Bijie Culture

The splendid history and culture and primitive folk customs add radiance to each other and weave into a beautiful Bijie name card. Bijie has a long history, splendid culture and simple folk customs.

Ethnic Groups

Bijie is home to a large number of ethnic minorities, among 56 ethnic groups in China, 45 ethnic groups distributed in Bijie, coupled with Chuanqing people(穿青人), Caijia People(蔡家人), Gejia People(革家人), Longjia People(龙家人) and other pending ethnic groups, making Bijie customs and practices colorful. The proportion of Han people in the total population reaches 74.12%. The population of all ethnic minorities (including pending ethnic groups and foreigners who have become Chinese nationals) accounts for 25.88% of the total population. Among the minorities, seven ethnic groups with a population of over ten thousand are Yi, Miao, Hui, Bai, Buyi, Mongol and Gelao, taking up about 72.4% of all minority population. In addition, the population of pending ethnic groups is 26.04% of all minority population. 

Ethnic Townships

There is 1 autonomous counties(Weining Yi, Hui and Miao Autonomous County(威宁彝族回族苗族自治县)) and more than 70 ethnic townships in Bijie. 

Local Culture and Customs

• Yi Culture: The Yi minority is the most populous minority in Bijie. From the perspective of external features, the costumes of the Yi in Bijie are mainly the Wumeng mountain costumes representing the eastern dialect of the Yi language, while there are also a few Liangshan mountain costumes representing the northern dialect of the Yi language in Weining autonomous county. These costumes can still reflect the relics of totem worship and rich historical and cultural connotations of the Yi. The eastern Yi dialect area is one of the most well-preserved areas of Yi history and culture, and its rich ancient literature in Yi language is second to none in the world. The folk customs and festivals of the Yi contain rich Yi traditional culture.
• Miao Culture: The Miao minority is one of the major minorities in Bijie. The Miao language contains rich historical and cultural connotations. Through the study of the Miao language, the profound historical and cultural traditional information of the Miao people can be found. Miao costume, as an important combination of material culture and spiritual culture, carries the migration history of the Miao, records both the tortuous course of Miao migration and the Miao people's material civilization and spiritual civilization of thousands of years, also embodies the difference of dialect among different branches. It is a colorful landscape of ethnic culture. At present, in Miao literature, the folk literature is richest, its genres include poems, stories, aphorisms, proverbs, riddles, etc.
• Hui Culture: The most obvious and prominent feature of the Hui culture is the belief in Islam, which closely unites the Hui people. As the classic of Islam, the Quran records many Islamic doctrines, rules and historical cultures, from which we can feel the psychological and cultural pursuit of the Hui people. Weining autonomous county has the most Hui population in Bijie and even the whole Guizhou province. There are 55 mosques in Weining county. The mosque is the most representative building reflecting Islamic culture and condenses the essence of Islamic culture. Hui festivals mainly include Lesser Bairam, Corban Festival, maulid al-nabi. The Hui people in the area mainly use the Chinese language and Arabic is also used on some occasions.
• Bai, Buyi and Gelao Culture: Bai, Buyi and Gelao are also the major minorities, living in Bijie for generation. They all have their own languages, which contain rich ethnic historical and cultural information. They also have their own rich folk literature and arts, as well as customs and festivals with unique ethnic cultural characteristics.
• Ethnic Music: Among so many ethnic songs and dances, "Song of Wumeng", which integrates the ethnic songs and dances of Han, Yi, Miao, Hui, Buyi, Bai and Gelao, enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad. It had a visit to northern Europe, Canada and other countries, repeatedly won ethnic song and dance contest in the province and the whole country, and became one of the main songs and dances in Beijing Chinese Ethnic Park and Yunnan Ethnic Culture Village. 
• Ethnic Handcrafts: The ethnic crafts of primitive simplicity and elegance are represented by paper cutting of Yi minority, Miao batik and embroidery.
• Ethnic Festivals: The ancient and unique ethnic customs constitute the traditional customs of the people in Bijie, such as hospitality, courtesy, respect for the old and love the young, and solidarity and friendship. Colorful ethnic festivals include the torch festival of Yi, Yi's New Year, Tiaohua festival of Miao and Double Sixth Festival of Buyi.