The Yao people are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China, and one of the 54 ethnic groups officially recognised by Vietnam (where they are called Dao), but they also live, in small numbers, in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. In the last census in 2000, they numbered more tahn 2,600,000 in China and roughly 470,000 in Vietnam. In China they reside in the mountainous terrain of the southwest and south. Long ago, there were about 20 Yao subgroups (and many of them still exist as separate ethnic groupings). Each of these groups had different customs and lifestyles.
The Yao people have been farmers for over a thousand years, mostly rice cultivation through plowing, although a few practice slash-and-burn agriculture. Yao society is traditionally patrilineal, with sons inheriting from their fathers. The origins of the Yao can be traced back 2000 years, during the Qin Dynasty, starting in Hunan. The Yao and Hmong were among the rebels during the Miao Rebellions against the Ming dynasty. As the Han Chinese expanded into South China, the Yao retreated into the highlands between Hunan and Guizhou to the north and Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and stretching into eastern Yunnan.
Most Yao houses have two stories and three or five rooms. The first story is where they keep their farming tools and raise livestock. Yao men almost always marry Yao women, marriage between first cousins being common. Husbands usually live together with the wife’s family. They meet their future wives or husbands during festivals. Although Yao people celebrate Han festivals, they also have their own, the most important being the Panwang and Danu Festivals.
The Yao people retain a unique style of costume and adornment with certain variations according to the regions in which they live. Their clothes are primarily of blue cloth with various pictorial designs on the fabric. Men wear short shirts without collars, and jackets that may be buttoned in the middle or to the left and are normally belted. Trousers are blue or black, land may be long or of a short, knee length style. In places such as Nandan County in Guangxi province, men often wear white knee length knickerbockers.
Women wear trousers, short skirts or pleated skirts. Beautiful embroidered patterns adorn their collars, cuffs and the bottoms of their long trousers. Some Yao women like to wear short collarless jackets with pleated skirts of different colors and lengths. Some adopt knee-length upper clothes with buttons down the front, which are hitched up with a long belt, over short or long trousers. Silver accessories are also among their favorites. Women often wear silver flowers, hair pins, beads and plaits.
About the stamps
The first and the third stamp are part of the series The Chinese Filia Piety (2), designed by Lu Yanguang, Cao Guowei and Meng Fudan and issued on October 7, 2016.
• Carrying Rice for More Than a Hundred Li (1.20 CNI) - It's on the postcard 3018
• Personally Checking His Mother's Prescriptions (1.20 CNI) - It's on the postcard 3018
• Wenji Returning to Han (1.50 CNI)
• Gu Kaizhi Painting His Mother (1.50 CNI)
The second stamp is part of the series 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, designed by Ma Lian and Dan Sen, and issued on May 1, 1997.
• Celebration (0.50 CNI) - It's on the postcard 3018
• Unity (0.50 CNI)
• Advance (2.00 CNI)
The last stamp is part of the series Protecting the common homeland of mankind, about which I wrote here.
References
Yao people - Wikipedia
Yao Minority - China Highlight
Yao people - New World Encyclopedia
Sender: Chao Hanghui (direct swap)
Sent from Shanghai (Shanghai / China), on 25.02.2017
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