Blang

族About this people

The Blang — also called Bulang or Plang — live in the mountain areas of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and neighbouring Simao (Puer) and Lincang prefectures in southern Yunnan. Their language belongs to the Palaungic sub-group of the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic family, making them one of the few groups in China whose language belongs to this family.

The Blang are considered by many tea historians to be the original cultivators of the ancient tea trees in the mountains now famous for pu-er tea production. Villages in the Bulang Mountain area within Xishuangbanna contain ancient tea gardens with trees estimated to be several hundred years old, and the Blang have a documented history of tea cultivation going back at least 1,000 years. Their knowledge of processing and selecting wild and cultivated tea has influenced the entire Yunnan tea industry. The Blang observe a customary law regulating access to village-owned tea gardens that has survived to the present.

The Blang adopted Theravada Buddhism through contact with the Dai people, and village life is structured around the monastery calendar. Blang villages have a distinctive architectural style with wooden stilted houses. The annual Zang Jing Festival (paying respect to Buddhist scriptures) is a major religious and social event. Blang bronze drum casting and bamboo craft are traditional skills. The community is small but economically significant in the pu-er tea market, where single-mountain and ancient-tree teas from Blang villages command high prices among collectors.