Presenting the Zhuang

The Zhuang are the most numerous Chinese minority. It is believed that they are 19 million persons in the year 2000. Called of different forms along the history, his current name gave his Zhou Enlai in the year 1965. The majority they live concentrated on Guangxi, called officially Autonomous Region Guangxi de los Zhuang.

There is an interesting debate on the extract itself of the Zhuang. Some authors affirm that it does not represent in fact to any ethnic entity, but it includes a series of peoples that there shares a series of cultural afinididades and a nearby ambience. While a serious investigation can provide key information in a future it is necessary to indicate at least two clear facts:

1. There is a good number of peoples of scarce population that, living between the Zhuang, have been considered to be as such in spite of his clear linguistic and cultural differences, posiblmente for political or administrative interests.

2. The proper Zhuang are autonamed of a good number of different forms, like:

Poutsung or poucun: in the central and western area of Guangxi.
Pujai in the north and northwest of Guangxi and in the Prefecture of Wenshan, in Yunnan.
Punon, in areas of the west of Guangxi and part of Wenshan
Pudai, in the counties of Mali and Kaiyuan in the Prefecture of Wenshan, in Yunnan.
Phothai, in Longzhou, Guangxi province.
Kumtho, in the basin of the river Zuojiang in Guangxi.
Male prostitute, in the region of river Youjiang.
Pouman, in Hechi, Guangxi.
Pouban, in Wuming, Guangxi.
Poulau, in Fengshan, Guangxi.

His language belongs to the family But Tibetan, zhuang-dong branch, subbranch zhuang-dai.

With two different dialects, that of the North and that of the South, practically initeligibles between themselves. Each one with several quite similar local speech.

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