Geographical Distribution
The Zhuang are the largest of the 55 minority people groups in mainland China, located primarily in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces. According to the 1990 census there were 15,500,000 Zhuang of whom 68,000 or 0.4% are reported to be Christian. Ninety-one percent of the Zhuang live in the western half of Guangxi (in the Zhuang Autonomous Region). Of the remaining Zhuang, 6% are in the Wenshan Autonomous Prefecture in neighboring Yunnan, and 3% in Guangdong.

Zhuang are also found in most of the major cities of Guangxi, making up one third of the population in some. Many Zhuang in cities are fully acculturated and are hard to distinguish from Han Chinese. These have a variety of occupations reflecting the local business community, and some hold political office. However most Zhuang still live in rural villages and are farmers.

Zhuang people can be found in small numbers in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Burma, and a few are now in the United States and the UK.

Population:
1990: 15,489,630
2000: 17,813,074 (estimate)
Ages 0-14: 28%
Ages 15-54: 55%
Ages 55+: 11%

Urbanization: About 20%

Alternate Names: Chuang, Chuang-chia, Chwang, Tai Chuang, Usming, T’U, Bou-Tsuung, Bou-Shuung, Pu-Nong, Pu To, Bou Rau, Bou Lau, Bou Baan, Bu Mann.

Language
Adult literacy
The government reports that only 33 % are illiterate, but another 44 % have only attended part of elementary school. An overall figure of 20 % literacy is probably realistic. The percentage in many villages would be much smaller.

Language Group/Language & Dialects:
The Zhuang language belongs to the Sino-Thai language group. There are 8 main dialects with over a million speakers of each, and there are numerous smaller dialect groups. With over 50 subdialects, many villages speak their own dialect and can not communicate with villages near-by.

The government has recognized a standard Zhuang dialect by taking a pool of words common to Zhuang living in Wuming, Liuzhou, and Baise. Since all of these cities are in the North of Guangxi, the Standard Zhuang cannot be understood by the 4 million Zhuang living in the South. The language was not written down until the government made an attempt in the early 1950’s, but they chose to use a Russian script and it was never accepted by the people. A new Latin script was devised in 1986 and the government through the Minorities Language Commission has encouraged Zhuang to learn this.

Bilingual education was introduced in several places at the grade school level and books were published in this script. It is now generally agreed that this effort too is not working, and several linguists are working on using a base of Chinese characters for Zhuang. A Zhuang/ Chinese/English dictionary is being developed under contact with the government and should be published in the next few years.

Many Zhuang are bi- or trilingual, speaking Zhuang and Mandarin or Cantonese or all three. To most Zhuang there are three languages "My" language, Chinese, and "Foreign Language". Although education in school is supposed to be done in Mandarin the teachers in the Zhuang areas explain things in Zhuang, and since most Zhuang leave school during grade school, they forget the Mandarin they have if they don’t have frequent contact with those outside their village.

Livelihood
The Zhuang who live in the mountainous, western part of Guangxi practice wet-rice cultivation on the valley lands and mountain sides with the use of buffalo and oxen. Hillsides are terraced wherever possible. The climate is warm enough to assure agricultural production throughout the year. Since much of the cultivation is on mountains along rivers, flooding is a continual problem.

Since the Zhuang inhabit remote mountainous areas they lack an industrial base and their economic development follows the pattern of most minorities in China, in that it lags far behind the Han. Growth of agriculture and industrial production is slower than in Han areas, but since the 1970’s there has been impressive growth.

Throughout the 1980’s there was extensive state allocations to the nationality areas in forms such: as relief funds, loans, subsidies, and tax relief aimed at Zhuang economic development. As a result of this, roads, railroads and the infrastructure have been improved in Guangxi and this has facilitated more trade and economic development among the Zhuang. Modern 4 lane highways now cross Guangxi from east to west and north to south. China has taken the initiative of building up a sub-regional economic zone for the Indochina Peninsula, and has delegated authority to the Yunnan and Guangxi provincial governments to promote trade and economic cooperation with the adjacent countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Thailand. Currently they are improving transportation links with the above five countries by building new roads and expanding the current ones.

History
The Zhuang were part of a Tai related group of people covering a large area of Southern China over 2,000 years ago. They were recorded as living in Guangxi when the unification of China took place and prefectures and counties were set up in 213 BC. The Flower Cliff painting by the Zhuang near Ning Ming is over 2,000 years old. As the Han Chinese began to move into Southern China the Zhuang were forced into the mountainous areas and areas that were not fertile for growing crops.

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