.
Origins The Zhuang are the indigenous peoples of
Guangxi, according to Huang Xianfan. The Zhuang's origins can be traced back to the
Paleolithic, as demonstrated by a large amount of contemporary archaeological evidence.
Tang-Song transition From 823 to 826, the Zhuang, Huang, and
Nong clans, aided with raiders from
Champa, attacked
Yongzhou and seized 18 counties. The "Nung Grottoes" sought aid from
Nanzhao. During the
Huang Chao rebellion (874–884), the Zhuang took part in anti-rebel efforts as irregular units in the Ningyuan Army led by Pang Zhuzhao. After the collapse of the
Tang dynasty in 907, the
Southern Han recruited Zhuang archers to outfit its riverine forces. They took part in campaigns against
Ma Chu. The Zhuang do not seem to have aspired to creating an empire after the collapse of the Tang and sought merely autonomy. In fact the opposite seemed to have occurred and the wars in the south drew more Zhuang into contact with Han Chinese as they were sought after as mercenary troops and river porters.) in the south.
Emperor Taizong of Song (r. 976–997) bestowed special favors on Nong leadership, acknowledging that they had succeeded the Huang in the Zuo River region. The first member of the Nong clan to gain official recognition was
Nong Minfu. It is not known when he was born, but a memorial in early 977 states that the "peaceful and generous" leader Nong Minfu of Guangyuanzhou had established himself over ten neighboring villages with the support of
Southern Han (907–971). Minfu had supported
Duan Siping (r. 937–944) of the
Dali Kingdom and was rewarded with titles. Duan rewarded another leader in Temo with the title
buxie. The Song bestowed the titles "minister of works" (
sigong) and "grand master of splendid happiness bearing the golden pocket with purple trimming" (
jinzi guanglu daifu) on Minfu. These titles were passed onto Minfu's son,
Nong Quanfu (, ). He was also granted additional authority of Dangyouzhou (modern
Jingxi,
Guangxi). His younger brother, Nong Quanlu, controlled Wennaizhou (modern
Na Rì District). Such preferential treatment was viewed with anger in Đại Cồ Việt, which attacked a Song garrison in 1004 after it held a banquet for a Nong chieftain. In 1005, a woman known as
A Nong was born to a notable warrior chieftain who accepted titles from both the Song dynasty and the
Early Lê dynasty of Đại Cồ Việt. A Nong learned to spin and weave from her mother. At some point she was separated from the other girls and learned the ways of a shaman. She married Nong Quanfu and became his primary political adviser. Her brother, Nong Dangdao, inherited Wulezhou near Guangyuanzhou. She gave birth to
Nong Zhigao in 1025. A Nong induced Quanfu to kill his brother, the leader of the
Cen clan, and take his lands. The Nong clan eventually controlled 14 major grottoes (
dong) in comparison to only 5 for the Huang clan. In 1035, Quanfu declared the founding of the Kingdom of Longevity (
Changsheng Guo 長生國) and took for himself the exalted title "Luminous and Sage Emperor" (
Zhaosheng Huangdi 昭聖皇帝) while A Nong became the "Enlightened and Virtuous Empress" (
Mingde Huanghou 明德皇后). Another source says he founded the
Chang Qi Guo and styled himself the first king of Dali,
Tu Dan Chao. The local prefect of
Tianzhou requested assistance from
Yongzhou to deal with the rebellion, but officials there appear to have feared involvement and refused to offer aid. In 1039, the emperor of the
Lý dynasty,
Lý Thái Tông, invaded the newly found kingdom, captured Quanfu and four other male members of the Nong clan, and executed them. A Nong escaped with the 14-year old Zhigao into Song territory. Đại Cồ Việt sent troops and captured him. He was held prisoner for a year before he was released with an honorary title and given control of Guangyuan, Leihuo, Ping'an, Pinpo, and Silang in return for a share of their natural resources, particularly gold. In 1048, Zhigao declared another state, the Kingdom of the Southern Heavens (
Nantian Guo), and took a reign title, "Auspicious Circumstances" (
