Brief Introduction of She Ethnic Group
The important cultivator of mountainous areas in Zhejiang, Fujian Province
She, one of the Chinese ethnic minorities, now has 630,378 people. More than 90% live in the mountainous areas in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, and the rest are scattered within the territory of Jiangxi, Guangdong and Anhui provinces. Their inhabited region is mainly the natural stockaded village made up of scores of families, with the Han villages living around. Some are also living together with Han people.
The She inhabited area is in the highland of Southeast China. The mountains are not high but dark green, and the rivers are not wide but run vertically and horizontally. The climate is moist and the resources are abundant. Besides the crops of various and excellent types, such as rice and potatoes, mushroom and Huiming tea of the autonomous county of Jingning are also very famous. The She mountainous area rely mainly on agro-farming economy, and the hunting activity once gained a certain economic status in the past.
As far back as in the Tang Dynasty, in the boundary district between Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, She people lived one generation after another. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the nationality name of “She people” appeared in the history books. She people claim themselves “Shanda”, “Shanha”, meaning “the guests in the mountain”. Since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, the nationality is referred to as She.
She has its own languages, a branch of the Han-Tibetan language family. Most people speak the local dialect. Chinese is in common use.
From the Tang Dynasty to the foundation of the People’ s Republic of China, She people had been persisting in resisting against class exploitation and national oppression. And they often rose in revolt together with the local Han people, fighting shoulder to shoulder. In the Tang Dynasty, the revolts led by Lei Wanxing, Miao Zicheng and Lan Fenggao lasted for nearly 50 years. In the Yuan Dynasty, She people participated enthusiastically in the struggle against the ruling government, led by Zhang Shijie and Wen Tianxiang, where a great woman leader Mrs. Xu came up. The struggle against feudalism had a more significant influence at the beginning of the 16th century.
