Sandu is the only Sui autonomous county in China. It is situated in the southeast of Qiannan Bouyei- Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province, between Moon Mountain and Thunder God Mountain
Lei Gong Shan 雷公山
, spanning the area from 107°40E to 108°14E and 25°30N to 26°10N. Sandu county is 56 km east-west at its widest point and 73 km north-south at its longest point. Over 50 of the
total Sui population in China live in Sandu county. Sandu has a total area of around 2,400 km
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. There are 21 districts and townships, and 242 administrative villages.
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At the end of 2011, ethnic minority people accounted for 96.9 of the total population of Sandu. The Sui accounted for 65.8 of the total
population of Sandu county Sandu County Statistics Bureau 2012. Sandu is informally known as “the place whose beauty is like the feathers of the phoenix”.
The Sui minority live in the following places: •
Sandong, Zhouqin, Jiuqian, Yanggong, Hengfeng, Tingpai, Tangzhou, Shuilong, Zhonghe, Sanhe, Lalan, Dayu, Yangfu, Wubu, Bajie, Dujiang, Jiaoli, Pu’an, Fengle, Dahe and Hejiang, 21 districts and
townships in Sandu county, Guizhou province; •
Jiarong, Shuiyao, Yongkang and Shuili districts and townships in Libo county, Guizhou province; •
Benzhai, Jiading, Wengtai and Shuiyan districts and townships in Dushan county, Guizhou province;
• Jichang, Fenghe and Yanghe districts in Duyun municipality, Guizhou province;
• Fuquan city and Huishui county in Guizhou province;
• Shuiwei, Xinghua, Dingwei, Sanjiang and Renli districts and Tashi Yao Sui minority district in
Rongjiang county, Guizhou province; •
Longquan township, Yangwu district and Yahui district in Danzhai county, Guizhou province; •
Yongle township and Dadi Sui township in Leishan county, Guizhou province; •
Congjiang and Jianhe counties in Guizhou province; •
Huanjiang and Rongshui counties in the north of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; •
and Gugan Sui district, Fuyuan county in Yunnan province.
2.3 Information on the primary data points
2.3.1 Sandong SD Shuigen village, Sandong district
Shuigen village is situated 2.5 km north of Sandong district People’s Government at the foot of General’s Slope Jiangjun Po
将军坡 . The village is arranged in the shape of a crescent moon and is 3.1 km
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in area. Shuigen is the location of the administrative village office, in Shuigen Great Hamlet. The
administrative village oversees five village groups with a total population of 1,255 people comprising 238 households. The population of Shuigen are quite concentrated. Sui minority constitutes 99.5 of the
village’s total population. The whole village has 1,000 mu of cultivated land.
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The primary source of income is agriculture, secondary sources include outsourced labour and trade. The cypress wood at the
entrance of the village has thirteen steles engraved with Lee Sui character script.
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The village boasts paved roads, street lighting, good sanitation and other modern facilities.
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In China, an ‘administrative village’ is the term for a group of villages served by a single party committee. A ‘natural village’ refers to a single village. There are usually several natural villages within one administrative village.
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mu 亩
is a Chinese measure of area, equivalent to 0.0667 hectares.
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Lee Sui [l ɛ¹ swi³] shuishu
水 书
in Chinese is a traditional script used by Sui shamans shuishu xiansheng 水书先生
‘Sui character script men’ in Chinese for recording auspicious dates, ghost days, omens and festivals Burkiewicz 2012, Wei Shifang 2007.
2.3.2 Zhonghe ZH Hezhai hamlet, Zhonghe village
Zhonghe is situated 27 km south of Sandu county seat and 0.5 km north of the Zhonghe township government. Zhonghe administrative village covers an area from 107°53E to 107°69E and 25°45N to
25°50N. The village committee buildings are at an elevation of 720m. The east borders Ladan village 拉
旦村 , the south Guyin village
姑引村 , the west Xiyang
西洋村 village and the north Pangzhai village
庞寨村 . Zhonghe administrative village has a population of 1,554 people constituting 213 households,
of which Sui minority account for 98.4. The only people who are not ethnically Sui are government officials who belong to other minority groups. The village is surrounded by mountains with a long,
narrow plain in the middle. Most of the cultivated land is in this plain. The village mainly produces rice, wheat, maize, soybeans and chilli peppers. Zhonghe village is at the centre of Zhonghe township and has
a market which is held on the fourth
卯 and the tenth
酉 days according to the traditional calendar.
The trunk road from Sandu to Libo county travels through Zhonghe village. Zhonghe comprises four hamlets: Dazhai
大寨 , Zhongzhai
中寨 , Hezhai
和寨 and Zaodai
早歹 .
2.3.3 Tangzhou TZ Meiyu village, Tangzhou district
