Nung ethnic group

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.