Jingrui). He called the Viet court's actions criminal and that his territory would not be annexed by China. In the fall of 1049, Zhigao's forces pillaged Yongzhou. In 1050, Đại Cồ Việt launched an attack on Zhigao's stronghold and evicted him, sending him fleeing into Song territory. Nong Zhigao approached the Song at Yongzhou for assistance but was denied an audience until he staged a military demonstration beneath the walls. He then presented substantial tribute (tame elephants and lumps of gold and silver) and petitioned the emperor. The prefect of Yongzhou, Chen Gong, never passed on the petition to court. However when the tribute reached the court, the Fiscal Commissioner Xiao Gu argued to the emperor that Zhigao should be granted title. The Song court refused because it considered Zhigao's service to be the right of Đại Cồ Việt. The military commander Yuan Yun was dispatched to attack Zhigao but instead he wanted to offer Zhigao protection, and returned to the capital with tribute, arguing for a change in policy. Zhigao's followers set up shop and through the mineral wealth of his holdings formed close ties with Chinese traders, including
jinshi degree holders Huang Wei and Huang Shifu. He also recruited other Nong clan members such as Nong Zhizhong and Nong Jianhou. Under the influence of Huang Wei and A Nong, Zhigao decided to declare independence. In 1052, Zhigao proclaimed the establishment of the Kingdom of the Great South (
Danan Guo) and granted himself the title of Benevolent and Kind Emperor (
Renhui Huangdi). In the spring of 1052, Zhigao ordered the villages under his control to be burnt and led 5,000 subjects on the path to
Guangzhou. By summertime, he had taken Yongzhou and reached Guangzhou, where his 50,000 strong army became bogged down in a prolonged siege. Despite cutting off Guangzhou from water, the city was well stocked with provisions, and the defenders fought back with crossbow defenses. The district magistrate Xiao Zhu foiled a waterborne attack on Guangzhou by setting fire to their ships. After 57 days, Zhigao was forced to retreat as more Song reinforcements arrived. He held out at Yongzhou, defeating five Song commanders sent against him. The Song called in a veteran of the
Song–Xia wars,
Di Qing, to assume command of the anti-rebel forces. He gathered 31,000 men and 32 generals, including Fanluo tribal cavalry from the northwest that "were able to ascend and descend mountains as though walking on level ground." Lý Thái Tông also offered to send 20,000 troops but the offer was refused out of fear that the troops would not leave afterwards. One general, Chen Shu, attacked early with 8,000 men and suffered a defeat against the Zhuang forces. Di Qing executed him and 31 officers. He then marched his forces under cover of night and blocked the
Kunlun Pass east of Yongzhou. Zhigao attacked the Song forces in early 1054. The Zhuang wore bright crimson uniforms and fought in units of three armed with long shields that advanced "like fire." One man carried a shield while the other two hurled metal-tipped bamboo javelins. In the initial stages of battle, one Song commander was killed, and the Song army was momentarily forced to fall back. In the second engagement, the Zhuang forces could not withstand the Song infantry charges. The Song infantry hacked at the Zhuang shields with heavy swords and axes while the Fanluo cavalry attacked their wings, breaking their ranks. The Zhuang fled, suffering 5,341 casualties. Di Qing retook Yongzhou and executed the jinshi-holder Huang, two of Zhigao's family, and 57 officials. Zhigao and his remaining family fled to seek help from the Zhuang clans, but he was not well liked, and the Huang chieftain, Huang Shouling, refused to aid him. He also requested aid from the Viet court, which sent the tribal commander Võ Nhị to assist the rebels. A Nong and her son Nong Zhiguang, as well as Zhigao's sons Nong Jifeng and Nong Jizong, were caught at Temo in
Yunnan by Zhuang forces allied with the Song. They were executed. Zhigao failed to raise more troops in Dali. According to official accounts, Nong Zhigao was executed by the ruler of Dali and his head presented to Song authorities. However popular accounts claim he fled further south into modern northern
Thailand, where his descendants thrive to this day. The Zhuang of
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture identify as survivors of Zhigao's rebel movement and other groups in
Dali City,
Xishuangbana, and northern Thailand claim to be descended from Zhigao. Many Zhuang songs refer to him as "King Nong."
