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The Miao minority group in southwestern China fascinates the world with its beautiful silver necklaces, embroidery, and batik art. With a history of over 5,000 years, Miao people boast their splendid culture and numbers of interesting folktales. Among these folk stories, a Smart Daughter-in-Law is one of the most popular one.

An old man had three sons, and two of them had got married. They lived together, and the old man took the responsibility of managing the whole family. Year by year, the old man felt himself too old to be responsible for everything. So he wanted one of his daughters-in-law to manage the family. But to find out who was the smarter of the two, he would have to put them to some tests.

With the Miao new year’s coming, the old man told his two daughters-in-law: ” We will have to find something for our ancestor worship ceremony: two turtles without feet, two fishes without
scale, two pigs’ feet with black bones, and two white radishes with red inside. You go to look for them now. Whoever finds them first will take my place as the head of the family.

As they went out to seek for those things, they talked to each other: ” Where to get these things that don’t exist?” Frustrated, they sat on a stone, starting to cry. A girl who lived nearby heard their cry and asked them what happened. After learning their story, the girl said, ” You have all these things at home, Why did you go out to seek for them?” ” Are you making fun of us?” the two women said, “We don’t have those things at home.” The girl then explained, “The turtles without feet are actually glutinous rice paste. New cloth shoes prepared for the new year are in fact the fishes without scale. White radishes with red inside are eggs. And a piece of burning charcoal is a pig’s foot with a black bone.”

Enlightened by what the girl told them, the two women went home. Then they got all the items at home and showed them to the old man. Surprised, the old man said, “I am glad that you have found all these things. But did you find them by yourself, or did someone else tell you what they are? If you did it yourself, I will continue to give you some more tests. If someone else helped you, you should tell me who this person was.”

The two daughters-in-law didn’t want any more test, so they told him the truth. The old man was obviously very happy to know that a girl could be this smart, so he asked, “How old is this girl? You can go to ask her if she would like to marry my youngest son.” In the girl’s home, the two daughters-in-law told what the old man said to the girl, who then answered, ” I can marry his youngest son, but he must agree to let me manage the family.”

The old man agreed. Soon the girl brought her beautiful pure silver necklaces, and got married to the youngest son. She was in charge of all things in the family. The family prospered under her management.

A local tyrant was jealous of the wealth of the family. He told the old man, ” I learnt your youngest daughter-in-law is very smart, who can conjure all these wealth out of nothing. Now, I want you to give me a pig’s head which is just as big as a mountain. You must show me that in three days, otherwise I will confiscate all the things you have!”

The old man was very scared and asked his youngest daughter-in-law for help. The girl said, “Don’t be afraid of him. You go to ask him how much the mountain weights, so we will give him a pig’s head which weights exactly the same as the mountain.”

The next day the old man went to the tyrant and asked him, “ I have many pig’s heads at home. Please tell me how much your mountain weighs, so I can give you one with the same weight.”

The tyrant was dumbfounded by the question. After a while he said, ” OK, I give up the pig’s head. But now I want some wine which is exactly the same amount as that of the water in the river.” So the old man went home and repeated the question to his youngest daughter-in-law, who then said, “Ask him how many bowls of water there is in the river, so we can give him the same amount of wine.”

And the old man went to see the tyrant and told him what his daughter-in-law said. The tyrant was dumb again. Then he said, ” I give up the wine. But now I want you to show me a rooster that can lay eggs.” After hearing the question from the old man, the girl said, “ You stay at home tomorrow. I will go and meet that bastard.”

The next day the girl went to the tyrant and said, “ Hey! My father-in-law didn’t go to look for the rooster. Can you wait a few days?” The tyrant asked, “ Why didn’t he start looking for it yet?” The girl answered, “ Last night he gave birth to a child. Now he needs to stay at home and get some rest.” The tyrant yelled, ” Full of bullshit! How can a man have a baby?” The girl said, “ You know that a man can’t have a baby, but why you don’t know that a rooster can’t lay eggs?”

Embarrassed at the question, the tyrant stopped asking for things from the old man since then.

Want to read more interesting Miao stories and see beautiful silver necklaces, click here to enjoy!

melkay Current Events Asia, Chinese Culture, daughter-in-law, Miao, Miao culture, silver bracelets, silver earrings, silver jewels, silver necklaces, silver rings

Who are the Miao?

The Miao people are an ethnic group inhabiting mainly in China and southeast Asia. Over the past several thousand years, they have migrated numerous times throughout China, and these journeys are reflected in their unique handmade embroidery, silver jewelry, and batik artwork. Reasons for this movement varied a lot, but wars were the main cause.

