Bo people (China)


The Bo people are a small minority population in Southern China, famous for their hanging coffins.

History

The Bo people are native to southeastern Sichuan. By the Zhou dynasty, they were called Pu. The Hundred Pu was a designation of non-Chinese peoples living in the upper Yangtze river area, similar to the Hundred Yue of south Yangtze. The Hundred Pu was eventually conquered by the Ba state. The Qin dynasty invaded the Ba state in 316 BC and absorbed into its empire.
The Bo fortress of Lingxiao on Bowangshan Mountain in Xingwen County were the last hold out in China against the Mongol conquest. It fell to the Mongols in 1288, more than 11 years after the end of the Song dynasty. In 1573, Lingxiao and Gong County was besieged by Ming imperial troops, the Bo were massacred and have disappeared since then.
However, some descendants of the Bo were found in 2005 in Xingwen County, Sichuan.

Culture

carved from a single log and bronze drums are widely found in the areas once inhabited by Bo people.

Contemporary peoples

According to Edmondson, the Lachi people of Vietnam and China may be descended from the Bo, based on the archaic exonym Labo in Chinese records. The Lachi language belongs to the Kra subgroup of the Kra-Dai language family. Today, the Lachi refer to themselves as qu31 te341, with qu31 meaning 'people'.
The Ku of Qiubei County currently speak a Loloish language, and still practice hanging coffin traditions. According to their own records, the Ku people's ancestors had migrated from Yibin, Sichuan province a few centuries ago in order to escape wars.

Languages

Languages spoken by the Bo people may have included:
Words of Bo origin that still exist in the local dialect of Gong County, Sichuan include máng máng 牤牤 or alternatively niōng niōng, and gà gà 尬尬 .