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Tujia People: Stilt Houses, Brocade and the Hand-Waving Dance

Customs
Oct 27, 2026
Tujia xilankapu brocade with a colourful geometric phoenix among magenta peony flowers on a dark brown woven ground

If you have hiked among the sandstone pillars of Zhangjiajie, you have already been a guest of the Tujia people. Most visitors never notice. They come for the scenery, eat a clay-pot stew, take the cable car and leave. Yet the hills around those pillars are Tujia country, and so are the stilt-house towns of western Hunan, the gorges of Enshi in Hubei and the valleys of southeast Chongqing. So this guide is about the people behind the view: who they are, the chiefs who ruled them for centuries, the dance, the brocade, the brides who cry on purpose — and where a visitor can actually meet all of it.

Who the Tujia People Are

The Tujia (土家族, Tujiazu) are one of China’s officially recognised ethnic groups. China’s 2020 census counted about 9.59 million of them, which makes them one of the larger minorities in the country (Wikipedia, 2026a). Their homeland is the Wuling Mountains, where Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou meet. Hunan has the most, followed by Hubei, Guizhou and Chongqing. For the wider picture of how the groups fit together, see our overview of ethnic groups in China.

“Native dwellers”, not guests

The name says a lot. In their own language the Tujia call themselves Bizika, usually explained as “native dwellers”. The Chinese name, 土家, means roughly “local families”. Compare that with the Hakka, 客家, the “guest families” whose name remembers a migration (Wikipedia, 2026a). One people defines itself as the ones who were always here; the other as the ones who arrived. It is a bit like the difference between “Highlander” and “settler” — a whole history packed into one word.

A language few still speak

Here is the surprise. Tujia is a Sino-Tibetan language, but it sits on its own branch, and linguists usually treat it as an isolate. It has a northern and a southern variety. And it is fading fast. One estimate puts native speakers at no more than 70,000, mostly in the north of Xiangxi Prefecture in Hunan (Wikipedia, 2026a). Nearly all of them also speak Chinese. So, in practice, you will hear the local Chinese dialect almost everywhere, and Tujia words mainly in songs, place names and the odd greeting.

The Tusi Centuries: How the Tujia People Were Ruled

For centuries, the Tujia people answered first to their own hereditary chiefs, the tusi (土司). Under the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial court appointed local leaders as its officials. In return, they ran their own territory in their own way (Wikipedia, 2026b). Loosely, think of a Scottish clan chief who owed loyalty to a distant crown but ruled the glen himself. Tujia soldiers under these chiefs had a reputation as tough, disciplined fighters, especially in the Ming (Wikipedia, 2026a).

The grandest of these chiefdoms belonged to the Peng family. Their capital, Laosicheng (老司城, “the old chieftain’s city”) in Yongshun County, Hunan, served as their seat from 1135 to 1724. Then the Qing court replaced the tusi with ordinary appointed officials, a reform mostly finished between 1728 and 1735 (Wikipedia, 2026a). In 2015, UNESCO listed three tusi sites as World Heritage: Laosicheng in Hunan, Tangya in Xianfeng County, Hubei, and Hailongtun near Zunyi in Guizhou (Wikipedia, 2026b). Laosicheng is the largest and best preserved of them. Much of it is an archaeological site rather than standing palaces, so it tends to reward imagination more than selfies.

Stilt Houses of the Tujia People

The diaojiaolou (吊脚楼), or “hanging-foot house”, is the building you will photograph most. The back of the house rests on the slope. The front juts out over the drop on wooden posts. That frees up flat ground, which is scarce in these mountains. Verandas wrap around the upper floor, and the railings and window frames carry carved lattice and flowers. In Yongshun they are called “corner-turning houses”, because the wings turn around the corner of the main hall (China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network [ihchina], n.d.-e).

Building one is a craft, and it entered China’s national heritage list in 2011, for Xianfeng in Hubei, Yongshun in Hunan and Shizhu in Chongqing. Xianfeng is said to have the most surviving stilt houses in the whole Tujia region. Raising one comes with ritual, too: honouring the mountain god, cutting the ridge beam, speaking blessings over the house (ihchina, n.d.-f). Still, concrete is winning. The Yongshun record lists the craft as shrinking, with traditional houses left in only a few townships (ihchina, n.d.-e).

Dance, Brocade and Song of the Tujia People

The hand-waving dance

The baishouwu (摆手舞), or hand-waving dance, is the one tradition almost every Tujia community shares. It began as ancestor worship. In Tujia it is called sheba, roughly “dancing for the gods” (ihchina, n.d.-b). The moves act out the people’s story: creation, migration, hunting, fishing, weaving, slash-and-burn farming and war. The signature step looks odd at first. Dancers swing the arm on the same side as the stepping leg, knees bent, body sinking with each beat. Try it once and you realise how unnatural it feels — then, after a few rounds, how hypnotic.

There are two scales. The “big” hand-waving honours the ancestor of the whole people and can draw more than a thousand dancers. The “small” one honours a single clan’s ancestors and happens in villages. In Xiangxi it is traditionally danced at night, from the 3rd to the 15th day of the first lunar month (ihchina, n.d.-a). The Xiangxi version joined the national list in 2006, and the Enshi and Youyang versions followed in 2008 (ihchina, n.d.-b). These days you will also see it in town squares on ordinary evenings, done more for fun and fitness than for the gods.

