Ethical Mistaken Identity

Rongshui County (Rongshui means 'Meltwater') is part of Liuzhou Prefecture and lies to the north of the city. Apart from the county town, it comprises small villages and is very rural. It is a very undeveloped and poor part of China. Most of the inhabitants are from the Miao ethnic minority. In fact, it is officially a Miao Autonomous County. (Not that there is any autonomy from anything.)

Far away, to the west, is the beautiful mountain area of Jinxiu county. Also part of Liuzhou Prefecture, this is where the Yao people live. It is the only Yao Autonomous County in China.

The interweb site china.org.cn, a government website, of course, have run a touching story about a Yao couple celebrating their wedding along with some nice pictures. You can see more on the site.

I wish the couple well.

Only problem is that the story is complete nonsense.

The headline reads "Yao ethical wedding in Rongshui Counting, Guangxi"

Well, I'm glad their wedding was 'ethical', although I'm not sure that getting married 8 years after you have your kids would be considered ethical everywhere. And I'll ignore 'counting' - a simple typo for 'county'. Sort of mistake I would make every day.

No. The problem is that the people shown aren't Yao, at all. They are clearly Miao.

The costumes are the main give away, and the Yao people do not practice the marriage customs described. But then, neither do most Miao.

But hey, what difference does it make. Just another pesky minority to be exploited for tourism and cutesy pie photos when you have nothing else to write about.

As has been asked around the Chinese chatboards after Obama's win, "When will China have a minority president?" The unanimous answer is 'never in a million years'.

I thank my dear friend W, who is Yao and who immediately confirmed my suspicions that the people in the picture are Miao. I lived in a Miao area for two years, last century. I also consulted this.

Here is a video of real Yao people in Jinxiu, which I have posted before, but worth repeating. 

tags: china  liuzhou  miao  yao  dong  zhuang  ethnic minority  jinxiu  wedding  

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