Bulang people: Difference between revisions

|group=Blang {{resize|75%|(BulongBulang)}}

The '''BlangBulang people''' ({{Zh|c=布朗族, |p=Bùlǎngzú}}; also spelled '''BulongBlang''') '''people''' are an [[ethnic group]]. They form one of the 56 [[List of ethnic groups in China|ethnic groups]] officially recognized by the [[China|People's Republic of China]].

*''{{IPA|kha33 phv53}}{{IPA|}}'' (卡朴): : [[Lahu language|Lahu]] exonym for the Bulang

The [[Blang language]] belongs to the [[Palaungic languages|Palaungic]] branch of the [[Austroasiatic]] language family. Within the Palaungic branch, Blang belongs to the Waic subgroup, which also contains the languages of the [[Va people|Wa]] and [[Lawa people|Lawa]] peoples in addition to Blang. Some Blang also speak the [[Chinese language]] and [[Southwestern Tai languages]] in addition to Blang. Two systems of writing, based on the [[Latin alphabet]], have been developed: 'Totham' in the [[Xishuangbanna]] and 'Tolek' from [[Dehong]] and [[Lincang]].

The women usually dress in jackets with black skirts. The men had tattoos in the torso and the stomach. They dressed in wide black trousers and jackets buttoned to the front. Often, they would wear turbans of either white or black fabric.

The Blang are traditionally divided into small [[clans]], with each clan owning its own land. Every Blang town has its own cemeteries, which are divided by clans. The deceased are buried, with the exception of those who perished due to unnatural causes. In this case, they are cremated.

Bulang are among the [https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/the-tea-forests-of-yunnan earliest known cultivators of tea], with natural tea forest canopy home to unique species & ecosystems as opposed to [[monoculture]] [[fertilizer]] & [[pesticide]] -consuming [[tea plantation]]s.

The Blang are traditionally associated with [[animism]], ancestor worship, and [[Theravada Buddhism]]. Writing in 2011, James Miller described these overlapping traditions as follows,: "{{Quote|The Blang, like many nationalities in southwest China, are Theravada Buddhists, but their highly complex religious life is also informed by local beliefs and customs that relate to the traditional ecology, with special attention being paid to rice, water, bees, beeswax, and the various local spirits that are associated with them."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fore.research.yale.edu/news/item/the-religion-and-ecology-of-the-blang-minority-nationality/|last=Miller|first=James|date=16 August 2011|title=News -: The Religion and Ecology of the Blang Minority Nationality|publisher=[[Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale]]|website=Forefore.research.yale.edu|access-date=17 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423071225/http://fore.research.yale.edu/news/item/the-religion-and-ecology-of-the-blang-minority-nationality/|archive-date=2012-04-23|url-status=dead}}</ref> An overtly}}

A Christian missionary source (i.e., with observations reflecting attempts to convert the Bulang) describes them as "ardent followers of Theravada Buddhism", and offers as an estimate that 80% of the Bulang are "professing Buddhists", with a lower estimate of 35% being "practicing Buddhists".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/B/Bulang%20(B).pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426062334/http://www.asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/B/Bulang%20(B).pdf |archive-date=2012-04-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref>