The Gelao people (also spelled Gelo) (Gelao: Klau, Chinese: 仡佬族; pinyin: Gēlǎozú) are an ethnic group of China and Vietnam. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People’s Republic of China. However, many Gelao are also variously classified as Yi, Miao, and Zhuang by the Chinese government. They number approximately 438,200 and are mainly located in Gelao autonomous counties in western part of Guizhou, such as Wuchuan Gelao and Miao Autonomous County and Daozhen Gelao and Miao Autonomous County in Zunyi. They are also found in Liupanshui, Anshun, Dafang, and Bijie. Some live in western Guangxi (Longlin Various Nationalities Autonomous County), southeastern Yunnan and southern Sichuan. The main religion practiced is Taoism with a small but significant Buddhist minority.
The Gelao are a mountain agricultural people scattered across twenty counties in western Guizhou Province, with heavy concentrations around Zunyi and Anshun. A smaller number are in Zhuang areas in Yunnan and Guangxi. Between the 1982 and 1990 census their registered population jumped from around 54,000 to 438,000, suggesting that many families challenged the state’s classification and eventually reclaimed Gelao ethnic identity. The basis for transfer is unclear since the literature about them is sparse. Gelao, an unclassified Sino-Tibetan language, is spoken only by a minority. Most speak Han and/or neighboring languages, particularly Yi, Miao, and Bouyei. Until the 1950s, Gelao wore a distinctive costume that included long scarves for both sexes and black-and-white striped linen skirts for women. Now they wear Han clothing, though women’s ceremonial dress in the Zunyi area seems to be borrowed from Yizu. The term “Gelao” was used by the Chinese during Ming settlement of the area. They refer to themselves as “bendiren” (Chinese), meaning “natives,” or as “shagai” (Gelao), meaning “resettlers.” The Chinese version of their history is that they are the descendants of people of the ancient Liao “tribes” and the Yelang Kingdom of the southwest, which were conquered by the Han dynasty some 2,000 years ago. Ming and Qing reports place them in their present areas.
The Gelao people live in Guizhou, Yunnan Province and Guangxi Autonomous Region. They are an old ethnic minority with a recorded history of 2,100 years. According to the census of 2000, the population of Gelao is 579,357. Gelao have their own language which is a member of the Zhuang-Dong Group of the Sino-Tibetan phylum, but the four dialects are quite different from each other. Some can not communicate with each other, although they live in the same county. Only one fourth Gelao people actually speak the Gelao language, while the other use Chinese and that of the Miao, Yi and Buyi ethnic minorities. They write in Chinese as they don’t have their own written form of characters. Gelao people believe in the blessing of many gods as well as their ancestors. Gelao ethnic minority celebrate traditional festivals which are almost the same as those of Han people, such as the Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Day and so on. Glutinous rice food is a must that people prepare for the festivals.
The Gelao ethnic group has a population of about 579,357(in 2000), which is distributed among some 20 cities and counties such as Zunyi, Anshun, Liupanshui, Qianjin and Zhijin in northern and western Guizhou Province. Some live also in Guangxi, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. The Gelao people refer to themselves as ‘Ling’ or ‘Jin’. Their ancestors can be traced back to the Liao people who lived in Guizhou Province about 2,000 years ago. They were called ‘Geliao’ or ‘Liao’ people before the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) and from the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), they were called ‘Gelao’. With the founding of the PRC, following the consultation with the ethnic group it was decided to agree upon the official name of Gelao ethnic group. Their language, consisting of four dialects, belongs to the Zhuang-Dong group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Now, only a quarter of the Gelaos still speak this language. The four dialects differ so greatly from each other that even Gelaos in the same county have difficulty in communicating with each other. For this reason, the language of the Hans, or Chinese, has become their common language. Also, the languages of the Miao, Yi and Bouyei are also used by the Gelao. They use Chinese characters as their written language.
The Gelao, despite their considerable size, are one of the least known of China’s official ethnic minorities. Gelao means “human beings” as well as “bamboo.” Today, most Gelao are culturally indistinguishable from the Chinese. Even back in 1911 one observer wrote, “The Gelao are now nearly extinct; many of them have married into Bouyei and [Chuanlan and Chuanqing] families.” The Gelao are thought to be descended from the ancient Liao race who established the Yelang Kingdom in Guizhou about 2,000 years ago. A folk tale tells how the king of Yelang was born from bamboo, so the whole group came to be called Bamboo. The Gelao are considered the original inhabitants of each region where they live. “Where the Miao and Gelao occupy the same district, the Miao allow that the Gelao were there before themselves.” The Gelao primarily grow maize, wheat, potatoes, sorghum, millet, tobacco, and tea. “In the past, the Gelao practiced initiation rites for their young men, including toothbreaking and hair-cutting rituals. The Gelao were once head-hunters and cannibals.” Among the Yaya (Tooth) Gelao, the custom of breaking the front tooth of a bride was observed until recently.
