Zhuang

Zhuang is the language of the largest minority group in the People’s Republic of China, with approximately 18 million speakers. ¹ The majority of Zhuang speakers live in Guangxi in Southern China, between 20° 54’ and 26° 20’ north latitude on the southeastern corner of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. A small number of them are scattered in adjacent areas of Guangdong, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces (see Map 9.1.2-1). The name Zhuang is not an indigenous cover term, but more of an administrative term, from which the province of Guangxi, the administrative area of Zhuang, acquired its name – Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Although Zhuang speakers spread all over Guangxi, the majority of them concentrate in four prefectures: Nanning, Baise, Hechi and Liuzhou along the Xi River system. A passage to Southeast Asia, the Zhuang area is also inhabited by a number of tribal groups such as the Kam, Sui, Mulao and Maonan, as well as the Miao, Yao, Lakkja, along with Hakka, Yue and many varieties of the local Chinese.