Tuding The Song took full control of the Zuo and You rivers, incorporating the regions into the Song bureaucracy. When Zhigao and his fellow rebel chieftains fled, they were replaced by Song-allied clans, primarily the Huang and Cen who were given hereditary posts. Chinese schools in Zhuang areas were set up and the sons of elite Zhuang who enrolled in them later took posts in the Song bureaucracy. Chinese style dress began to influence the Zhuang, who started buttoning their clothing on the right, women wearing bodices, giving up trousers for skirts, and wearing their hair in the Chinese style. Many of the former rebels were enlisted in the Song army, which paid for more than 50,000 Zhuang troops known as
Tuding (
tubing or
zhuangding) from 1064–1067. By 1108, more than a hundred thousand registered as soldiers from the region. The Zhuang warriors carried both a long and short double-edged sword. They were also capable of using crossbows, poisoned arrows, and elephants. A three man Zhuang unit had one man carrying a large shield while the other two hurled javelins. Although they fought for the Song, they only obeyed the orders of their Zhuang chieftains. In 1178, the vice-prefect of
Guilin, Zhou Qufei, said that they "live and die at the orders of their leaders."
Militarization The defeat of Nong Zhigao in Quảng Nguyên (C. Guangyuan; now
Cao Bằng Province) removed the tribal buffer zone between Đại Cồ Việt and the Song dynasty. Zhigao's final defeat by the Song also had the effect of subordinating a large portion of that zone to direct Song control. The Viet court did not intervene in the matter and for 20 years after the Nong Zhigao rebellions, there was general peace along the border. However the regional power balance had been lost.
Han Chinese military settlers moved in and new leaders took over the surviving communities. Several influential Nong leaders sided with the Viet court. Crucial influences for the lead up to war include the Song-court sponsored
New Policies promoted by
Wang Anshi and efforts by the
Lý court to consolidate peripheral fiefdoms. The Song and Đại Cồ Việt treated their frontier borderland peoples in different ways. The Chinese tried to introduce "uncultured" barbarians to the benefits of the "civilized" center in the post-Nong Zhigao period. Viet leadership on the other hand created "patron-client" relationships using marriage alliances and military expeditions to maintain "satellite" partners. Successive Viet courts saw the extraction of resources from frontier vassals as a measurement of their efficacy. However by the 11th century, both the Chinese and Viet courts saw the frontier as a source of available troops famed for their ferocity. By 1065, around 44,500 militia had been recruited from these communities by the Song. Frontier unrest began anew in 1057 when Nong Zongdan (V. Nùng Tông Ðán), a kinsman of Nong Zhigao, entered Song territory. The frontier administrator Wang Han visited Zongdan's camp at Leihuo to discourage him from seeking inclusion in the Song dynasty since it would upset the Viet court. Instead he proposed that he stay outside Song territory as a loyal frontier militia leader. Wang feared that a resurgence of the Nong clan would spell trouble for the frontier. The Song court ignored his apprehensions and offered the Nong and other communities "Interior Dependency" status. By 1061,
Emperor Renzong of Song (r. 1022–63) was regretting his decision and lamented that the "Nong Bandit" and his kin had strayed far from their frontier duties and might never be incorporated into the Song administration. However in 1062 when Zongdan requested his territory be incorporated into the Song empire, Renzong accepted his request. According to
The Draft Documents Pertaining to Song Official Matters, Zongdan was regarded by the Song as the prefect of Leihuo prefecture, renamed "Pacified Prefecture" (''Shun'anzhou''), and possessed the title "Personal Guardian General of the Right." Nong Zhihui (V. Nùng Trí Hội), the brother of Nong Zhigao, received the title "Personal Guardian of the Left." Other members of the Nong clan in Temo such as Nong Bing, Nong Guang, and Nong Xiaqing swore loyalty to the Song. Zhigao's former generals Lu Bao (V. Lư Báo), Li Mao (V. Lê Mạo), and Huang Zhongqing (V. Hoàng Trọng Khanh) were also granted official titles. In the view of the Song court, these titles were not merely honorary appointments. Local militia in the southwestern frontier zone were reorganized in 1065 under
Guizhou prefect Lu Shen. The 45 grottoes along the You and Zuo rivers were assigned grotto militia leaders. A commissioner surveyed the region for able-bodied men to be organized under a guard commander selected from the area's prominent households, who received a specific signal banner to indicate their group's distinction. Groups of 30 men were organized into local governance units known as "tithings (
jia)", which were organized in groups of five under a troop commandant (
dutou), groups of ten led by an aboriginal commander (
zhijunshi), and in groups of 50 led by a commander-in-chief (
duzhijunshi). It was perhaps this intensification of border defense that the Viet court felt threatened by, as it saw its own systems of local control eroded. Scholars also note that there was a sharp increase in the population of the Song dynasty's southwest frontier by the end of the 11th century. At the end of the 10th c., this region counted only 17,760 households while the same area had increased to 56,596 households in 1078–85. Guangnan West Circuit's population in 1080 stood at 287,723 households, a 133% increase from the
Tang census of 742. Some of the increase can be attributed to including indigenous populations and improved recording methods, but the trend of increased Han Chinese settlement is clear. With the increase of Han Chinese population also came more northern-oriented cultural practices. The Lý court was also in the process of consolidating its frontier. In 1059, efforts were made to take direct control of the frontier and its manpower. The northern frontier in the
Zuo-
You river region was divided into new administrative units: Ngự Long, Vũ Thắng, Long Dực, Thần Ðiện, Bổng Thánh, Bảo Thắng, Hùng Lược, and Vạn Tiệp. Each of these units was assigned an official. Militia units were established among local communities conscripts had the character "Army of the Son of Heaven" (
tianzi jun) tattooed on their foreheads. This reflected a distinctly Southeast Asian way of controlling regional manpower.
