The Dai people call themselves "Dai", which means "free" or "people". According to the distribution area, there are "Dai Na", "Dai Ya", "Dai Lien" and so on. They are mainly distributed in Dehong, Xishuangbanna, Gengma, Menglian, Xinping, Yuanjiang, Jinping and other more than 30 states, cities and counties in Yunnan. The population is 1,025,130,000 (1990). The Dai language belongs to the Zhuang-Dai branch of the Zhuang-Dong language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. There are mainly three dialects: Dehong, Xishuangbanna and Jinping. The Dai language is a phonetic script derived from the Sanskrit alphabet, which was improved in the 1950s and is now used in Xishuangbanna and Dehong.
Religion and Culture
After the 10th century, Buddhism was gradually introduced into the country, and by the 15th and 6th centuries, it was widely practiced. At the same time, however, the primitive religion of belief in the existence of spirits and the worship of many gods was still retained.
The Dai people have a long history and splendid culture. In terms of literature, there are thousands of Dai literature (including the "Bayeijing" and the famous Dai calendar; the long narrative poem "Shao Shu Tun and Barrel Nona"; "E and Sang Luo", etc.). In terms of art, there are the touching singing of the excellent folk singer "Zanha", the beautiful peacock dance, the melodious elephant foot drums and gongs, and the joyful Water Splashing Festival. The main traditional national festivals include the Open Door Festival, the Close Door Festival and the Water Festival.
Customs and Society
Mounting braces, dyeing teeth and tattooing are the customs of the Dai. Especially young men and women like to make sets with gold and silver pieces and put them on their teeth. Girls from the teenage years began to dye teeth, with pot ash or Chinese herbs bar teeth black, that the blacker the teeth the more beautiful. Tattoos are mainly for young men. Tattoos include geometric designs, birds and animals, flowers, and written symbols. Men are looked down upon by girls if they do not have tattoos.
Men with no bad honest lapel or large lapel small-sleeved short shirt, under the long tube pants, cold weather cloak felt, more white cloth or green cloth head. Women wear white or scarlet undergarments, with small waists and wide hemlines, and tunic skirts of various colors.
They live in "dry bar" type bamboo buildings, the upper and lower two floors, the upper floor of the people, the lower floor without walls, used to raise livestock and stacking of goods. They are monogamous and characterized by endogamy.
The Dai ethnic group mainly grows rice, has a complete farming system, and has fine farming techniques. "Pu'er Tea" is famous both at home and abroad, and the tea industry is equipped with advanced equipment. In recent years, the Dai have also successfully developed subtropical cash crops such as rubber. Diet to rice-based, Dehong region also eat round-grained rice, Xishuangbanna and other areas love to eat glutinous rice, like to drink and eat spicy and sour.
After the founding of New China, through social reform, abolished the feudal lord land ownership system. The establishment of an autonomous state and Jingpo and Wa, Lahu, Hani, Yi and other ethnic groups have established a joint autonomous state and four autonomous counties.