The first big migration

Over 5,000 years ago, the Miao resided in the Yellow River and Yangtze River areas of central China. Chi You, a brave soldier, was their headman. Legend has it that he had a pair of horns projecting from his copper head, and his forehead was as strong as iron. The first law in China is the criminal law Chi You created in his tribe.

Chi You led the Miao to victory over many tribes. They were so clever that they could make various kinds of weapons, like swords, arrows, and spears.

However in a severe war against another big tribe, Chi you and his people were crushed. After he was killed, his body and head were buried in two places far apart. Like Miao stories say, the first maple tree was from his blood.

Chi You was dead, however his soul and story even touched the heart of his opponents, who drew his picture on their flags to inspire their soldiers.Afterward, he was respected as the god of war by the Chinese emperors.

Today the Miao commemorate Chi You by wearing a silver headdress decorated with silver horns. And a maple tree is thought to be a special totem in the Miao areas.

After Chi You died, some Miao groups were seized and merged into the Chinese Han nationality. However the majority of Miao had to abandon their home and migrated to the south of China.

Continued movement

Throughout most of Chinese history, the Han nationality has been the most powerful and has generally dominated the whole country. As minority group, the Miao were always persecuted and suppressed by the Han emperors and local officials. Due to wars and persecution, the Miao had to persistently move throughout China.

The Miao people started to reside in the mountainous areas of southern and southwestern China as early as 2,000 years ago. 

Then just over 700 years ago, some Miao people moved to the countries of southeast Asia, like Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. With the end of the Vietnam War in the 1970's, some homeless Miao people escaped to America and Europe. Today about 280,000 Miao people live in western countries.

Today

Despite widespread migration, the Miao have kept their unique culture and tradition alive to this day.

They don't have historical texts, so they have invented a special way to remember the past----embroidery. Once you check their embroidery carefully, you will know that each embroidered piece has a meaning relating to their culture, history, and religion.

C. Liu has been studying interesting Miao culture for a few years. She sometimes supports the work of some Miao silversmiths. Go to her website to learn more about Miao culture and see fine Miao silver jewelry here.

melkay Current Events Chinese Culture, chinese history, Miao culture, Miao migration history, Miao silver jewelry, Miao silver ornaments, pendants, silver charm bracelet, silver earrings, silver rings

As in the Western region, food is a very important part of all of our celebrations. This is no different for the Chinese New Year celebration. Chinese New Year food is a huge part of the entire celebration and everyone notices the degree of cooking when this fabulous holiday rolls around. While Chinese New Years has been adopted and celebrated around the world, many people do not know that this fabulous holiday has actually been dubbed the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year.

The neat thing about the Chinese New Year is that food, banquets of food is served for fifteen days straight until the new lunar moon, for that is when the Chinese New Year happens. Food is a huge part of this tradition. In the states, caterers are brought in and serve many, many people at all sorts of celebrations, but back in China, many of the families cook all of their own foods and cook for many, many people.

One traditional food which may surprise you is chicken – but not just any chicken. Generally whole chickens are served. This is because an entire chicken symbolizes togetherness within the family. Serving one means that the family will be together and happy for the coming year.

Another food item that is served during the Chinese New Year is noodles. Now, noodles are popular in Chinese culture in general, but there is a story behind the noodle. Noodles in Chinese culture can sometimes symbolize a long life line, so serving noodles at Chinese New Year is definitely a great idea. Whether you are serving noodle soup, a noodle side or anything else that has noodles in it, serving noodles for this fabulous holiday is a very traditional and great way to bring in the new year.

There are some other foods that are served at Chinese New Year. For instance, forebears, a citrus fruit is served usually because the name means luck and wealth. There are so many different food types that are served during this amazing time of year that can be based on just the name or pronunciation of the food.

Fish is definitely one of the Chinese New Year foods that every single celebration has, one reason is the word ‘yu’ that usually symbolizes wish or abundance. It has been said that many people serve fish at their New Year celebrations because if the head and tail of the fish are still attached, the year will begin and end on a good note.

melkay Current Events Banquets, Chickens, Chinese Culture, Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year Celebration, chinese new year food, Chinese New Years, Chinese Noodles, Citrus Fruit, Fabulous Holiday, Fifteen Days, Food Types, Forebears, Lunar New Year, New Year, New Year Celebration, Spring Festival, Time Of Year, Togetherness, Traditional Food