Culture

How do they live? The Pubiao live in small villages. Many Pubiao live in mixed villages with Han Chinese, which is why many are bilingual in Mandarin. Others live in tiny clusters beside ethnic Chinese (Hoa) or Hmong villages. Like many ethnic minorities, their houses are usually built on slopes and hillsides. In the past, they usually used stilt houses, but in recent years, most houses have been built on the ground. Formerly, the houses were built of wood and bamboo, but more recently they have been built of clay, in an adobe style.

Houses. Pubiao houses usually are built on the ground. Constructed of bricks and a clay stucco, roofs are made of clay tiles. The brick or adobe wall construction, was perhaps adopted to make the house more fire-proof. The interior usually is divided into three rooms of different sizes. The central room has the door, which faces the yard. A fireplace is found in the central room, as well as in the kitchen.

Crafts. Most Pubiao women are good at spinning, weaving, and applique. Men are excellent carpenters, skilled at building everything from houses to furniture, using wood, bamboo, and rattan. They also make bricks and clay tiles for gutters and roofs, and these items are often offered for sale. Pubiao men often hire themselves out to work in other communities as carpenters.

Society. Pubiao society is based upon the nuclear family, which is patriarchal. Only sons can inherit houses and other assets. Two clan structures exist. One clan type is influenced by the Han Chinese culture, and uses Han clan names. But a more ancient clan structure also exists, with unique clan names that are not related to Chinese. They use a twelve-month lunar calendar with animals representing each month.

Marriage. Members of the same family or clan may not intermarry. However, the clan restriction is mainly based on the father's clan, and not the mother's. The actual wedding is very involved, with customs regulating every step of the process. For example, the bridesmaid must carry the bride out of the bride's house on her back. She must then follow the groom's family as they escort the bride to the groom's house. At the wedding, the family must eat a common meal out of a burden basket using only their fingers. The newlyweds customarily live with the groom's family, but they must make a ceremonial visit back to the bride's home at specified intervals: three days, seven days, thirteen days and thirty days after the wedding. Many other customs are similar to neighboring ethnic groups.

Childbirth. Since they believe that the midwife has a great influence on the child from conception to age thirteen, midwives are chosen carefully. Mothers give birth at home. The placenta is considered to be important, so it is placed in a bamboo tube and is buried under the bed, or is wrapped in a sleeping mat and tied to a tree branch in the forest. Sons are named after five days, but daughters only wait three days to receive their name. During the time between birth and naming, the father is expected to remain at home. If he must go out, he has to wear a special conical cap. The birth name is used only until age thirteen, when a "written" name will be given. The middle name will be the family clan name, either Cantonese or an ancient Laqua name.

Music. The Pubiao retain their distinctive musical instruments: bronze drums. These drums are used in pairs, one "male" and one "female". This is a carryover from the Taoist "yin" and "yang". The drummer must place himself between the drums when playing them. The drums are always played at rituals and festivals. A unique folk custom involve wedding songs that last three or four hours. Weddings are also a time for youngsters to join in the singing and play games to amuse themselves.

Livelihood. Some of the Pubiao grow wet rice in terraced fields where they practice typical paddy agriculture by transplanting rice seedlings. But more often they farm hillside fields. They are skilled farmers, using fertilizer, insecticides, and crop rotations. Besides upland rice, and corn (maize) they grow rye, beans, gourds, sweet potatoes and other vegetables. They sometimes burn the upland hillside fields and then break up the soil with small hand tools and plant seeds in a hole made with a digging stick. But they also use ploughs and harrows to farm other areas. They do raise domestic livestock such as chickens, other poultry, pigs, and horses. They use oxen and water buffalo as draft animals, and rarely use these animals for food. They also hunt for wild game and gather wild plants to supplement their diet. The staple foods of their daily diet are steamed corn flour and soup.