Sino-Viet conflicts In the early 1060s, border conflicts began to occur along the Song-Viet frontier. In the spring of 1060, the chieftain of Lạng Châu and imperial in-law, Thân Thiệu Thái, crossed into Song territory to raid for cattle. Thiệu Thái captured the Song commander Yang Baocai in the attack. In autumn of 1060, Song forces also crossed the border but were unsuccessful in recovering Yang. Fighting caused by the natives led by Thiệu Tháị claimed the lives of five military inspectors. The military commissioner Yu Jing sought aid from
Champa for a joint attack on Quảng Nguyên. The Lý court caught wind of this and began directly courting local leaders. Despite increased military tensions, the Lý court sought to defuse the situation by sending a delegation led by Bi Gia Dụ to
Yongzhou. The Song authorities requested the return of Yang Baocai but was denied. Emperor Renzong was also wary of further increasing tensions and instructed the local military commissions to refrain from assembling troops. On 8 February 1063, two tributary envoys from the Lý court presented to the Song emperor nine tame elephants. On 7 April 1063, the new Song emperor
Yingzong (r. 1063–67) sent calligraphic compositions by Renzong as gifts to the Lý court. On the same day the Viet envoy Lý Kế Tiên prepared to depart
Kaifeng, news arrived that Thàn Thiệu Tháị had attacked settlements in Guangnan West Circuit. A Guangnan official requested immediate retaliation against the southern intruders. However the Song court tried to distance Thiệu Thái's actions from the Lý court. An envoy from
Thăng Long arrived seeking forgiveness for the attack. Yingzong decided not to retaliate. On 18 November 1064, the Guizhou prefect Lu Shen reported that a military delegation from Thăng Long had crossed the border seeking Nong Rixin (V. Nùng Nhật Tân), the son of Nong Zongdan. He also reported that the delegation showed interest in encroaching on Song territory, including Wenmen grotto (
Hurun, a village in
Jingxi, Guangxi). The Song court took no particular action but Lu was determined to expand Song military presence in the south. Lu raised 44,500 troops from 45 aboriginal leaders along the Zuo-You River region and ordered them to repair and fortify military defenses. To gain local trust, he requested special seals be made for his militia leaders and that the Zuo-You region be exempt from taxes. The Viet officials became concerned about this development and sent a tribute envoy to Kaifeng to remind the Song court of the Viet role in settling frontier matters. Meanwhile Lu proposed a special training and indoctrination program for a local chieftain each year that would see them enter the official bureaucracy after three years. In late 1065, Zongdan switched allegiance from the Song and proposed an alliance with
Lý Thánh Tông (r. 1054–72) and Quảng Nguyên chieftain Liu Ji (V. Lưu Ký). Lu Shen reported this to court, but Yingzong did not take any action other than to reassign Zongdan's titles. To offset Zongdan's defection, the Song bestowed titles on Nong Zhihui and acknowledged him as the sole leader of Quảng Nguyên. Song officials on the southern frontier were training for military action. By late 1067, the Guizhou prefect Zhang Tian reported that Liu Ji was in communication with Lu Bao, who had crossed into Song territory to seek personal glory. Zhang wished to attack Lu Bao but the Song court rejected this course of action. However by 1069, Lu Bao had offered his allegiance to the Song while Liu Ji remained in Quảng Nguyên and was nominally under the control of Thăng Long. In late 1071, the Guangnan military commissioner Xiao Gu reported that Liu Ji had been spotted near Shun'anzhou (in Quảng Nguyên) at the head of more than 200 men. The Song court expressed concerns that forces were being amassed by barbarians. In 1072, a decree ordered administrators of Zhuang regions to avoid trying to "acquire merit" by military actions, to keep Han Chinese (particularly criminals fleeing the law) out of the region, and to investigate problems which might lead to disorder. On 2 February 1072, Lý Thánh Tông died. The new ruler,
Lý Nhân Tông (r. 1072–1128), was only six years old. His regents, such as the defender-in-chief
Lý Thường Kiệt, consolidated power by announcing a general amnesty for all outlaws in the protected prefectures. It was reported that the local chieftain of Lạng Châu, Dương Cảnh Thông, brought to court a white dear as tribute and was rewarded with the title "Grand Guardian." In 1073, a group from the "Five Clans" sent a large tribute embassy numbering 890 to the Song court.
