Dong

Ethnic Dong women and man in holiday dresses. Liping County, Guizhou, China.
Total population
2,960,293
Regions with significant populations
Guizhou, Hunan, and Guangxi Provinces, China, also Vietnam
Languages
Dong
Religion
Polytheism, Theravada Buddhism

The Dong (Chinese: 侗族; pinyin: Dòngzú; own name: Gaeml, in the IPA: [kɐm], also referred to as Kam) people are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China, and are famed for their carpentry skills and unique architecture, in particular a form of covered bridge known as the "wind and rain bridge" (Chinese: 风雨桥). Many of the people are also farmers. Their cuisine prominently features pickled foods and sticky rice.

They live mostly in Guizhou, Hunan, and Guangxi provinces of China.

[edit] Language

The Dong language (own name: lix Gaeml) is a Kradai (and Zhuang-Dong) language. [1] When written, the Dong people sometimes use Chinese characters to represent the sounds of Dong words. A new orthography based on the Latin alphabet was developed in 1958, but it is not used very much, due to a lack of printed material and trained teachers.

The Ethnologue distinguishes two Dong dialects with the codes kmc for the southern dialect and doc for the northern.

Drum tower, Zhaoxing, Guizhou.

Dong covered bridge in Guangxi, China

[edit] Notable Dongs

• Li Ting (李婷), gold medalist in the 10 meter synchronized platform diving at the 2004 Summer Olympics at Athens, Greece
• Wu Hongfei (吴虹飞), singer for the Chinese rock band Happy Avenue (幸福大街)
• Su Yu (粟裕), the first four-star general of the People's Liberation Army
• Xiang Xu (向旭）Nick:*浮砂 Fusha The youngest musician for Chinese New Age/World/Vocals music

[edit] References

• D. Norman Geary, Ruth B. Geary, Ou Chaoquan, Long Yaohong, Jiang Daren, Wang Jiying (2003). The Kam People of China. Turning Nineteen? (London / New York, RoutledgeCurzon 2003). ISBN 0-7007-1501-0. (The two main authors are affiliated with the linguistic organization SIL International.)
• Long, Yaohong and Zheng, Guoqiao (1998). Language in Guizhou Province, China. Dallas: SIL International and the University of Texas at Arlington Publications in Linguistics 126. ISBN 1-55671-051-8. (Translated from Chinese by D. Norman Geary.) [2]
• Ōu Hēngyuán 欧亨元 (2004). Cic deenx Gaeml Gax / Dòng-Hàn cídiǎn 侗汉词典 (Dong-Chinese dictionary. Běijīng 北京, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社). ISBN 7-105-06287-8.
• ethnic minority [3]

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dong

• The Dong ethnic minority (government website in English)
• Zhèng Guóqiáo 郑国乔: Dòngyǔ jiǎngzuò 侗语讲座 (Lectures on the Dong language; in Chinese; pages are not correctly displayed in Mozilla)
• National Geographic article about the Dong of Dimen, Liping County, Guizhou, by Amy Tan (2008)
• Photo of Dong lusheng (mouth organ) parade
• Dong Bible (Dong Bible 侗文圣经)
• Photos of Dong villages (website in Japanese)
• [4](Steven Frost's photos of Zhaoxing

[edit] Listening

• NPR story about Dong folk songs, featuring Amy Tan, April 2008