The Mystery of the Origin of Ba People

The Mystery of Ba People

From the 1930s to 1990s of this century, there were a lot of sayings about the meaning of "Ba" and the origin of Ba people. Some people think that "Ba" means animal, such as snakes, insects, pythons, fishes, silkworms; some others think that "Ba" means mountains, water and stone. In recent years, some scholars have pointed out that "Ba" means "Tiger", Ba people pronounced "Tiger" as "Ba". According to historical records, tiger is the totem of Ba people and they think they are the nation of tiger. They respect tiger, so they call themselves Tiger (Ba) people.

The Origin of Ba People

Ba people were made of two groups of people. One of them came from Bingjun Group which from the borders of Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan and Shaan Xi Province. The other one was the aboriginal clans. But the origin of the main group---Bingjun Group originated from the ancestor Yin who first lived at the Huai River valley.

According to the historical records, at "Wuluo Zhongli Mountain" there were five clans: Ba, Fan, Qin, Xiang Zheng clans. One day, the leaders of the five clans gathered together in order to find out who was capable to be the leader of the five clans. Finally, they came up two ideas: firstly, to see who can throw the dagger into the cave in the middle of the mountain. Secondly, to see who can take the ceramic boat on the river and who could keep float on the river, he would be the king of the five clans. The leader of the Ba clan won and he became the king of the five clans, called "Bingjun". Then the five clans formed an alliance named Bingjun Group.

Of course, not until the Binjun Group moved to the borders of Hubei and Chongqing, the Ba people has not truly become a common territory of language and culture. Binjun Group became the core of Ba Group, and the other clans conquered by the Binjun Group became the out-ring groups, but the history books called them Ba People.