De'ang people: Ancient tea growers

Editor’s Notes: Twenty-six ethnic groups live in Yunnan. These groups and their colorful traditions add to the variety and richness of Yunnan’s culturescape. From this isse on, we will introduce you Yunnan’s ethnic groups. Today we’ll focus on the De’ang people.

The De’ang people mainly live in west Yunnan’s Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Lincang City. They love drinking tea and have a tea growing history of 1,000 years, and thus reputed as “ancient tea farmers”. Tea has a unique function in their social life. The basic gift for visiting a house is a bag of tea. An invitation letter is often sent with a small bag of tea decorated with a red thread. A letter of apology is also sent with a bag of tea.
Most De’ang people believe in Hinayana Buddhism, so Buddhist temples could be found in most villages. De’ang men usually wear black coats and loose trousers, while women like to have their hair shaved, and then wrap heads with black cloth. They wear big earrings, thick silvery necklaces, blue or black overcoats, and rattan waistbands.

Deang people: Ancient tea growers

Editors Notes: Twenty-six ethnic groups live in Yunnan. These groups and their colorful traditions add to the variety and richness of Yunnans culturescape. From this isse on, we will introduce you Yunnans ethnic groups. Today well focus on the Deang people. The Deang people mainly live in west Yunnans Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Lincang City. They love drinking tea and have a tea growing history of 1,000 years, and thus reputed as ancient tea farmers. Tea has a unique function in their social life. The basic gift for visiting a house is a bag of tea. An invitation letter is often sent with a small bag of tea decorated with a red thread. A letter of apology is also sent with a bag of tea. Most Deang people believe in Hinayana Buddhism, so Buddhist temples could be found in most villages. Deang men usually wear black coats and loose trousers, while women like to have their hair shaved, and then wrap heads with black cloth. They wear big earrings, thick silvery necklaces, blue or black overcoats, and rattan waistbands.