TheBuyang people are an officially unrecognizedKra ethnic group living inWenshan Prefecture,Yunnan andNapo County,Guangxi inChina. They are closely related to theLaha,Qabiao,Gelao, andLachi. TheBuyang language is spoken, although many Buyang are now shifting toZhuang andSouthwestern Mandarin. InYunnan, the Buyang are classified by the Chinese government asZhuang, while they are classified asYao inGuangxi (Li 2006).

The name Buyang comes from theZhuangpu˨jaaŋ˨˦ (alternativelypu˨ȵaaŋ˨˦), which means "other people." The Buyang ofNapo County,Guangxi call themselves theʔia˧hrɔŋ˥˧, whileGuangnan Buyang call themselvespa˧ha˧. InNapo andJingxi counties, many Zhuang are called "Buyang" by other Zhuang groups. In southeastern Guizhou and Tianlin, Longlin, and Xilin counties of Guangxi, many villages also contain the wordyang 央, suggesting that those villages may be formerly Buyang-speaking areas that had been assimilated by theZhuang people.

The Buyang of Guangnan County and Funing County are officially classified asZhuang, while those inNapo County are classified asYao. This is because Buyang clothing appears similar toYao clothing, and many Zhuangs and Hans have mistaken the Buyang asYao and have called them:

• Tu Yao 土瑶, "native Yao"
• Tie Yao 铁瑶, "Iron Yao"
• Liu Yao 六瑶, "Six Yao"

The Buyang ofNapo County are also called the Liu Yao 六瑶 ("Six Yao") because they used to live in six villages (Li & Luo 2010). According to theNapo County Gazetteer (那坡县志), this exonym dates back to theQing Dynasty, when the "Six Yao" lived in the villages of Nianyi 念益, Guolie 果列, Yancun 燕村, Rongtun 荣屯, Gonghe 共和, and Shanhe 善合.^[1]

Traditional Buyang clothing resembles that of theGelao andLachi peoples, although many have now switched to Zhuang-style clothing. Today, most Buyang celebrate Zhuang festivals, although the Guangnan Buyang (or Paha) celebrate the Dragon-Worshiping Festival and the Yin Day, or New Year, Festival.

The Buyang people may have originally migrated to their present locations inYunnan andGuangxi fromGuizhou province in the north, which is now occupied by theGelao people. Various types of historical evidence suggest that the Buyang were much more populous in the past. For instance, many village names inXilin County,Longlin County, andNapo County begin with Yāng (央 or 秧), suggesting that they may have formerly been Buyang-speaking areas from at least theQing Dynasty. Today, the dominant languages in these areas areBouyei andYang Zhuang. Li (1999) states that the following counties were formerly inhabited by Buyang speakers, but no longer have any:

The majority resided in theHongshui River (Hongshui He 红水河) valley. Today, the river serves as a border between northwesternGuangxi and southwesternGuizhou.

A legend among the Buyang of Guangxi recounts that once there were three Buyang brothers living in poverty. One stayed in Guangxi, another went to Yunnan to escape poverty, and yet another migrated to northern Vietnam. The third brother who migrated to Vietnam could have been the ancestor of theEn (Nung Ven) or theQabiao people.

AQing-era chronicle had also mentioned a people called the Puyang 普央 living in Guangnan (Li & Luo 2010).

According to Holm (2003:15),^[2] the Buyang used to buildhanging coffins, including hanging coffins on cliffs above a large bend in theHongshui River near Banwen village 板文村, Sihe Township 四合乡,Donglan County,Guangxi.

The Buyang are reported to have been "banished to 'the edge of the sky and the corner of the sea,' that is, much further south, after a losing a contest of wits with the Bouyei’s apical ancestor Baeu Rodo. Even now, however, when the wind blows at night the villagers still light lamps, because otherwise the returning ghosts of the Buyang will mistake their houses for caves, and fly into them. On such nights women’s clothing is festooned on trees, as a way of keeping the spirits of the Buyang at bay. — quoted from Holm (2003:15)^[2]

Holm (2003:159-160)^[2] reports that the Buyang continue to exist in the legends of theZhuang people ofDonglan County,Guangxi and theBuyi people ofXingyi, Guizhou.

The Buyang themselves say that their ancestors came from Guangdong and Guangxi. In fact, traces of the Buyang are widespread. In the formerXingyi prefecture in southwestern Guizhou, and in Xilong sub-prefecture in far northwestern Guangxi, there are numerous names of villages and stockades that contain 'yang' as an element. The majority of inhabitants of this area call themselves either Bouyei or Zhuang. According to local legends, however, it was the Buyang who originally opened up the area and constructed the paddy fields. This circumstance is still commemorated each year on the 6th day of the 6th lunar month, when the local Zhuang and Bouyei kill a chicken and present offerings of wine in the fields to the "Buyang rice-fields," commemorating the Buyang and thereby praying for an abundant harvest. — quoted from Holm (2003:159-160)^[2]

• Diller, Anthony, Jerold A. Edmondson, and Yongxian Luo ed.The Tai-Kadai Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press, 2008.
• Li Jinfang (1999). Buyang yu yan jiu. Beijing: Central University for Nationalities Press.
• Li Jinfang and Luo Yongxian.The Buyang language of South China: grammatical notes, glossary, texts and translations. Pacific Linguistics Publishers, Australian National University, 2010.

• Buyang language
• Kra peoples
• Gelao people
• Kra languages
• Yang people

• Ethnic groups in China

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