Kam people (China)

Kam

Ethnic Kam women and man in holiday dresses. Liping County, Guizhou, China.
Total population
(2,960,293)
Regions with significant populations
Guizhou, Hunan, and Guangxi provinces, China; small pockets in Vietnam and Laos
Languages
Kam, Chinese
Religion
Polytheism, Theravada Buddhism

The Kam a.k.a. Dong (Chinese: 侗族; pinyin: Dòngzú; endonym: Gaeml [kɐ́m]), a Kam–Sui people of southern China, are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They are famed for their native-bred Kam Sweet Rice (Chinese: 香禾糯), carpentry skills, and unique architecture, in particular a form of covered bridge known as the "wind and rain bridge" (Chinese: 风雨桥). The Kam people live mostly in eastern Guizhou, western Hunan, and northern Guangxi in China. Small pockets of Kam speakers are found in Tuyên Quang Province in Vietnam.

The Kam are thought to be the modern-day descendants of the ancient Liáo (僚) peoples who occupied much of southern China. Kam legends generally maintain that the ancestors of the Kam migrated from the east. According to the migration legends of the Southern Kam people, their ancestors came from Guangzhou, Guangdong and Wuzhou, Guangxi. The Northern Kam maintain that their ancestors fled Zhejiang and Fujian because of locust swarms. Many Kam rebellions took place during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but none were successful in the long run.