She nationality is one of the minority nationalities with a small population in China, with a total population of 708651 people (in 2010), distributed in some mountainous areas of more than 80 counties (cities) in seven provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Anhui, and Hunan, of which more than 90% live in the vast mountainous areas of Fujian and Zhejiang. They call themselves “shanghai” and “ha” she means “Ke” and “shanghai”, which means customers living in the mountains. But this name is not recorded in history books. In the Tang Dynasty, the ethnic minorities, including the ancestors of She nationality, who lived in the border areas of Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi, were generally called “man”, “manila”, “Dongman” or “Dongliao”. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the names of “the people” and “Quan people” began to appear in history books. “She nationality has its own language, belonging to Sino Tibetan language family. Her language is very close to the Hakka dialect of Chinese, but in Haifeng, Zengcheng, Huiyang, BOLUO, and other areas of Guangdong Province, a few she people use Bunu language (belonging to the branch of Miao Language) which is close to Yao nationality. The She nationality does not have its own language, but Chinese. In daily life, people all over the country are familiar with the local Chinese dialect. With the integration of the She nationality into the Han community, most of the She people have changed their Chinese language to that of the lobbyists, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong. According to statistics, more than 99% of the She people in China use the local Hakka dialect. Among them, the language in the Fu’an area of Fujian Province is regarded as the standard language of all the languages.
In December 1956, the State Council recognized the She nationality as a single ethnic minority and determined that her nationality is called She nationality. Jingning She Autonomous County is the only Autonomous County in China. The population of She nationality accounts for about 11.5%. According to historical records, it has been more than 1200 years since she people moved to Jingning. She’s genealogy has another name of “corvee people” or “corvee family”.
Academic circles generally believe that she is the indigenous people of Fenghuang mountain. Her nationality is the ancestor of the Chaoshan area. Fenghuang Mountain in Chaozhou is recognized as the birthplace of more than 700000 people in China. Chaozhou culture is an important part of Chaozhou culture. Her songs are the source of Chaozhou songs.
![She Nationality food](https://huawei-file-cdn.sacbu.com/uploads/picture_handle/webp/9284dd6d530de6bee47818f7b87d8cf8.jpg_width-800.webp)
Typical food
The typical foods of the family are: Stewed ginger; pickled vegetables, she flavor dishes, commonly pickled with pepper, ginger, radish, etc., which are called Zao Pepper, Zao ginger, etc.; Dragon Boat Festival zongzi, which is called Gujiao; Wuhan, the festival food of March 3, is the tender leaves of Wuhan tree (Wuzhi in she language), which is mashed and soaked with glutinous rice juice. After cooking, it becomes black and shiny Wuhan. It is said that eating black rice is not afraid of ants.
Traditional costume
The traditional costumes of She nationality are colorful. Her nationality’s clothing is blue and its material is self-woven linen. At present, men’s clothing of She nationality is no different from that of Han nationality, while some women’s clothing of She nationality in eastern Fujian and southern Zhejiang still has distinct national style. The collar, cuffs, and right placket are decorated with lace, and it is customary to wear shorts to wrap leggings. Especially women’s hairstyle is different from Han nationality. Girls like to use red wool and hair wrapped together, woven into a long braid, pan in the head. Married women usually wear a phoenix crown, that is, a small refined bamboo tube, wrapped with a red cloth handkerchief, and hung with a red silk one foot long and one inch wide.
Women of different ages, old, middle-aged, and young, also have black, blue, or red wool in their hair. The crown is decorated with a round silver plate with three small silver plates hanging on it. Hanging in front of her forehead, people call it Longji, which means the Phoenix crown worn by “three princesses”. According to legend, Emperor Gaoxin betrothed his three princesses to Panhu, who had made great contributions to the king’s head. A silver hairpin, silver collar, silver chain, silver bracelet, and earrings are also inserted on the crown, which makes it very gorgeous.
![She Nationality girl](https://huawei-file-cdn.sacbu.com/uploads/picture_handle/webp/566ebb96de6733bb97fae3e2bbe9ecb4.jpg_width-800.webp)
Traditional festival
The traditional festivals of She nationality mainly include the Dragon Festival in April, the seventh day of July, autumn day, Mid Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Spring Festival, and so on. Also, every February 15, July 15, and August 15 of the lunar calendar is the ancestor worship day of the She nationality.
Her family attaches great importance to traditional festivals and ancestor worship. Every year, February, July, and August 15 are ancestor worship days, believing in ghosts and gods. When offering sacrifices to ancestors, we should use two glasses of wine, one cup of tea, three meat and three vegetables, and six bowls of vegetables, plus rice in different seasons. During the festival, in addition to wine and meat is essential, every festival to eat what has certain traditional habits. But no matter what festival, we should make Ciba. In addition to killing chickens and ducks, adults should also make Ciba for their birthdays.
“March 3” is a traditional festival of She nationality. It is held on the third day of the third month of the third lunar month every year. Its main activity is to go out for an outing and eat black rice in memory of her ancestors, also known as the “black rice Festival”. Black rice is to dye the glutinous rice black with the juice of a plant. It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, Lei Wanxing and LAN Feng Gao, the leaders of the She nationality, led the people of the She nationality to resist the ruling class at that time and were besieged on the mountain by the imperial army. The soldiers lived through the new year by eating a kind of wild fruit called “Wuhan”. On March 3 of the next year, they rushed out of the encirclement and won the victory. In memory of them, people take March 3 as a festival and eat “black rice” to commemorate. During the festival, the people, who are from the same clan in the neighborhood, gather in the long hall. From morning to evening, they sing to Panhu, praising Panhu and remembering their ancestors. The whole she mountain is immersed in a sea of songs. In the evening, each family eats “black rice”. Late at night, ancestor worship activities.
Besides, the people also celebrate the Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival, besides killing chickens and pigs, Ciba is also made. I wish you good luck in the new year and sweet days every year. On the morning of the first day of junior high school, the whole family paid homage to the “ancestors of Pangu”. The old man talked about the difficulties of their ancestors in starting a business. After that, the whole family got together, sang folk songs, and sent gifts. Young men and women go to the villages to express their feelings with songs and express their friendship with each other.
![She Nationality people](https://huawei-file-cdn.sacbu.com/uploads/picture_handle/webp/f696d85fa54b57487aa1b7c5b86f73de.jpg_width-800.webp)