Gelao means “human beings” as well as “bamboo.” The Gelao are thought to be descended from the ancient Liao race who established the Yelang Kingdom in Guizhou Province about 2,000 years ago. A folk tale tells how the king of Yelang was born from bamboo, so the whole group came to be called “bamboo.” In the past, the Gelao practiced initiation rites for their young men, including tooth-breaking and hair-cutting rituals. The Gelao peoples were once head-hunters and cannibals. The Green Gelao people live in China’s Guizhou Province and in northern Vietnam. The Green Gelao people are primarily ancestor worshipers who also practice traditional religion. They worship the spirit of the rice paddies, the spirit of burn over land, and the spirits that protect their livestock. At special festivals they make offerings to these spirits for protection. The Gelao are primarily ancestor worshipers. “They also worship the gods of giant trees, of mountains, of sky and earth, cows, etc. They have no idols, temples or monasteries, and no systematic religious creeds or organization. But they have a number of… superstitions and taboos, which affect every aspect of their lives.”
The Gelao ethnic group is distributed among some 20 cities and counties such as Zunyi, Anshun, Liupanshui, Qianjin and Zhijin in northern and western Guizhou Province. Some live also in Guangxi, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. The Gelao are mountain subsistence farmers and hunters. A Gelao language exists but few use it, instead communicating in Chinese Miao, Yi, and Buyi. Their traditional costume is very unique. Most men wear a long gown buttoned down the front and cover their head with a black turban. The turban is decorated with tassels, which are hung from the top and back, as well as small ornaments such as sea-shells. Women wear long-sleeved, collarless short jackets, the back and sleeves of which are embroidered with fish-scale, rhombus, or triangular patterns. A vest, longer at the back than the front, is also worn. Beneath this is worn a long pleated sheath-skirt made of batik. The wax-printing techniques have been handed down from generation to generation. The edge of the skirt and cuffs are dyed and embroidered to match. The Gelao people refer to themselves as Ling or Jin. Their ancestors can be traced back to the Liao people who lived in Guizhou Province about 2000 years ago. They were called “Geliao” or “Liao” people before the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) and from the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), they were called “Gelao”. With the founding of the PRC, following the consultation with the ethnic group it was decided to agree upon the official name of Gelao ethnic group. The Gelao language, consisting of four dialects, belongs to the Zhuang-Dong group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Now, only a quarter of the Gelaos still speak this language. The four dialects differ so greatly from each other that even Gelaos in the same county have difficulty in communicating with each other. For this reason, the language of the Hans, or Chinese, has become their common language. Also, the languages of the Miao, Yi and Bouyei are also used by the Gelao. The Gelaos have no minbet of their own, so they use Chinese characters for their script.
Gelao (autonym: Kláo, Chinese: 仡佬 Gēlǎo, Vietnamese: Cờ Lao) is a Kra language in the Kra–Dai language family. It is spoken by the Gelao people in southern China and northern Vietnam. Despite an ethnic population of 580,000 (2000 census of China), only a few thousand still speak Gelao in China. Estimates run from 3,000 in China by Li in 1999, of which 500 are monolinguals, to 7,900 by Edmondson in 2008. Edmondson (2002) estimates that the three Gelao varieties of Vietnam have only about 350 speakers altogether. Zhang Jimin estimated a total of over 10,000 Gelao speakers in the early 1990s, while Li Jinfang places this number at 3,000 in 1999.[4] Jerold A. Edmondson’s 2008 estimate is 7,900 speakers.[5] This number is rapidly declining, as the Gelao are intermarrying with the neighboring Han, Bouyei, and Miao. Many Gelao speakers can also speak Bouyei, Zhuang, or Miao, and nearly all can speak local varieties of Chinese. Among Gelao-speaking families, most middle-age Gelao have very limited speaking abilities for Gelao, while much of the younger generation cannot even understand the most simple words and phrases.