Song–Đại Việt war (1075–1077) In the late 1060s,
Wang Anshi's
New Policies combined with the sentiment of irredentism in Shenzong's court to call on greater militarization and expansion of Song territory. Wang wanted to overhaul the tribute system for barbarians in the south. Lý Thường Kiệt viewed the changing economic relationship between the Song and its frontier people as an abandonment of the traditional tribute paradigm. Wang called for military action from Song imperial troops. In early 1075, Thăng Long requested the return of an upland chieftain who had gone over to the Song with 700 followers. The Song refused. In the same year, Shenzong sent two officials, Shen Qi and Liu Yi, to govern Guizhou. They were instructed to train the locals in riverine warfare and forbid them from trading with subjects of the Viet court. Lý Thường Kiệt accused the Song of training soldiers for attacking Thăng Long. At the same time, the Quảng Nguyên (C. Guangyuan) chieftain Liu Ji launched an attack on
Yongzhou and was repulsed by Nong Zhihui, the chieftain of Guihua. Lý Thường Kiệt led an invasion of the Song dynasty with support from Zhuang leaders such as Nong Zongdan, who led a contingent of uplanders towards Yongzhou. In October 1075, Zongdan led 23,000 soldiers along the Zuo River into Song territory and captured Guwan, Taiping, Yongping, and Qianlong garrisons. The forces of Zongdan and Lý Thường Kiệt retreated after the arrival of Song reinforcements. A Song counterattack saw the capture of Quảng Nguyên and Liu Ji before being stopped at Nhu Nguyệt River (in modern
Bắc Ninh Province). Liu Ji deployed elephant troops against the Song army but they were defeated using scythes that cut their trunks. Several Zhuang grotto settlements in Quảng Nguyên were razed. Song forces lost about 50%–60% of their force before retreating, half of them dying to diseases. As a result of mounting casualties on both sides, Lý Thường Kiệt made peace overtures to the Song in 1077; the Song commander Guo Kui agreed to withdraw his troops but kept five disputed regions of Quảng Nguyên (renamed Shun'anzhou or Thuận Châu), Tư Lang Châu, Môn Châu, Tô Mậu Châu, and Quảng Lăng. These areas now comprise most of modern Vietnam's
Cao Bằng Province and
Lạng Sơn Province. Đại Việt held control of the Yongzhou, Qinzhou and Lianzhou. In 1079 the Song arrested and executed the Nong leader Nong Zhichun (V. Nùng Trí Xuân) while taking his family as hostages. In 1083, Viets attacked Guihua under the pretense of pursuing Nong Zhihui, the brother of Nong Zhigao. Zhihui plead to the military commissioner Xiong Ben for fresh troops to ward of Viet advances, but was taken in for questioning instead. In 1082, after a long period of mutual isolation, King Lý Nhân Tông of Đại Việt returned Yongzhou, Qinzhou, and Lianzhou back to Song authorities, along with prisoners of war, and in return Song relinquished its control of four prefectures and a county, including the Nong clan's home of Quảng Nguyên,
Bảo Lạc, and Susang. Further negotiations took place from July 6 to August 8, 1084 at Yongping garrison in southern Guangnan, where Đại Việt's Director of Military Personnel
Lê Văn Thịnh (fl. 1038–1096) convinced Song to fix the two countries' borders between Quảng Nguyên and Guihua prefectures.
