Guiyue Customs
01 · Historical Records
The history of the Dong Kuan convention can be traced through the place names of the region bordering Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi during the Tang and Song dynasties: at that time this area already bore names such as "Jiuxi Shidong" (nine streams and ten dong), "Jiuxi Shiba Dong" (nine streams and eighteen dong), "Wuxi Dongkuan" (five-streams cave-alliance) and "Jiuxi Dongkuan" (nine-streams cave-alliance). Dong was a territorial unit and kuan meant forming an alliance; the two joined together were the embryo of the later Kuan convention. Today the Liping, Rongjiang and Congjiang area of Guizhou Province still carries, side by side, traditional organizational names such as "Liudong" (Six Caves), "Badong" (Eight Caves), "Jiudong" (Nine Caves), "Shidong" (Ten Caves), "Sishiba Zhai" (Forty-eight Stockades) and "Qishier Zhai" (Seventy-two Stockades), showing that this set of names, though dynasties have changed, has not been wholly abandoned. At some gatherings a stone had to be buried as a token, so the Kuan meeting was also called "buried rock" (mayan); the larger the scale, the closer it came to a general council of the whole ethnic group, while smaller ones disposed only of a single stockade or a single matter.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Dong Kuan convention is a gathering-and-alliance fellowship activity held before spring or after autumn among neighboring stockades in the specific Dong areas bordering Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi; among the people it is called the "Kuan meeting". In some areas the gathering includes the custom of burying a stone, so the Kuan meeting is also called "buried rock" (mayan). The Dong Kuan convention has a long history: as early as the Tang and Song dynasties, names such as "Jiuxi Shidong" (nine streams and ten dong), "Jiuxi Shiba Dong" (nine streams and eighteen dong), "Wuxi Dongkuan" (five-streams cave-alliance) and "Jiuxi Dongkuan" (nine-streams cave-alliance) already appeared in the Hunan-Guizhou-Guangxi border region where the Dong people had long lived. To this day, counties such as Liping, Rongjiang and Congjiang in Guizhou Province not only retain traditional Kuan-meeting organizations such as "Liudong" (Six Caves), "Badong" (Eight Caves), "Jiudong" (Nine Caves), "Shidong" (Ten Caves), "Sishiba Zhai" (Forty-eight Stockades) and "Qishier Zhai" (Seventy-two Stockades), but also hold alliance discussions in diverse forms. Kuan meetings vary in scale: if a matter concerns only one stockade, it is handled by that stockade's own Kuan meeting; if the problem is regional, a small Kuan meeting is held to resolve it; if the problem concerns the whole ethnic group, a grand Kuan meeting must be convened. The "Shidong Kuan meeting" (Ten Caves alliance) of Liping belongs to the small-alliance level and is jointly formed by thirteen stockades: Zhuping, Yandong, Xindong, Pengyan, Shudong, Tongguan, Zhaigong, Pinglin, Midong, Jitan, Sizhai, Kengdong and Shandong. Each autumn one stockade takes its turn as host of the fellowship activities, and each stockade's event has its own theme. The activities are organized by the village elders, who, after fixing the date, send invitations to all the allied stockades. When the time comes, village elders from each stockade in the region lead their male and female song teams, opera troupes and wrestling teams to take part; outside guests also arrive as invited, and the host stockade welcomes them at the village gate. The meeting lasts one to three days (three to five days in the past); the host stockade slaughters pigs and cattle to entertain all sides, and the scene is very lively. The activities are rich in content, mainly including sacrifices to "Sasui", the deliberation and proclamation of Kuan conventions, reforms of customs, Grand Song competitions, performances of Dong opera, bullfights and wrestling matches. Among these, the deliberation and proclamation of village regulations and popular covenants is the core of the gathering; the Kuan convention touches on all aspects of social, political, economic, historical, cultural and educational life.
Elders fix the date and send word
The village elders set the date and send out invitations; the whole assembly depends on who hosts and which article is being settled.
Welcoming at the gate and the beast feast
The delegations are met at the village gate and hosted with a beast feast, whose cost is as much a measure of a village's strength as a rite.
The offering to Sui and the promulgation
The assembly first offers to Sui and then reads out the agreed articles; the sacrifice asks for witness, the reading makes the terms public.
Great song, opera, bullfight and wrestling
After the promulgation come song contests, opera, bullfighting and wrestling, making the assembly both a council and a gathering of the arts.
Village, small and great assemblies
Assemblies are graded by scale: village for internal matters, small assemblies for regional issues, great assemblies for the whole people.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Liping's Shidong Kuan meeting belongs to the small-alliance level, with thirteen stockades—Zhuping, Yandong, Xindong, Pengyan, Shudong, Tongguan, Zhaigong, Pinglin, Midong, Jitan, Sizhai, Kengdong and Shandong—linked in one ring. The hosting rule rotates yearly: once autumn has set in, one stockade takes its turn as host, the village elders first fix the date and then send invitations to the allied stockades; on the day, the song teams, opera troupes and wrestling teams of each stockade hurry over with their elders, the people of the host stockade welcome them at the village gate and slaughter pigs and cattle to entertain them, and the meeting runs one to three days, whereas in the past it stretched to three or five. Each hosting stockade also has its own theme—deliberating rules, competing in song, or testing strength—the aim in every case being to settle the covenant amid the festivity and proclaim it in public.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Zaiyan Customs · Guiyue Customs · Guiyue Customs · Guiyue Customs · Guiyue Customs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Dong Kuan convention is transmitted through group transmission, through village elders or Kuan leaders, and through ritual specialists, with the village elders of each Dong stockade playing the leading role. The Dong Kuan convention is a crystallization of the wisdom and creativity of the Dong people and an effective means of realizing villager self-governance, democratic management and the transmission of ethnic culture; for a thousand years it has played a positive role in sustaining the stable development of Dong society and in promoting harmonious coexistence between the Dong and their neighboring Han, Miao, Yao, Zhuang, Buyi and Shui peoples.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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