The Dai people are one of the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China. According to the national census they have a population of around 1.2 million, living in the Dai Autonomous Prefecture and the Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in Xishuangbanna in the southern part of Yunnan province.
Like with the rest of the ethnic groups in China, the Dai have their own oral language, belonging to the Zhuang-Dai branch of Zhuang-Dong Austronesian of Chinese-Tibetan Phylum and it has its own written script. The Dai have four forms of written script, however they only use the standard characters used in the Xishuangbanna and Dehong scripts.
The origins of the Dai people are said to have originated with the native aboriginal people on the southeast Yunnan-Guizhiou Plateau. These indigenous people are also the ancestors of the Bouyei, the Dong, the Shui, the Li and the Zhuang ethnicities.
The first mention of the Dai in Chinese records can be found during the reign of Wu Di of the Han Dynasty in 109 BCE. The emperor established the Yizhou Prefecture and in later years the Dais sent tribute to the Han court in the form of gold seals. The emperor was said to have called the Dai leader ‘Great Captain’. The Dai were, at this time, named ‘Dianyue’ or ‘Shan’. During the Tanf and Song dynasties they were called Jingchi, Huaman or Baiyi and Baiyi or Boyi during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. The Dai call themselves ‘Dai’ to express their devotion to peace and freedom.
During the ninth century, the Chinese recorded the livelihoods of the Dai people. Mainly agricultural, they developed a sophisticated method of irrigation farming, grew rice and used oxen and elephants to till the land. Records also stated that they used gold and silver to plate their teeth.
During the 12th century, the Dai were able to establish their own regime under the leadership of a Dai man named Bazhen. He united all the local tribes and established Jinghong as the capital. “According to local records, the kingdom had a population of more than one million, and was famous for white elephants and fine-breed horses. It recognized the Chinese imperial court as its sovereign. When Bazhen ascended the throne, he was given a ‘tiger-head gold seal’ by the Emperor, and the title ‘Lord of the Region’”. The Dai had even established the Mengmao Kingdom in earlier years with Ruilijiang as the capital.
The Dai are a truly remarkable people. In 638 CE, they created their own calendar and there are books in the Dai language to calculate solar and lunar eclipses. Theravada Buddhism is the main religion of the Dai and they have many festivals. These include the Door-Closing Festival in mid-June by the lunar calendar, the Door-Opening Festival in mid-September, and the Water-Splashing Festival in spring. The Water-Splashing Festival is still the most important festival where they splash water on each other and hold dragon-boat races in order to cleanse illnesses bad fortune and bring about a good harvest and weather for the following year.
Bibliography:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/ljzg/3584/t17878.htm
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