(coming soon)
Zhuang People
The Zhuang — China’s largest minority at 15-plus million — are a friendly and welcoming people, adept at handicraft. We were feted with songs, lion dances, and a great meal (including deep-fried grasshoppers) in a Zhuang home high above a river. Sitting at a table, we heard singing coming from the kitchen and in a moment young women came in bearing a beverage, an indescribable ambrosia, truly delicious and not apparently alcoholic.
We drank and then heard more singing. They came again, we drank again, and we said “thank you” with polite finality. They sang again, we drank again. This went on and our guides suggested that the tradition is that if you don’t want more you have to get up from the table. That’s when we found that getting up was somewhat less easy than we expected. The stuff really sneaks up on you. We went out to photograph the lion dance and other festivities on their terrace, somewhat unsteadily.
