History and Demographics
The Sui are descended from the ancient Baiyue peoples, who had inhabited southern China before the Han dynasty (Wei 2003:viii). The name "Sui," which means "water" in Chinese, was adopted during the Ming Dynasty.
Today, 93% of all Sui people (322,000 individuals) reside in Guizhou, China, with about half of them living in Sandu Shui Autonomous County. To the south, 10,000 Sui live around Yingdong village in Rongshui County, Guangxi (Edmondson 2008). Small pockets of Sui people also live in Fuyang and Yiliang Counties, Yunnan. Additionally, there are 120 Sui living in Hồng Quang District, Tuyên Quang Province, northern Vietnam who are the descendants of Sui people who had left Sandu County 8 generations ago (Wei 2003:vii).
Read more about this topic: Sui People
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)