Ming-Qing The Zhuang continued to cause trouble in the
Ming dynasty, which used different groups against one another. One of the bloodiest battles in Zhuang history was that at Big Rattan Gorge against the Yao in 1465, where 20,000 deaths were reported. Parts of Guangxi were ruled by the powerful
Cen clan (岑). The Cen were of Zhuang ethnicity and were recognized as
tusi or local ruler by the Ming and Qing. The Ming launched several campaigns to civilize the non-Han southwestern people, including the Zhuang, by setting up schools. While the Zhuang became more intimately familiar with Han culture, it did not pacify them, and they continued to cause rebellions into the
Qing dynasty. Even though schools were introduced to Zhuang areas, the Zhuang chiefly lineages monopolized access to education, limiting the commoners' ability to take official examinations, thereby securing their social status and political power. The Zhuang served as mercenary troops known as wolf warriors in the Ming army. Writing in the 19th century, a Qing dynasty official described the Zhuang thus:
Nationalism Many Zhuang peasants took part in revolutionary movements such as the
1911 Revolution as part of the
Tongmenghui. In the 1930s, the
Kuomintang attempted to control the Zhuang people through force, causing indignation and resentment. In contrast, many Zhuang joined the communist army under the leadership of their Zhuang leader,
Wei Baqun. By the 1950s, Zhuang society in Guangxi was largely organized by lineages of
zhixi (branches) such as the Nong, Sha, and Tu. In September 1952, the
People's Republic of China recognized the Zhuang as a national minority and established the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Zhuang ethnic consciousness arguably developed in the period afterwards as the region became more connected with other parts of China, especially the urban areas. Public events such as the springtime festival and song festival
Sanyuesan (Sam Nyied Sam) were promoted by the government, but by the 1980s they had become more tourist attractions than a symbol of ethnic solidarity for the Zhuang. Zhuang scholars who wanted to promote Zhuang culture and writing mainly lived in the urban areas of Guangxi and Beijing while residents in rural areas were more concerned with poverty and jobs.
Worship of Nong Zhigao Nong Zhigao (V. Nùng Trí Cao) is revered by
Tai-speaking communities in
Guangxi and
Cao Bằng. Many families with the Nong (V. Nùng) surname claim descent from Nong Zhigao and sponsor public displays of pride in the 11th century leader through temples and monuments. There is more evidence of the celebration of Nong Zhigao in Cao Bằng than in Guangxi, especially prior to the modern era, after which the local leader was inserted into nationalist histories as though he were a citizen of China or Vietnam. Historically the Song general Di Qing, who defeated the rebellion, was the one who was honored. In 1053, a large stele was erected by himself in
Guilin to eulogize his deeds. The "suppressing the Man barbarian" (
pingman) stele described Nong Zhigao as a barbarian bandit who committed crimes against Chinese officials. Local communities also constructed temples to commemorate those officials who died in the rebellion. There is little to no physical evidence of Nong Zhigao's commemoration in premodern China. However by the 18th century, certain communities in Guangxi did worship him. In 1956, a stele dating to 1706 was discovered in
Tiandeng County. It commemorated the construction of the Zhongxiu Dujun Village Temple and describes how Nong Dalingshen Dianxia (His Highness Nùng the Great Spirit) became a lord, fought valiantly, and transformed into a spirit to protect the region. The primary patrons of the temple were the Huang, Lin and Zhao clans. After the defeat of Nong Zhigao, the Nong clan was forced to take the surname Zhao. In the late 1970s, Nong Zhigao was rehabilitated as part of the government's liberalization policies for national minorities. In the early 1980s, Huang Xianfan's
Nong Zhigao portrayed him as a Chinese leader at the center of a rich local history. After the
Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979, Huang interpreted Nong Zhigao as local leader who fought against a corrupt Song court that refused to provide locals with protection from marauding bands from
Đại Việt. The orthodox
Dangdai Zhongguode Guangxi portrays Nong Zhigao as a Zhuang who rose up to protect Chinese borders from Vietnamese aggression. By the late 1980s, collections of folklore containing tales of Nong Zhigao's heroism had been published. On 8 January 1997, a group of Nong Zhigao's descendants in
Jingxi erected a stele in honor of his birth. The site of the monument is supposedly where Nong Zhigao held his training grounds during his uprising. The Zhuang of
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture identify as survivors of Nong Zhigao's rebel movement and other groups in
Dali City,
Xishuangbana, and northern Thailand claim to be descended from Nong Zhigao. Many Zhuang songs refer to him as "King Nong." ==Customs and culture==