Tujia nationality is a minority living in the border of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou. For thousands of years, Tujia people have lived and multiplied in this hot land of Wuling Mountain for generations, creating a colorful and unique national culture. But,

Until the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the rulers of past dynasties never recognized Tujia as a single nation. After the founding of New China, a large-scale ethnic identification work was carried out.

1957 65438+1October 3rd, Tujia people were finally recognized as a single minority.

Detailed introduction:

On September 28th, 1950, Guniangtian from Daba Village, Yongshun County, Xiangxi, came to Beijing as a Miao representative with the National Day delegation of Central and South Minorities. In Beijing, together with representatives of other ethnic groups, she was cordially received and received by Party and state leaders such as President Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. When introducing Tian's representative to Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, the then head of the National Day delegation of Central and South Ethnic Minorities said, "Tian's grandmother is Miao and her grandparents are Tujia, and her Tujia language is different from that of other ethnic groups." . This is probably the first time that the top leaders of the New China Party and the state have heard the words "Tujia language" and "Tujia language". Later, in Beijing, the young girl who attended the National Day ceremony as a representative of Miao nationality in western Hunan said to everyone, "I am not a Miao nationality, but a Bizka (Tujia nationality). The language I speak is different from that of Miao nationality and other nationalities." That is, Tian, a Tujia girl, has a strong sense of national self-confidence and national responsibility. She led leaders at all levels wherever she went, until Premier the State Council insisted that she was a Tujia. She insisted to leaders at all levels that the best and best proof of Tujia nationality is her national language-Tujia language. In order to get the support of leaders at all levels, Tujia people are recognized as a single nation. In order to show himself, Tian also spoke Tujia language and interpreted to Deng Zihui, Zhang Pinghua and other responsible comrades of the Party and army in Central and South China at that time. It also introduces the unique customs and habits of Tujia people. During the National Day ceremonies of 1950 and 10, Tian enthusiastically made various propaganda in Tujia language, and strongly urged the party and government to confirm Tujia as a single nation as soon as possible. Girl Tian's voice has been highly valued by the party and state leaders, and also by the relevant departments of the central government. The Central Ethnic Affairs Commission invited experts and professors of ethnology to have a discussion visit with representatives of all ethnic groups. At the symposium, Tian spoke in Tujia language, which was highly valued by the central authorities. Considering that this is no small matter, Professor Yang Chengzhi, a famous ethnologist, is specially invited to interview her.

Yang Chengzhi therefore wrote a report to his superiors. Later, under the recommendation of the head of the Central South delegation, Tian came to the Institute of Linguistics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and made a live recording of Tujia language under the organization of the famous linguist Professor Luo Changpei. Professor Luo Changpei said on the spot: "Representative Tian, your pronunciation is accurate and clear. Tujia language belongs to the Tibetan-Burmese language family. "

At the end of 1952, the Central South Bureau transferred Professor Yan Xuejiong, a famous linguist from Sun Yat-sen University (later professor of Chinese Department of Central South University for Nationalities), as the captain of the Xiangxi Task Force of the Central South Ethnic Affairs Committee, responsible for the preparation of Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region. Professor Yan Xuejiao later recalled: "There was a lesbian named Tian who worked in the Central South Ethnic Affairs Committee. She is in her twenties and comes from Yongshun County, Xiangxi. In an accidental chat, she told me the language of their hometown.

It is neither Xiangxi Miao language nor local Chinese. It may be an independent minority language. They call themselves' Bizka', which means' local people', and call themselves' Tujia' to the outside world ... I'll ask her to pronounce a few basic words right away. As soon as I heard it, it was neither Chinese nor Miao, and it was close to the Yi branch of the Tibetan-Burmese language family. I searched the records of Fenghuang Hall, Yongshun House and Longshan County in Qing Dynasty, and found out the words recorded as' rustic' in Chinese, which made Tian sound, but most of them matched! "

Tian, known as "Tujia Primula", takes every opportunity to express a nation's voice in Tujia language in order to confirm that Tujia is a single nation as soon as possible. For example 195 1 In the second half of the year, the dramatist Tian Han came to the get-together of Wuhan Central South Bureau, and Tian was appointed by Ma Zhongnan, president of South-Central University for Nationalities, to sing revolutionary songs of the Red Army in Tujia language at the get-together. 1953 In September, when the Hunan Tujia Central Investigation Team headed by a professor was investigating Tujia folk songs in Xiangxi, Tian sang a folk song in Tujia language: "Urraca came to Calabor, but Nie was taken away when he left.". Therefore, it can be said that Comrade Tian is the first person to knock on the door of Tujia single national identity in Tujia language. Later, in the document issued by the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee, Tian objectively described Tian's contribution to the identification of Tujia as a single nation: "From 1950, the question of Tujia composition was raised. 1950 National Day, Tian, a Miao representative who came to Beijing to observe the ceremony, proposed that she was a Tujia, not a Miao, and asked to recognize Tujia as a minority."

