More than 2,000 years ago, the Tujia ethnic group began to live in Guizhou. They live in mixed communities with the Han and other ethnic groups. The Tujia people in Guizhou are mainly found in the Yinjiang Tujia-Miao Autonomous County, the Yanhe Tujia-Miao Autonomous County and the Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County. Tujia people have their own spoken language, but no written language, so they use the Han language. Most Tujia people build their houses in various styles by rivers and streams. They like to plant fruit trees and flowers around their houses. Tujia women wear collarless long, loose-fitting jackets that button up on the left side with decorative laces around the edges. Below this, they wear loose-fitting trousers and pointed embroidered shoes. They wrap their heads with white kerchiefs and wear silver ornaments. For men, the traditional dress is collared jackets with large front pieces buttoning up on the right. Nowadays, the young people like to wear short jackets buttoned in the front and white or patterned turbans. The Tujia people worship ancestors and believe in spirits. Their main festivals include the Spring Festival, Fourth Month Eighth Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Double Sixth and Double Ninth Festival.

Life
Tujia people like singing. They have love songs, crying songs sung at weddings, hand waving songs, labor songs, and Pan Songs. Their traditional dances include the hand waving dance, Ba Bao bronze bell dance, and Mao Gu Si, in which people dance and sing. Tujia musical instruments are the so-na, mu ye, dong-dong-kui, and da-jia-huo. The women are master the art of weaving and embroidering. The other traditional handcrafts of the Tujia people are carving, drawing, paper-cutting, and wax printing. The Tujia brocade is called Xi Lan Ka Pu and is one of the three most famous in China.

Language
The Tujia ethnic group possesses its own language, but most can speak Mandarin Chinese. At present, the Tujia language is used only in a few areas; it lacks written characters, so Chinese characters are used instead.
 

Tujia Marriage Customs

Tujia girls will cry to welcome their marriage day. The shortest number of days brides might cry is about 3 or 5 days. Tujia people judge a girl's intelligence and virtue by how well she can sing crying songs in the wedding.

Ten Sisters’ Accompanying is a unique form that a Tujia girl takes when she cries over her marriage. The day before the bride's marriage day, her parents will invite 9 unmarried girls in the neighborhood to their home, and they sit with the bride around the mat singing songs for the whole night, which is called Ten Sisters’ Accompanying singing. Ten girls sit around the table, and then the bride cries 10 times, which is called a Put. At each interval, the cook will put a dish on the table. When the bride finishes there are 10 dishes at the table. When all 10 dishes are at the table, the 9 unmarried girls will take turns to cry. After the 9th girl cries, the bride will cry 10 times, called Collects, and the cook collects 10 dishes in turns. That ends Ten Sisters’ Accompanying.