Bunu in China

People Name:	Bunu
Country:	China
10/40 Window:	Yes
Population:	428,000
World Population:	428,000
Primary Language:	Bunu, Bu-Nao
Primary Religion:	Ethnic Religions
Christian Adherents:	0.00 %
Evangelicals:	0.00 %
Scripture:	Unspecified
Online Audio NT:	No
Jesus Film:	No
Audio Recordings:	Yes
People Cluster:	Yao-Mien
Affinity Bloc:	Southeast Asian Peoples
Progress Level:

Introduction / History

Over many centuries the Bunu were forced to migrate south to their present location. The Chinese and Zhuang often seized Bunu land and slaughtered entire communities.

The Bunu were counted separately in the 1982 census before being included under the Yao nationality in China. The name Bunu is a generic term, simply meaning "us people."

About 100,000 people, who do not fit into any of the recognized subgroups of Bunu, speak Zhuang as their mother tongue. One linguist notes, "The classification of the Bunu languages and dialects is very complicated. The Bunu people are actually regarded either by themselves and/or by the Chinese as Yao ethnically. However, the languages spoken by the Bunu are actually dialects of Hmong (Miao)."

What Are Their Lives Like?

Bunu women rule over their families. "If the couple do not get along well, the husband may go back to his own home and the wife may find another man. The husband has no right to claim any property belonging to the wife's family. In such a marriage arrangement it is the husband who takes orders from his wife."

What Are Their Beliefs?

The Bunu worship Pan Hu who they believe created the universe. "In ancient times, the world was a chaos, Heaven and earth were still inanimate, with no sun or moon, no Yin and Yang, no day and night. At that time our holy King Pan Hu was first born to the world, he built the heavens and created the earth, he installed mountains and rivers, made the sun, moon and stars, and set up the 10,000 countries and the nine territories." They also have a legend of a great flood which destroyed the earth. At thanksgiving rituals in honor of King Pan, the Bunu still sing: "All the people in the world had been drowned by a flood. We brother and sister got married, the flower entered her body."

The Bunu are one of the largest people groups in China without a single known church. There are believed to be only a small number of scattered Bunu believers. The Bunu's complex ethnolinguistic diversity has kept them from hearing the gospel. "They consist of people from many language groups. Because of these language distinctions, it creates certain difficulties for evangelizing them. This means that different sets of Scriptures will need to be translated, different languages of the JESUS Film translated, and so forth."

What Are Their Needs?

The Bunu people need to submit to Jesus Christ so they can experience the abundant life he offers them in John 10:10.

Prayer Points

Pray for bold workers who are driven by the love of the Holy Spirit to go to them.

Pray for an unstoppable movement to Christ among them.

Pray for the authority of Christ to bind hindering spiritual forces to lead them from darkness to light.

Pray for signs and wonders to happen among them and for great breakthroughs with a rapid multiplication of disciples and house churches.