Xilankapu brocade

Xilankapu (西兰卡普) is the Tujia word for a woven flower bedcover, and it has become the name for Tujia brocade in general. The craft is woven on a wooden waist loom in about twelve stages. Weavers pick the pattern in from the back, so the maker works on the reverse side and only sees the finished design when she turns it over. There are more than 400 traditional motifs. The craft is said to go back over 1,500 years and joined the national list in 2006 (ihchina, n.d.-c). Its home is the You River valley in Yongshun, Longshan, Baojing and Guzhang counties. The official record describes it as endangered, so a genuine handwoven piece is worth seeking out — and worth paying for.

The crying brides

In much of the world, a bride is expected to smile. A traditional Tujia bride was expected to weep, and to do it well. Crying-marriage songs (哭嫁歌) are long laments sung in the days before the wedding. In Guzhang County they follow five stages: an opening cry, then crying for parents, for elder brothers and their wives, for sisters, and for other relatives. Mother and daughter cry together throughout. There are also verses for putting on the bridal flowers, for climbing into the sedan chair and — the crowd favourite — for scolding the matchmaker (ihchina, n.d.-d). The songs became widespread after the tusi era ended, and they joined the national list in 2011. Happy and sad at once, honestly. If you know a Western wedding toast that makes everyone tear up, you have a faint idea of the mood. Our guide to traditional Chinese marriage customs shows the wider tradition around it.

Food on a Tujia Table

Mountain food, basically: smoked, sour, hot and filling. Maize, buckwheat and other grains matter more in the highlands than rice does (Wikipedia, 2026a).

  • Smoked bacon (larou) — pork cured and smoked over a wood fire, then stir-fried with chillies or garlic shoots.
  • Sanxiaguo — the “three-into-the-pot” clay-pot stew you will meet all over Zhangjiajie. Our guide to Hunan cuisine explains why western Hunan food is sour as well as hot.
  • Oil-tea soup (youcha tang) — usually tea leaves fried in oil, simmered, and topped with crunchy extras such as puffed rice or peanuts. Think snack more than drink. It is a staple in Enshi (Wikipedia, 2026d).
  • Ciba — pounded glutinous rice cakes, made in quantity for the Spring Festival (Wikipedia, 2026a).

Where to Meet the Tujia People as a Visitor

Zhangjiajie and Wulingyuan

Most travellers meet the Tujia here first, whether they know it or not. Census tables count hundreds of thousands of Tujia across Zhangjiajie’s districts and counties, from Cili and Sangzhi to Wulingyuan itself (Wikipedia, 2026a). Our Zhangjiajie National Forest Park guide covers the park, and our Wulingyuan page covers the wider World Heritage area. For culture, eat in the town rather than at the gate, and look out for evening hand-waving in local squares. Tianmen Mountain sits on the other side of the city if you have a spare day.

Furong Town and Laosicheng in Yongshun

Furong Town (芙蓉镇) in Yongshun County hangs on a cliff above a waterfall that drops into the You River. It used to be called Wangcun and took its current name from the film Hibiscus Town. The Tujia were its original inhabitants (Wikipedia, 2026c). It lies roughly between Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang Ancient Town, so it fits into a western Hunan loop. Laosicheng is in the same county. Ticket prices and opening hours change, so check both sites’ official channels before you go.

Enshi and the Hubei side

Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture fills the southwest corner of Hubei (Wikipedia, 2026d). It is best known for the Enshi Grand Canyon, but the Tangya tusi site in Xianfeng County and Xianfeng’s stilt-house villages are the deeper cut. In Enshi city, the Tusi City complex stages Tujia song and dance; it is a modern complex built in period style, not one of the UNESCO sites.

Southeast Chongqing

From Chongqing, the autonomous counties of Youyang, Xiushan, Shizhu and Pengshui are Tujia and Miao country (Wikipedia, 2026a). Youyang has its own hand-waving dance on the national list. This side sees few foreign visitors, so English is scarce and a local guide helps.

One more thing: the Miao are the Tujia’s close neighbours across this whole region, and many towns are home to both. Our introduction to the Miao people covers the other half of the story.

Etiquette Among the Tujia People

  • Ask before photographing people, and before stepping onto someone’s veranda for a better angle — stilt houses are homes.
  • Join the hand-waving circle if you are waved in. Follow the person in front, same arm, same leg.
  • Buy brocade from the weavers where you can. Machine-made xilankapu is cheaper, so ask which is which.
  • Accept food and drink with both hands. If you do not drink, a smile and a polite refusal is fine.
  • Do not assume everyone in a costume is Tujia. Western Hunan and Enshi are shared with the Miao and the Han.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Are the Tujia the same as the Miao? No. They are separate peoples with unrelated languages, though they share much of the same region and many customs, such as stilt houses.
  2. Can I hear the Tujia language? Possibly, in the north of Xiangxi, but it is rare. Most Tujia speak a local Chinese dialect day to day.
  3. When is the best time to see the hand-waving dance? Around the Spring Festival, when the traditional village dances happen. Dates follow the lunar calendar, so they move each year.
  4. Is Laosicheng worth the trip? If you like history and quiet places, yes. If you want grand buildings, maybe not; much of it is an excavated site.
  5. Do I need a permit? No special permit applies to the main Tujia areas of Hunan, Hubei or Chongqing; normal entry rules for China apply.

Want the national context? Our overview of intangible cultural heritage in China places the Tujia traditions among the rest.

References