; etc.
However, most of these traditions are already abandoned by Tujia. Even more, only very few of current Tujia people who live in developed cities still know about these valuable traditions. We suspect that economic growth is one of the key reasons behind. More specifically, internal migration, probably caused by the pursuit of higher quality of life in more developed regions, may have led to cultural assimilation, and Tujia living in cities then forgot about their cultures.
In this passage, we discuss particularly the population migration of Tujia within Hunan province. In Hunan, most Tujia originally lived in Xiangxi Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture and Zhangjiajie Prefecture, located in the northwest corner (painted in blue and yellow, separately) of the province.
-Prefectures in Hunan Province
2 Tujia Population Distribution within Hunan
2 Tujia Population Distribution within Hunan
I gathered demographic data of the past 30 years from website of Chinese National Statistical Bureau. I then used Tableau to generate a map of population distribution for Tujia using the data of three years, 1987, 2000, and 2015, hoping to find a general trend of migration in the past 30 years. The results are shown below.
-Tujia population distribution in Hunan.
Comparing these three pictures together, it is obvious that most of the Tujia population are located in Xiangxi and Zhangjiajie, and this trait did not change much in the past 30 years. To make migration trend more obvious, I set Xiangxi and Zhangjiajie as invisible, so the difference between the population of other cities increased.
-Tujia population distribution in Hunan except Xiangxi and Zhangjiajie
In 1987, there’s nearly no Tujia population in areas other than Xiangxi and Zhangjiajie.
Then, in 2000, a relatively big fraction of Tujia is living in Changde and Huaihua. That is to say, a fraction of Tujia people started to migrate to these two prefectures nearest to Xiangxi and Zhangjiajie. Also, according to the GDP record of the 14 prefectures, Changde’s economical development is much better than Huaihua’s. This is probably the reason why more Tujia migrated to Changde than to Huaihua.
From 2000 to 2015, the fraction of Tujia population in areas other than Xiangxi and Zhangjiajie is kept increasing, but slowed down. Rather than living in Changde and Huaihua, more Tujia moved to Changsha, the capital city and the most developed area in Hunan province. This indicates that Tujia people are now migrating to not only neighbor prefectures, but also farther, eastern parts of province, specifically the most developed areas.
-GDP Ranking
To sum up, this data visualization result shows that Tujia people are gradually migrating to more developed regions.
We also planned to investigate the topic in a broader view, finding Tujia migration trend within the whole country. Unfortunately, not all the provinces in China have public records of population regarding ethnic groups. And because this project is held only from my own interest, I cannot reach professional researchers in this field for more data.
3 Specific examples of Tujia migration
3 Specific examples of Tujia migration
Shuangfeng village is a traditional Tujia village located in mountains of northwestern Xiangxi Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture. It now has a population of less than 200, and some of them spend most of their time working outside the village. Villagers of Shuangfeng mark their village as “No.1 Tujia village in China”, because this village preserves more Tujia traditions than other villages. Many Shuangfeng villagers are authorized as national or provincial inheritors of Tujia performances and handicrafts. However, even in Shuangfeng, many traditions are already lost. For example, Xilankapu are abandoned by Tujia women because it takes too much effort but brings so little profit.
To find out more detailed reasons behind the migration trend mentioned before, I interviewed some villagers in Shuangfeng about their family’s migration history and reasons.
-Entrance gate of Shuangfeng village
Example 1
Example 1
In 1986, Yingdiao, his wife Layu, and their children moved to the county town Yongshun for better work, so that they could afford Jingsong’s tuition fee. Shortly after, they set up a street stall and then opened a store. Jingsong then entered university and later worked at the County Tourist Administration. Jingsong’s wife, Guanxiang, works at the local electricity company. Their son, Yu, is now studying in university. Jingsong’s sisters are both married, too. Su’e is now living in Yongshun, and Erqin is living in Jishou, the capital city of Xiangxi. Though the family all moved to more developed areas, they come back to Shuangfeng village during big festivals and new year time.
-Family tree.
Example 2
Example 2
Renxin(1933-2019) and his wife Hulan lives in Shuangfeng village with their son Yiyuan. Yiyuan and his wife then had two kids, Mingli and Zhihui. Mingli produces tea and owns a tea cooperative in Shuangfeng. His wife Xiangqin is now living in Yongshun county town to carry up their two children, Jiayi and Jiapeng. Zhihui’s whole family lives in Shuangfeng.
Background Story:
Renxin Tian used to be the national inheritor of Tujia Baishou dance. In 1957, he represented Xiangxi prefecture and performed Baishou dance in Beijing to national leaders. Premier ZHOU Enlai, Marshals ZHU De, HE Long, and many other national leaders praised his performance. His son, Yiyuan Tian, is now the provincial inheritor of Tujia Baishou dance.
-Family tree.
Beside these two families, villagers of Shuangfeng also moved to farther regions, but there are few detailed records. I only gathered some general information:
-Migration Paths of Shuangfeng Villagers
One particular family is now living abroad. The father went to Wuhan city and became president of South-Central University for Nationalities. He is currently retired and lives in Singapore together with his wife and daughter. The family seldom comes back to Shuangfeng village, so the detailed reasons behind all these move cannot be found.
There are about 8 more families that migrate to other cities. They now live in Chengdu (in Sichuan Province), Luoyang (in Henan Province), Zhangjiajie, Hengyang, etc.
4 Conclusion
4 Conclusion
The data visualization results proved our hypothesis: Tujia population have been migrating to more developed regions and meet people with various cultures. The reasons behind include: seeking for better education for the next generation, higher income, etc.
Furthermore, we assume this migration trend not only happen to Tujia ethnic minority group, but also many others such as Miao, Naxi, etc. These migrations add together, people from various cultures assimilate with each other in developed cities, which caused their own distinct cultures gradually disappear or even die away sadly.
Although this project only shows the demographic data in the past 30 years, the changes are already obvious. In the coming 30, 60, or 90 years, these cultures of minority groups may have disappeared completely.
We should start help preserving these cultures now.
5 Other Countries
5 Other Countries
Migration following economy growth seems to happen all around the world: in Japan, the United States, New Zealand, Philippines, Italy, etc.
Specifically, in Engaru-cho of Monbatsu-gun, Hokkaido, Japan, the population of the village decreased so dramatically that many facilities there became useless. But when the local government planned to shut down the small Kamishirotaki-Station there, they found a high school girl named Kana Harata commuting by the train to school. The government then decided to keep the station open for her. Three years later, when the girl graduated from high school in 2016, the station was finally shut down.
Behind this lovely story is the current situation of internal migration happening in Japan. Small towns such as Engaru-cho are now losing labor forces, resulting in underpopulation.
Maybe, in these countries, local cultures and traditions of small towns are gradually being forgotten too.
References:
- 'Tujia People', Wikipedia [Online]. Available from:
- 'Internal Migration', Wikipedia [Online]. Available from:
- Lei, W. & Yunqi, Z. (2016), 'The Decline Phenomenon of the Depopulation of Japan’s Small Towns and its Countermeasures'.
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