Sui people 水族
Sui people 水族, are numbered about 350,000 living in China, is an officially recognized ethnic group mostly living in Guizhou Province (of that number half of them reside in Sandu Shui Autonomous County 三都水族自治县
in Guizhou. Some Sui live in Guangxi and Yunnan. The Sui are descended from the ancient Baiyue peoples, who had inhabited southern China before the Han dynasty. The name "Sui," which means "water" in Chinese, was adopted during the Ming Dynasty.
The Sui language, with 3 different dialects, is spoken by about 200,000 of the Sui people of Guizhou province and they have their own scripts, "Shuishu" 水書 as well. There are about 500 characters in Sui script with many borrowed from the Chinese and Chinese remains the script of choice for most young generations.
The Sui are organized around family clans. Villages usually have a few hundred inhabitants, most of whom have the same family name. The Sui are mainly polytheists and practice ancestor worship as well. Shamans were traditionally hired to carry out prayers and sacrifices in the houses of those that were sick or close to death. The Sui religion has more than 900 ghosts and gods that can cause both good fortune or misfortune. Some deities and legendary figures are also borrowed from Chinese folk religion.
Official portrait of a Sui family
Distribution of Sui people. Notice Sandu Shui Autonomous County 三都水族自治县 in Guizhou is their ethnic center
Fancy headgear
Women accessories
Women's bracelets
The township of Sandu 三都, the center of Sui people
Cobblestone paved streets of an ancient part of the town.