The Achang people are good at singing songs and growing rice, and their "Tosha knives" are famous for their durability. Because they like to chew betel hammer, their teeth are black. The Achang regard the green dragon and white elephant as symbols of good luck and happiness. In the traditional festival of Huijie, young men carry long knives and elephant-footed drums, while ladies, dressed in colorful national costumes, enter the square of Huijie with red and green green dragons and white elephants amidst the sound of drums and firecrackers.
The Achang people are one of the seven ethnic minorities in Yunnan with a small population, and their language is Achang, which belongs to the Tibeto-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan language family, with a branch to be determined, and two dialects, Lianghe and Tusa, and other languages or dialects of other ethnic groups such as Chinese and Dai, and they do not have any written language, but use Chinese characters.
The Achang are mainly found in Tusa Achang Township, Longchuan County, Nangsong Achang Township and Jiubao Achang Township, Lianghe County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and the rest of the Achang are found in Luxi, Yingjiang, Tengchong, Longling and Yunlong counties. In addition, there are also some Achang people in neighboring Myanmar.
Extended information:
The Achang people, in the ancient Chinese literature, used to be called "Echang", "Curchang", "Echang" or "Calyxchang" in ancient Chinese literature.
The Achang people also have different names for themselves.
The Achang people in Tosha area call themselves "Mengsa", "Daisa", "Mengsa Shan" and "Lining Sa"; the Achang people in Lianghe area call themselves "Hansa", "Achang" and "Echang".
In 1953, the people's government decided to unify the name "Achang" according to the will of the Achang people.
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