Origins of the Sui people and their migratory history

12 2 Historical and Cultural Background Pan Xingwen, Wei Shifang, Lu Chun, Shi Guomeng

2.1 Origins of the Sui people and their migratory history

According to Li Pingfan and Yan 2011:435ff., the Sui ancestors originated in the Luogushui 骆 谷水 region of Shaanxi province, living in the Sui River 睢水 basin. 1 They migrated south and became one of the Baiyue ethnic groups. 2 It was not until the Tang dynasty that the character Shui 水 began to be used in Chinese history books to refer to the ethnic group. 3 After the capitulation of the Yin and Shang dynasties, the Sui ancestors migrated south across Hubei and Hunan, arriving in the Guangxi region and assimilating into the Baiyue ethnic groups of ancient southern China. After the unification of China by the Qin, the imperial government sent troops to attack the southern regions. The Sui ancestors then migrated upstream, northwards, in what became the second great migration in their history. They finally settled in the upper reaches of the Longjiang and Duliujiang rivers in the border regions of present-day Guangxi and Guizhou. Gradually they acquired the identity of a single ethnic group, developing from a branch of the “Luo Yue 骆越 ”, a group which came from the Baiyue SCAEG 2007:9. The Sui autonym comes from the Sui river which provided sustenance for the Sui ancestors. The first volume of Treatise on Rivers and Canals of the Ming History 《明史•河渠志上》 says, “Water from the Yellow River is directed into the Bian 汴 river, the Bian into the Sui 睢 , the Sui into the Si 泗 , the Si into the Huai 淮 , and thence into the sea.” Historically, the Sui and other non-Han ethnic groups were referred to collectively as “Baiyue”, “Liao 僚 ”, “Miao 苗 ” or “Man 蛮 ”, among others. During the Tang dynasty, Fushui prefecture 抚水州 was created in the Sui region. Crimson Elegance 《赤雅》 , written by the famous Ming poet Kuang Lu, records that “the Shui 水 people are a type of Liao 僚 ”. 4 After the middle of the Qing dynasty, the Sui began to be known as “Shuijia Miao 水家苗 ” literally “Miao from the Shui clan” or “Shuijia 水家 ” the “Shui clan”. Post-liberation, after consulting the Sui people themselves, the State Council officially designated them “Shuizu 水族 Shui Minority” SCAEG 2007.

2.2 Geography of the Sui region