The Gelao nationality, whose origin is related to the ancient Liao people, belongs to the Sino Tibetan language family. There is no Chinese language of its own nationality, and it is commonly used in Chinese. Gelao language worships the ancestors, the king of bamboo, the ancestor of manway, and the mountain god. The Gelao people are concentrated in Wuchuan and Daozhen, two Gelao Miao Autonomous Counties, and Shiqian County in the north of Guizhou Province. The rest are scattered in more than 20 counties and cities, such as Anshun, Pingba, Pudding, Guanling, Qingzhen, Zheng’an, Fenggang, Songtao, Qianxi, Liuzzi, Zhijin, Dafang, etc. The Gelao people started their business and lived in the mountains. Their clothing, food, housing, and transportation were closely related to the mountains and forests, resulting in the idea that all things have spirit. Some people worship the ancient trees and boulders. On the 14th of the first month and the third day of March, they offer wine, meat, and Ciba to pray for the health of their descendants. Every time there is drought, flood, disease, and insect disaster, they will raise money and ask Taoists to set up altars to pray for the safety of the gods.
The government of China defined 56 official ethnicities for the ethnic groups in China for political purposes; however, there are many more than 56 ethnic groups. Therefore, similar groups must be pooled for registry, and the so-called ethnicity identification is an important official mission in China. Here, we showed how genetics can help in the ethnicity identification for the Gelong people on Hainan Island. The Gelong speak a Kadai language whose other speakers (officially of the Gelao ethnicity) are all far in the southwest of China. Being registered as a Han ethnicity, the Gelong lost all the benefits assigned to the minorities. Y-chromosome typing was performed in a sample of 78 individuals. Twenty single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and seven short tandem repeats (STRs) were typed and eight haplogroups were detected, among which haplogroup O1a* was the most dominant. Compared with the Y haplogroups of the populations in south China, the Gelong were found to be closest to the Gelao and the Hlai using principal components (PCs) analysis, dendrogram clustering and STR networks. The genetic similarity between the Gelong and the Hlai may have resulted from the gene flow during thousands of years of neighboring history on Hainan Island, whereas the similarity between the Gelong and the Gelao may have resulted from their common ancestry because there is less possibility of gene flow over such a far distance. As both linguistic and genetic evidence support the similarity between the Gelong and the Gelao, we suggest that the Gelong register as Gelao for their official ethnicity. However, this identification is invalid until it is accepted by the Gelong people themselves and the Hainan government.
The Gelao People Live In Guiyang, Yunnan Province And Guangxi Autonomous Region. They Are An Old Ethnic Minority With A Recorded History Of 2,100 Years. According To The Census Of 2000, The Population Of Gelao Is 579,357. Gelao Have Their Own Language Which Is A Member Of The Zhuang-Dong Group Of The Sino-Tibetan Phylum, But The Four Dialects Are Quite Different From Each Other. Some Can Not Communicate With Each Other, Although They Live In The Same County. Only One Fourth Gelao People Actually Speak The Gelao Language, While The Other Use Chinese And That Of The Miao, Yi And Buyi Ethnic Minorities. They Write In Chinese As They Don’t Have Their Own Written Form Of Characters. Gelao Ethnic Minority Celebrate Traditional Festivals Which Are Almost The Same As Those Of Han People, Such As The Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid Autumn Festival, And So On. Glutinous Rice Food Is A Must That People Prepare For The Festivals. Spring Festival Is Their Greatest Festival. People Cook A Large Cake To Worship Their Ancestors And Keep It Untouched For Three Days For This Festival. There Are Also Some Taboos During The Festivals. People Are Not Allowed To Sweep Floors, Carry Water, Use Unripe Food, Pour Water Before The Door, Or Labor In The Fields.
Gelao people, an ancient ethnic group, live in the humid mountains of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Many historical documents since the Ming Dynasty record that “Gelao, called Liao in ancient times.” In the last one or two hundred years, some Gelao people still maintain certain customs of the ancient Liao people, such as women wearing barrel skirts and notching teeth, and bury the dead with coffins made of stone slabs. The ancient Liao people were one of the main ethnic groups of the Yelang Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty (202BC-220AD), and the cloth they wove was of high quality that it became a tribute to the royal court. The thousand-year-old Longtan Village in Gelao Cultural Tourism Attraction is remote and simple. It consists of the front, middle and back villages, with a total of 837 people and 215 households. In the village, the road is paved by stones, and the stone alleys are connected. Roads, buildings and walls are connected to each other, forming a defense system, which still remains. Most of the dwellings in the village are of traditional wooden construction, dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China. The main architectural features are the three-section compounds, stone walls, large and small courtyard doors, hollow carvings, and tile roof ridges, fully reflecting the wisdom of life and the aspirations of better life lying in the traditional agricultural culture of the Gelao people.