Linguist: Tujia is not a Chinese dialect.

Tujia nationality is recognized as a single minority, and linguists have contributed a lot. A group of famous ethnologists and linguists such as Yang Chengzhi, Luo Changpei and Yan Xuejiao scientifically defined Tian's Tujia language and affirmed that Tujia language is an independent language. Luo Changpei identified Tujia language as an independent minority language for the first time, belonging to the Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman language family, which has the same status as other national languages, and is not like some people who speak dialects of other languages, which laid a solid foundation for Tujia people to be identified as a single minority. In order to further identify Tujia language, Zhongnan Bureau specially transferred Mr. Yan Xuejiao, a linguist from Sun Yat-sen University, to investigate Tujia language and provide academic support. Mr. Yan also personally went to Longshan, Yongshun and other places where Tujia language is well preserved, and wrote a detailed survey report on Tujia language, which was presented to the leaders of the Central Committee and the Central South Bureau for reference. After reading Mr. Yan's research report, the leaders of the Central Committee and the Central South Bureau attached great importance to Tujia issues. This investigation report also laid the foundation for the "Preliminary Opinions on Tujia Language in Xiangxi" written by Mr. Wang Jingru later.

During the period of 1953, the Ethnic Affairs Committee of the Central Committee formally organized four Tujia investigation teams from the Central Committee, the Central South Bureau, Hunan Province and Xiangxi Prefecture to conduct investigations in Longshan, Yongshun, Baojing and Guzhang in western Hunan. Among them, the investigation of Tujia language is particularly in-depth and meticulous, because most locals tell the members of the investigation team the specific situation in Tujia language. Tian and local Tujia intellectuals acted as translators for the investigation team. Through on-the-spot investigation, Mr. Wang Jingru wrote "A Preliminary Study of Tujia Language in Xiangxi". In this paper, Mr. Wang clearly pointed out: "Xiangxi Tujia language is a unique language of Tujia people. They call their own language' biz' (it should be' bizsha'-the author's note), which does not belong to Chinese, let alone a dialect of Chinese; It is also not the language of Miao-Yao family (including Miao and Gelao people who are adjacent to Tujia); It is not the language of Dong-Dai language family (including Buyi language far away). Xiangxi Tujia language is a Tibeto-Burman language family in Sino-Tibetan language family, close to Yi language, and even an independent language in Yi language branch. " In this paper, Mr. Wang carefully studied the characteristics and attributes of Tujia language, and compared the grammar of Tujia language with Tibetan-Burmese language family, Miao-Yao language family and Dong-Dai language family. At the same time, he used other national languages to illustrate the vocabulary of Tujia language, demonstrated the relationship between Tujia language and Yi language, and further proved that Tujia language is an independent and ancient national language. Mr. Wang Jingru's orientation of Tujia language provides a reliable scientific basis for Tujia people to identify and confirm as a single minority.

Since Tian Yu 1950 first proposed that Tujia people are a single minority, it has attracted great attention from party and state leaders, experts and scholars. The central government sent a large number of famous linguists and ethnologists, including Yan Xuejiao, Pan Guangdan, Xiang Da, Wang Jingru and Wang Mingxuan, to the Tujia area in western Hunan for on-the-spot investigation. Pan Guangdan's immortal works, Tujia and Cubans in Northwest Hunan, Report on Tujia Visits in Northwest Hunan, Tujia Brothers in Northwest Hunan, Southwest Hubei and Southeast Sichuan (co-written with Xiang Da), Wang Jingru's Preliminary Opinions on Tujia Language in Western Hunan, and Xiangxi in Wang Mingxuan, etc. However, due to historical conditions and various human factors at that time, Tujia people's identification with a single nation experienced twists and turns, and even the central authorities and experts and scholars recognized it. In this case, the Tujia people continue to write to the central leadership and the State Ethnic Affairs Committee to explain why they want to recognize Tujia as a single minority. Tujia people have a stronger desire to confirm that Tujia is a pseudo-single nation. In addition to ordinary Tujia farmers, cadres and students, a large number of Tujia intellectuals, such as Peng Wuyi, Peng Bo, Peng Xiushu, have also written reports and sent materials to the Central Committee, urging the Central Committee to solve the ethnic composition of Tujia as soon as possible. Among them, the first draft of the outline of the ancient history of Tujia nationality in western Hunan and the preliminary study of the syntax of Tujia language in western Hunan written by Mr. Peng Wuyi are the most famous. In particular, the article "A Preliminary Study on the Syntax of Tujia Language in Xiangxi" introduces the syntactic structure of Tujia language in detail. It provides first-hand information for experts and scholars in Beijing to further investigate and study Tujia language. 1953, when the Hunan Tujia Central Investigation Team conducted a field investigation in Yongshun, Mr. Peng (now a professor of linguistics at Jishou University, aged 95) recorded the Tujia language and Tujia folk songs pronounced by Tujia students in Yongshun No.1 Middle School with international phonetic symbols, which provided valuable information for the professor to write an article on Tujia language in Xiangxi.

