Who are the Ngái people and where do they come from?
The Ngái are one of the 54 ethnic groups recognised in Vietnam, belonging to the very small population category with fewer than 10,000 people. According to the Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities dated 1 April 2019, there were 1,649 Ngái people; earlier, the 2009 Population and Housing Census recorded 1,035 people living in 27 provinces and cities. The group's self-name is Sán Ngải, meaning mountain people. Other names formerly used include Ngái Hắc Cá, Ngái Lầu Mần, Hẹ, Sín, Đản, Lê, Xuyến. In the List of Ethnic Components of Vietnam, the Ngái are also recorded under the alternative name Sán Ngái and the groups Xín, Lê, Đản, Khánh Gia, Hắc Cá (Xéc), residing in Quảng Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City and Hải Phòng.
As for origins, many ethnographic documents hold that the Ngái in Vietnam descend from the Hẹ, or Hakka, people of Fujian and Guangdong (China). They migrated by sea into Quảng Ninh and Hải Phòng many centuries ago. Sources from the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs note that the Ngái have multiple origins and migrated to Vietnam in several waves, a process that took place throughout the Middle and Modern periods. It should be noted that existing sources do not fully agree on the number and timing of migration waves, so this remains an open point in research.
Where do the Ngái people live?
The Ngái live scattered across many provinces and cities, with the main areas of concentration being Quảng Ninh, Hải Phòng, Bắc Giang, Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn. According to the List of Ethnic Components of Vietnam, the residence areas of the Ngái are recorded as Quảng Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City and Hải Phòng. Sources from VOV4 and the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs add the provinces of Bắc Giang, Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn. This difference reflects the scattered settlement pattern of the Ngái, and also shows that statistical sources were compiled at different times.
Inland Ngái usually live in ground-level houses with various architectural styles and roofing materials, and rely mainly on wet rice cultivation, combined with growing maize, potatoes and cassava and with animal husbandry. The coastal and island group lives mainly by fishing and often lives directly on boats. Ngái handicrafts include bamboo blind making, mat weaving, carpentry, masonry, blacksmithing, brick and tile making, and lime burning. Means of transport also differ by region: mountain dwellers are used to carrying baskets on their backs and shoulder baskets, while coastal dwellers use boats and three-plank canoes.
| Feature | Inland settlement group | Coastal and island settlement group |
|---|---|---|
| Main livelihood | Wet rice cultivation, combined with maize, potatoes, cassava, animal husbandry | Fishing |
| Dwelling | Ground-level houses, various architectural styles and roofing materials | Often live directly on boats |
| Means of transport | Back baskets, shoulder baskets | Boats, three-plank canoes |
| Recorded areas | Bắc Giang, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, Quảng Ninh | Coastal and island areas |
Which language family does the Ngái language belong to?
The Ngái language belongs to the Chinese branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. According to sources from the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, the Ngái speak several different dialects of southern Chinese, though in the past few knew how to read and write. Today, most children of school age know the national Romanised script and the common language. The fact that the Ngái speak several different dialects reflects a process of migration in multiple waves from different localities in southern China, and is also a challenge for the work of preserving this ethnic group's language.
What does Ngái worship practice include?
The Ngái believe in the existence of two parts in a person, body and soul, as well as in the existence of deities and human souls. They worship many different objects such as ancestors, deities, Buddha, forest spirits and the wandering souls of the ten categories of sentient beings. Rituals for each object differ, along with different kinds of offerings. Within the community there has existed a class of people who professionally practise religion. This description shows that Ngái religious life is a combination of ancestor worship, natural deities and Buddhist influence, a feature commonly found among populations with migration origins from southern China.
Regarding funerals, the Ngái hold that death means the soul moves to live in another world. Therefore they often bury with the deceased the belongings that the person used while alive. Funerals have many complex stages such as announcing the death, placing the body in the coffin, burial and grave opening.
When do the main Ngái festivals take place?
The Ngái celebrate Lunar New Year at the start of each new year. In addition, they have other festivals such as Cold Food (3rd day of the 3rd lunar month), Đoan Ngọ (5th day of the 5th lunar month), Vu Lan (15th day of the 7th lunar month) and New Rice (10th day of the 10th lunar month). These festival points show a close attachment to the lunar calendar and to agricultural rituals, and also reflect the influence of Chinese culture on Ngái religious life. It should be noted that existing sources only list the main festivals without describing in detail the rituals and offerings of each, so this is a gap that needs more field data to clarify.
What is special about Ngái marriage and family?
The Ngái follow monogamous marriage. The ceremony for each wedding consists of two parts: the first is the wedding ceremony, the second is the consummation ceremony. Marriage age is early and marriage has a strong bride-price character. After the wedding, the bride resides with the husband's family; only in special cases such as the bride's family having no son or the groom having many brothers does uxorilocal residence occur. In social organisation, the Ngái family is a small patriarchal family. Community relations remain strong although wealth differentiation has appeared. In each village, the position of the clan head of the largest lineage is highly regarded and plays a major role in settling village relations. The Ngái take surnames and distinguish branches through a system of middle names; the wife's family, represented chiefly by the maternal uncle (khảo), plays an important role in kinship relations, although Ngái lineages still follow paternal bloodlines.
What are Ngái clothing and cuisine like?
Ngái clothing is usually not embroidered. Men wear lá tọa trousers and shirts with two or three pockets. Women wear five-panel shirts extending below the hips, fastened with cloth buttons on the right armpit, and like to braid their hair and coil it around the head. In a context where material culture in the midland region has changed greatly, Ngái women have still kept the traditional high-collared, side-split shirt. As for food, the Ngái eat three meals a day, like porridge, eat mainly leafy vegetables, and favour seasonings such as garlic, chilli and ginger. A habit of wet rice farming populations is to make straw stacks to keep for gradual use as cooking fuel; the Ngái keep straw stacks on high racks to avoid termite damage and destruction by livestock.
Ngái folk arts and games
The Ngái have a rich treasury of folk arts with folk songs, folk dances and especially oral literature. They have many legends, fairy tales, idioms and proverbs expressing views on the world and on human life, which remain full of humanistic meaning today. As for games, the Ngái like to play cù, khăng, chase-and-catch, rooster-feather shuttlecock, đá cầu chinh and a few other collective games.
Why is it necessary to preserve the culture of very small ethnic groups?
The Ngái are among Vietnam's 16 very small ethnic groups, including Ơ Đu, Brâu, Rơ Măm, Pu Péo, Si La, Ngái, Cống, Bố Y, Cơ Lao, Lô Lô, Mảng, Lự, Chứt, Pà Thẻn, La Ha and La Hủ, with populations under 10,000. These are groups with difficult living conditions, residing mainly in remote and deep-lying areas with inconvenient transport, and with high rates of poor households. Their ability to preserve and promote their traditional culture on their own is very limited; many groups have seen their traditional culture decline, and for some even language, script and clothing have declined or even been lost entirely. Urgent cultural preservation as well as investment and support for improving the lives of ethnic groups with populations under 10,000 is therefore extremely necessary. For the Ngái in particular, a language comprising several different dialects and a diverse religious life are values that need to be recognised and preserved, though more field data is also needed to describe specific rituals and festivals more fully.