The Gelao people are a unique minority in Southwest China with a unique culture for the utilization of edible plants, including a large number of medicinal plants. They believe that at least 61 species are edible and have medicinal value. Ethnobotany research can reveal the local knowledge of the Gelao people regarding the traditional use of plants and the relationship between this minority and their living environment to help retain and pass on this traditional knowledge forever. Methods Edible wild plants and their applied ethnic knowledge were investigated in three counties in northern Guizhou. Gelao residents were the main informants, and literature search, village interviews, participatory observation and quantitative ethnobotany evaluation were used. Results A total of 151 species of wild plants in 67 families are collected and eaten by Gelao residents, among which 61 species were considered to have medicinal value, accounting for 40.4% of the total, and 43 were listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. There were 57 plant species with fruits as their edible parts, which are consumed as snacks, followed by 54 species whose young seedlings and leaves are the edible parts, most of which are consumed cold or stir-fried. Other edible parts included roots or rhizomes (bulbs), flowers, whole plants, seeds, fruiting bodies and stems. There were two consumption modes: raw and cooked. Raw foods were mainly consumed as snacks, which mainly comprise fruits. Cooked foods were mainly vegetables consumed cold or stir-fried. Some plants were used as seasonings, infused wines, condiments and grains. The main medicinal functions were nourishing and reducing heatiness. Nourishing plants were mainly “shen” plants and Liliaceae, while plants able to reduce heatiness were mainly Asteraceae. Others functions included anti-hangover, anticancer and insecticidal. There were 38 species of important edible wild plants (CFSI > 500) in northern Guizhou, which had a high utilization rate. Houttuynia cordata Thunb. and Mentha suaveolens Ehrh. were the most representative edible wild plants in this area. The species, edible parts, edible categories, consumption modes and medicinal functions of edible wild plants in this area are diverse, and the traditional knowledge on their uses is rich. However, the number of wild plant species eaten by the informants and their related knowledge were positively correlated with age, which indicates that the rich traditional knowledge in this area is gradually disappearing with urbanization. Conclusions The Gelao have a rich history of consuming wild plants. With the development of the social economy, the traditional knowledge passed from older generations is gradually being lost and its inheritance is facing great risks. This study collects, sorts and spreads this precious traditional knowledge, which is of great value to its protection and inheritance and fully demonstrates the value and importance of our work.
The Gelao people, the “Liaoren” in ancient China, live in Wuchuan and Daozhen Gelao and Miao Autonomous Counties in Guizhou Province, and are scattered in more than 20 counties such as Zhijin, Qianxi, Liuzhi and Guanling in western Guizhou Province, and a few are distributed in Guangxi Zhuang. Guangnan, Wenshan, Funing, Maguan and other counties in the autonomous region and Yunnan Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. In the fifth national census in 2000, the Gelao population was 579,400. The Gelao people believe in polytheism and worship their ancestors. Festivals, etiquette and food customs, and traditional festivals are generally the same as those of the Han people. The Gelao people are an ancient ethnic group in Guizhou. It has a close relationship with the ancient “Pu” and “Xiangliao” people. During the Shang, Zhou, and Western Han dynasties, the title of “Baipu” or “Pu” began to exist, and during the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was called “Pu”, “Liao” or “Yi Liao”. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they were called “Gelao”, “Geliao”, “Geliao”, etc. After liberation, they were collectively referred to as the Gelao people.
Guo Xiuming, 65, is racing against time to preserve her mother tongue, Gelo, which is spoken by only several hundred out of 430,000 Gelo ethnic people in southern China. Moreover, Guo, a resident in Longlin Country in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is only one of the several dozens of people that can speak Duoluo, a dialect of the Gelo, in just several villages in the region and some places in southwest China’s Guizhou Province. The cultural heritage covers almost everything from astronomy, geography, custom, habits and folktale, which has a history of about 2,000 years. The Gelo language is one of the 3,000 languages which have been listed by the United Nations as endangered languages and they are likely to disappear this century if necessary measures are not taken timely. Those languages, about half of the 6,000 languages currently spoken by human beings, are dying at a speed twice as much as that of mammals, and four times that of birds, according to an estimation made by United Nations.
Ox King Festival is annually observed by Gelao ethnic group in Guizhou, Southwest China. It is the special festival of the Gelao people, and falls on October 1 of the lunar calendar. On the occasion, the local people will slay chooks and prepare wine to worship the Ox King for good health of farm cattle. Every family, which raises the cattle will free their livestock from farming one day, and feed the cattle with their best feedstuff. In addition, two Baba cakes made from sticky rice will be hung on the two horns of the cattle. They pull the cattle to the riverbank and let it look in the mirror, trying to make it happy, and then they take the cakes down to feed the cattle.
Indigenous Peoples Literature 
