In China there are abut 400,000 Shui (水族) people, the majority of whom live on the upper parts of the Longjiang and Duliu rivers, which go across plains and vast areas of forests in southern Guizhou Province.Some Shuis have their homes in the northwestern part of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

　　The area in which the Shuis live is a land of plenty.Wheat, rape (油菜), and ramie are grown, along with a great variety of citrus and other fruits.The forests are a source of timber (木材) and medicinal herbs (草药)．The Duliu and other rivers are full of fish.

　　The Shui language is in the Zhuang­Dong branch of the Chinese­Tibetan language family.The Shuis used to have an old writing script.Some of their words were pictographs (象形文字), while others resembled Chinese characters written upside down.Except for scores of these ancient words that are still used for religious purposes, the Shuis use written Chinese in their daily lives.

　　The Shuis have lots of colourful oral literature and art.Their literature includes poetry, legends, fairy tales and fables.Stories and fables praise the diligence, bravery, wisdom and love of the Shui ethnic group and satirize(讽刺) the stupidity of the rulers.With rich content and vivid plots, Shui tales are usually highly romantic.

Their songs, which are usually sung without the accompaniment (伴奏) of musical instruments, fall into two categories.The "grand songs" are sung while they work, whereas