The population of Maonan nationality is about seventy-two thousand persons, most of them live in Guangxi province. They have their own language, at the same time , most of them use Han and Zhuang language because they live near Han and Zhuang.
Maonan believes in Taoism.
Maonan are engaged in agriculture and raising livestock. One of their famous livestock is the ox called " Maonan vegetable ox" , the oxen are so delicious so that they are sold to all over the country include Macao and Hongkong.
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Maonan live around the mountains, their house are made of stones, they have excellent talent on stone carving . Their tables , chairs, basins and tombs are made of stone with beautiful carving patterns like flowers, birds, fishes ...
Maonan has an interesting festival which is called " festival to set birds free". It is on the lunar Jan. 15th. The bird skin is made of leafs , inside it , there are glutinous rice, beans and sesame .... Maonan make all kinds of birds to pray that birds would not eat any crops so that they will have a good harvest in the coming year.
Another interesting festival is called " pumpkin festival", it is on lunar Sep. 9th. Every family show their pumpkins to others, the young Maonan visit every family to choose the best one to be "the pumpkin King" , then share the pumpkin and seeds together.