Until 1956, Tujia people confirmed that the single ethnic problem had not been solved. To this end, the central government once again instructed the Hunan Provincial Party Committee to form an investigation team to investigate the Tujia problem in western Hunan. 1In May and June, 1956, the Central Committee sent Xie Heshou, then deputy director of the Central Ethnic Affairs Commission, to Hunan, and Hunan Province appointed Xie Hua, director of the United Front Work Department of the Provincial Party Committee, to form a joint investigation team of the central, provincial and state governments to investigate Tujia issues in Longshan, Yongshun and other counties in western Hunan again. In the investigation report on Tujia nationality formed in July, the first part is "Tujia nationality's self-identity, language and its use", and it is clearly written: "Tujia nationality has its own dialect. According to the Tujia language of Yongshun and Longshan, we recorded 1 0,500 words and nearly 1 0,000 sentences, and compared them with Chinese and Yi languages. 1In August, 956, the Central Tujia Investigation Team once again investigated the Tujia language in Duishan Township, No.2 District of Yongshun County, Yanchong Township, No.5 District of Longshan County, and Gu Duo Township, No.6 District, and formed the Survey Report on Tujia Language in Xiangxi. The investigation report pointed out at the beginning: "We think Tujia language is an independent language of Sino-Tibetan language family, Tibetan-Burmese language family and Yi language family. "The grammatical structure of Tujia language and verbs, adjectives and interrogative words in Tujia language are analyzed and discussed in detail from four parts: basic grammatical structure of Tujia language, vocabulary comparison table of Tujia language and Yi language, loanwords and language usage, grammar and word formation comparison of Tujia language and Yi language. Finally, it objectively describes the usage of Tujia language and the people who speak Tujia language: "Yongshun District 2 will speak Tujia language to Tujia people over 20 years old in Shanxiang. Of course, older people know more, and teenagers can understand Tujia dialect. In Longshan Tujia area, Tujia people, regardless of sex, age, can speak Tujia dialect, which is also an indispensable communication tool for them every day. Children under the age of 10 and the elderly can only speak Tujia dialect but not Chinese. Only some young people (mainly cadres or people who often go out) can speak Tujia dialect and Chinese. "These massive investigation reports and scientific conclusions about Tujia language in Xiangxi finally silenced this minority who always thought Tujia language was a dialect of Hunan and Guangdong, but only a few young students wanted to be taken care of, so they demanded that Tujia language be recognized as a minority, which also made Tujia language the key and most convincing evidence that Tujia people were recognized as a single minority.

Zhou: Tujia people are a minority.

It should be said that after the strong demands of Tujia people and the efforts of experts and scholars, especially the investigation of Tujia language, in addition to some written materials, many voices have been recorded, which is more auditory. Three evidences confirming that Tujia people are a single nation have been clearly highlighted. These three evidences are as follows: 1. "Tujia" calls itself "Bizka" and has been living in the border area of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou. At that time, there were 194000 Tujia people in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture. Mainly distributed in Longshan, Yongshun, Baojing, Guzhang and other counties. Secondly, Tujia language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family of Sino-Tibetan language family, which is close to Yi language branch. Its grammatical structure has its own independent characteristics, which is different from Chinese and Miao language. Thirdly, the customs and habits of Tujia people are different from those of local Han and Miao people, such as swing dance, horse body and Maogusi. The second of these three evidences is Tujia language. In fact, the first one is also related to Tujia, because Tujia calls itself "Bizka". These three evidences are that Tujia people are recognized as a single minority. Although the evidence that Tujia people are identified as a single nation is very sufficient. The Central Committee also greeted Hunan Province and prepared to recognize Tujia as a single nation. However, there is some noise.

. Some intellectuals also wrote articles clearly pointing out that Tujia people cannot be a single nation. Therefore, Tujia people are recognized as a single nation, which has experienced a tortuous course for nearly five years. 1956 10, when the investigation team reported the investigation materials to the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, Comrade Zhou, then the first secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, immediately made a decisive decision after listening to the recording in Tujia language and said, "Don't talk about other situations. In this language, Tujia is a minority. Report to the central government! " Zhou's forceful words swept away all kinds of obstacles, and finally there was a new dawn of recognizing Tujia as a single nation.