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Proper name: Nong.
Local groups: Nung
Giang, Nung Xuong, Nung An, Nung Inh, Nung Loi, Nung Chao,
Nung Phan Sling, Nung Quy Rin, Nung Din...
Population: 705, 709
people.
Language: The Nung
language belongs to the Tay-Thai language group (Tai-Kadai
language family), and is in the same group with the Tay,
Thai, and Choang of China.
History: The majority
of the Nung emigrated to Vietnam two or three centuries
ago from Quang Tay, China.
Production activities:
The Nung are very good at cultivating fields. However,
because they live on places where wet fields cannot be
exploited, they have to work on terraced fields instead.
Beside corn and rice, the Nung also plant some other root
vegetables, calabashes, and green vegetables.
The Nung know how to make
many handicraft products from weaving, metal working,
poonah-paper making, and tile making. Though many of these
handicrafts are family traditions, they are still only
secondary professions, and done during spare time when
there is a break from farming.
Moreover, handicraft products I serve mainly family needs.
Today,, some of them are
diminishing (weaving), and some are preserved and highly |
developed (metal working). In Phuc Xen village (Quang Hoa,
Cao Bang), many families practice blacksmithing, and there
is at least one person in each family knows how to hammer
well.
Nung markets are highly
developed. They go to fairs to trade, sell, and buy goods.
Young people, especially the Nung Phan Slinh group, like
to go to fairs and sing love duets.
Diet: In many
regions, the Nung eat mainly corn. Corn is ground into
flour to make thick soup. Foods are fried, stir-fried oe
well cooked, but seldom boiled. Many people don't eat
water buffalo, beef, or dog meat.
Clothing: The Nung's
traditional clothes are fairly simple," and are often made
from rough, handmade, self-dyed fabrics, and have almost
no embroidery or decoration. Men wear shirts with standing
collars, which have cloth buttons. Women wear long shirts
with 5 panels, buttoned up under the right arm.
Housing: The Nung
live in the northeast of the country, and mix in together
with the Tay. They stay mostly in stilt houses. Some live
in earthen houses built with paper or brick walls. In the
past, on the border, there were houses built like a fort
with blockhouses and loopholes to prevent and defend ,
against robbers.
Transportation:
Traditional ways of transportation are carrying goods in
the arms, on the shoulders, and using shoulder poles. In
some places today, the Nung use carnages with ties or
runners, which are pulled by animals as a mean of
transportation.
Social organization:
Before the August Revolution, Nung society had developed
as much as the Tay's. Fields and terraces had become
private possessions, and thus could be transferred or
sold. Two social classes were formed: landlords and
tenants.
