The Qiubei Zhuang are also known as the Sha Zhuang, or simply, Sha.

The Qiubei Zhuang live among the beautiful mountains of southern Yunnan. They are concentrated in these three counties: Qiubei, Shizong, and Guangnan. Qiubei and Shizong are in Wenshan prefecture while Shizong county is in Qujing prefecture. Until recently the Qiubei Zhuang were very isolated from mainstream Chinese society. They are still not on the main beaten path of China, but the development of a AAAA national park, PuZheHei, has put Qiubei town more on the map in Yunnan which has in turn made the Qiubei Zhuang more accessible. A fast train has opened running between Kunming and Nanning, and Qiubei is one of the stops. The vast majority of the Qiubei Zhuang still live in villages, market towns, and the county seat town of Qiubei. However, thousands have also left to work in factories and do construction on the east coast of China. Many of the ones that leave go to Guangdong province to work.

The Qiubei Zhuang live mostly agrarian lives. Around 80% of the population still lives at the market town or village level (2016). Villages range in niceness from concrete shell homes, road access, wifi, and running water with cement streets to old mud brick homes, difficult dirt trail access, with little evidence that it is the 21st century. Most villages have access to electricity now. A village or market town Qiubei Zhuang person would tend to their fields daily except for a short spell during winter and usually raise a few animals such as pigs, chickens, ducks, and/or geese. The implication of this is that they are very busy people during the day and the only time to truly have access to men and families as a whole is at night after they have come in from the fields. A difficult part of working with the Qiubei Zhuang is that they are notorious drinkers and brawlers. Among other minorities and the Han in the area, the Qiubei Zhuang are known for their love of "white liquor" and common vices that go along with poverty such as stealing and fighting. A Qiubei Zhuang man once directly told me what I had already experienced many times, a Zhuang man will not trust you if you do not drink with him. This is a difficulty in building relationships and witnessing to them the Gospel of Jesus. On the note of directness, the Zhuang are typically a very indirect people. They will not tell you direct answers and if you ask direct questions that are outside their cultural norms, it may come across as rude. The Qiubei Zhuang are very easy to identify because the middle aged and elderly women still self-identify (in 2016) with their traditional Qiubei Zhuang clothing (see pictures). However, as modern trends reach the more rural regions of China, less and less minorities are self-identifying with special clothing. The women are identified by a red or maroon head wrap with a gold glimmer mixed in with it. Their shirts are usually a light or dark blue with seven buttons that fasten underneath their arm. However, around festival times and special occasions the brighter yellow and pink shirts can be seen more frequently as well. The men have traditional clothing as well, but can only be seen on the most special of occasions. They are a very communal people and are hospitable to friendly outsiders. This makes initial relationship building easier, but they have a strong identity of family and don't let people into their inner circles easily. Due to the majority of families being very poor, the overall education level is low which gives difficulties when sharing new stories and ideas with them, such as Bible stories and the Gospel. Also, due to low education and strong Qiubei Zhuang identity the level of Mandarin Chinese spoken is low. Older people will often not speak Mandarin but some speak Chinese local dialect, while middle aged and younger people will definitely at least speak the local dialect version of Mandarin and most speak understandable Mandarin Chinese. However, even young Qiubei Zhuang people still speak Qiubei Zhuang, which is a completely separate language from Mandarin Chinese.

The majority of Qiubei Zhuang are animists with Buddhism mixed in with it. They venerate their ancestors by having the ancestor shelf in their homes and offering food and incense before the ancestors regularly. Just as with any beliefs, some families take it more seriously than others. Traditionally, during festivals they will sacrifice chickens or pigs depending on the festival but this is being practiced less and less. Qiubei Zhuang celebrate normal Chinese holidays but also have a few of their own as well such as SanYueSan. This is a generic Zhuang holiday better known in Guangxi, but the Qiubei Zhuang celebrate it too. Qiubei Zhuang believe strongly in ghosts and spirits and that they can be their ancestors. They genuinely live in fear of their ancestors and ghosts and different Qiubei Zhuang in different areas have said they have seen ghosts. As with any animist, the actions of their beliefs work themselves out by trying to manipulate spirits to either get them to leave them alone or help them. This can be seen with dog-teeth bracelets on children, mirrors over doors into homes, and sometimes chicken blood and feathers being put on houses or cars.

Pray for Chinese believers to rise up to intentionally share and church plant among the Qiubei Zhuang. Pray against Satan's hold on them through animism and alcoholism. Pray for a translation team to work on translating the word of God into their mother tongue. Pray for Qiubei Zhuang who leave for university or work will hear the gospel while abroad, be discipled, and come back to be missionaries to their own people group. Pray for the handful of Qiubei Zhuang believers to be given courage and grace to be bold in their faith amongst local persecution from family and friends.

Scripture Prayers for the Zhuang, Qiubei in China.

http://www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/zhuang-san-yue-san-song-festival.htm