Jinglao Customs
01 · Historical Records
"Buliang" (grain topping-up), also called "adding grain," "cultivating grain," or "heavenly grain," is a life-cycle rite of the Zhuang people performed with rice as the medium. Its origins lie in the longstanding social custom of honoring the elderly in Zhuang society, and also in the Zhuang concept of "nourishing life with grain." It is usually performed in three situations: first, after the age of 49 it is held once every 12 years, with married-out daughters bringing rice and money to offer their congratulations.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Zhuang belief holds that a person's soul is sustained by "soul grain," which ensures the person's health. After the age of 49, the grain that nourishes the soul diminishes, and the body weakens as the soul weakens; grain must be topped up to protect health and ensure longevity, and from this the custom of grain topping-up arose. The Zhuang make rice cultivation their principal means of livelihood, and grain topping-up is a representative rice-farming custom widely current in Zhuang society; it is also found among the Zhuang, Han, Yao, Dong, Maonan, Mulao, Gelao, Jing, and Shui peoples of Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hunan. The culture of honoring the elderly and the culture of longevity, as represented by the grain topping-up custom, flourish most strongly in Bama. The money and grain are carried across a "longevity bridge" built of cloth by the ritual specialist, with the grain transported into the longevity rice jar (or soul rice basket). Second, after the age of 61, on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month each year, married-out daughters bring rice from their husbands' families to top up their parents' "longevity rice jar." Third, in public ceremonies, grain is collectively topped up for the elders of the sacrificial circle; the rites are presided over by ritual specialists of the dao, mo, shi, jiang, jin, xiang, and mo types, who recite scriptures such as "Xie Xing Pan Liang" and "Zou Dou Liang Xing," sing the "Grain-Adding Song," and dance the "Longevity-Blessing Dance" to pray for blessings and extended life for the elders. With respect, reverence, and filial devotion to the elderly as its core content, the Zhuang grain topping-up custom transmits social virtue through practice. It emphasizes the order of human relations, with different roles and statuses playing different parts through different forms of gift-giving in the rites; this is an expression of how Zhuang folk society used custom as ritual and custom as a means of governance. Using rice as the medium, driven by the belief that "grain (rice) is the root of life (the soul)," and presided over by ritual specialists, it unfolds through a series of ritual performances related to rice and rice products — "presenting rice cakes," "transporting soul rice," "feeding rice," and "topping up the longevity rice jar," all carried out with the participation of the younger generation — displaying the rice-farming cultural character of Zhuang custom. The grain topping-up custom remains prevalent in Zhuang society today; people regard it as an important act of filial devotion by children toward their elders, and also as an occasion for relatives and friends to gather. Grain topping-up is a marker of Zhuang rice-farming custom and an embodiment of the Zhuang social principle of venerating the old; it plays an important role in strengthening the order of human relations and in harmonizing relations within the family, among neighbors, and across the community.
Grain offering every twelve years from forty-nine
From the age of forty-nine the rite recurs every twelve years, daughters bringing rice and money, with ritual specialists chanting the full sequence.
Filling the longevity-rice jar
After sixty-one the rite becomes annual, with daughters bringing rice on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month to top up the longevity jar.
The bridge of longevity and the carrying of grain
A cloth bridge of longevity is set up on the ground and the rice carried across into the longevity jar or soul-grain basket.
Chanting texts, singing and the longevity dance
Ritual specialists of several roles recite the two grain texts, sing the song of added grain and dance for the elder's longevity.
Offering ciba cakes and carrying soul rice
The younger generation's tasks follow in sequence: making ciba cakes, carrying soul rice and feeding rice to the elder before the year is deemed complete.
Collective grain offering in public rites
Beyond household rites, groups of elders are topped up in public ceremonies, the long queue of rice passing hand to hand gathering the whole village.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The principal area of distribution of this custom is Bama Yao Autonomous County, located in northwestern Guangxi, where the Zhuang people make up 68.2 percent of the total population. Bama is celebrated as a "world longevity village"; the rice, maize, and hemp seed it produces in abundance, together with its high-quality water sources, are important factors in the longevity of the Bama people.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The transmission of grain topping-up relies not on texts but mainly on the oral instruction and personal example of ritual specialists: the dao, mo, shi, jiang, jin, xiang, and mo each perform their own duties; every line of "Xie Xing Pan Liang" and "Zou Dou Liang Xing" must be sung, and the "Grain-Adding Song" and the "Longevity-Blessing Dance" go together as song and dance — remove any one link and the rite cannot proceed. Bama's fame for longevity lends grain topping-up a meaning found nowhere else: rice, maize, hemp seed, and good water are regarded as the foundation of long life, so topping up a bowl of rice is not merely topping up an elder's meal for that day, but a whole family's hope for the elder's remaining years. The fact that many ethnic groups share the custom makes its boundaries far broader than the Zhuang people themselves; the rite has spread to the villages of neighboring peoples, yet what it rests upon is still the shared experience of making a living from rice farming.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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