The Kam people (Kam: , ), officially known in China as Dong people (), are a Kam–Sui people and one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They live mostly in eastern Guizhou, western Hunan and northern Guangxi. Small pockets of Kam speakers are found in Tuyên Quang Province in Vietnam.

They are famed for their native-bred Kam Sweet Rice (), carpentry skills and unique architecture, in particular a form of covered bridge known as the "wind and rain bridge" (). The Kam people call themselves Kam, Geml, Jeml or Gaeml.

History

The Kam are thought to be the modern-day descendants of the ancient Rau 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. Some scholars (mainly Chinese) also believe that the Kam were a branch of the Bai Yue from the first century CE. The Bai Yue inhabited the Yangze River basin after the collapse of the Yue Kingdom around the first century CE which led to the establishment of many small chiefdoms. Sui, Maonan and Mulao are the languages most closely related to Kam. Historically, Northern Kam has been influenced by Chinese much more than has Southern Kam.

;Provincial Distribution of the Kam, from the 2020 census:

{| class="wikitable"

|-----

! Province-level division !! Kam Population !! % of China's Kam Population

|-----

| Guizhou Province || 1,650,871 || 47.23%

|-----

| Hunan Province || 865,518 || 24.76%

|-----

| Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region || 362,580 || 10.37%

|-----

| Guangdong Province || 241,790 || 6.92%

|-----

| Zhejiang Province || 146,773 || 4.20%

|-----

| Fujian Province || 31,784 || 0.91%

|-----

| Jiangsu Province || 24,413|| 0.70%

|-----

| Shanghai Municipality || 11,870 || 0.34%

|-----

| Other || 160,394 || 4.59%

|-----

|}

;County-level distribution of the Kam

(Only includes counties or county-equivalents containing >1% of county population.)

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible sortabe"

|-

! Province

! Prefecture/city

! County

! % Kam

! Kam population

! Total population

|-

| Guizhou province||(whole province)||||4.62||1,628,568||35,247,695

|-

| Guizhou ||Tongren prefecture||(whole prefecture)||11.41||376,862||3,302,625

|-

| Guizhou||Tongren prefecture||Tongren City (Bijiang District)||33.72||104,051||308,583

|-

| Guizhou||Tongren prefecture||Jiangkou County||8.99||17,011||189,288

|-

| Guizhou||Tongren prefecture||Yuping Dong Autonomous County||78.09||98,757||126,462

|-

| Guizhou||Tongren prefecture||Shiqian County||30.49||101,990||334,508

|-

| Guizhou||Tongren prefecture||Songtao Miao Autonomous County||2.56||14,025||547,488

|-

| Guizhou||Tongren prefecture||Wanshan District||73.40||40,130||54,674

|-

| Guizhou||Qiandongnan Miao Dong autonomous prefecture||||31.40||1,207,197||3,844,697

|-

| ||||Kaili city||5.10||22,099||433,236

|-

| ||||Shibing county||2.53||3,464||137,171

|-

| ||||Sansui county||48.89||83193||170,167

|-

| ||||Zhenyuan county||32.23||71,800||222,766

|-

| ||||Cengong county||32.50||61,006||187,734

|-

| ||||Tianzhu county||67.54||235,241||348,302

|-

| ||||Jinping county||49.64||94,537||190,429

|-

| ||||Jianhe county||34.47||65,170||189,085

|-

| ||||Liping county||70.85||324,867||458,533

|-

| ||||Rongjiang county||38.38||115,295||300,369

|-

| ||||Congjiang county||40.88||123,270||301,513

|-

| ||||Leishan county||2.08||2,752||132,004

|-

| ||||Danzhai county||1.07||1,452||135,400

|-

| Guangxi||||||0.69||303,139||43,854,538

|-

| ||Guilin city||||1.04||48,166||4,614,670

|-

| ||||Longshenggezu autonomous county||26.57||42,718||160,796

|-

| ||Liuzhou prefecture||||6.51||229,162||3,522,322

|-

| ||||Rong'an county||2.93||8,303||283,029

|-

| ||||Sanjiang Dong autonomous county||55.98||170,248||304,149

|-

| ||||Rongshui Miao autonomous county||11.28||48,020||425,608

|-

| Hubei province||||||0.12||69,947||59,508,870

|-

| ||Enshi Tujia Miao autonomous prefecture||||1.79||67,440||3,775,190

|-

| ||||Enshi city||2.27||17,187||755,725

|-

| ||||Xuan'en county||13.93||46,817||335,984

|-

| Hunan province||||||1.33||842,123||63,274,173

|-

| ||||Suining county||4.12||13,973||339,235

|-

| ||||Xinning county||0.05||283||557,120

|-

| ||||Chengbu Miao autonomous county||1.45||3,498||241,517

|-

| ||Huaihua city||||17.42||808,155||4,639,738

|-

| ||||Hecheng district||2.99||10,370||346,522

|-

| ||||Huitong county||52.49||173,947||331,392

|-

| ||||Xinhuang Dong autonomous county||80.13||193,678||241,690

|-

| ||||Zhijiang Dong autonomous county||52.37||175,030||334,229

|-

| ||||Jingzhou Miao Dong autonomous county||26.06||63,962||245,444

|-

| ||||Tongdao Dong autonomous county||75.96||156,719||206,327

|-

| ||||Hongjiang city||5.43||26,360||485,061

|}

==Culture==<!--Kgal Laox and Kam Grand Choir redirect directly here.-->

thumb|upright|[[Zhaoxing, Guizhou|Zhaoxing, the largest Dong village in China]]

The Kam people are internationally renowned for their polyphonic choir singing, called Kgal Laox in the Kam language (), which can be literally translated as Kam Grand Choir or Grand song in English. The Kam Grand Choir has been listed by UNESCO as a world-class intangible cultural heritage since 2009. Kam choral songs include nature songs, narratives, and children's songs.

One-part songs (as opposed to polyphonic, or many-part, songs) can be sung by one or many people. As in other aspects of Kam life, songs relating to medicine are sung when gathering plants. Plants in the Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Poaceae, Liliaceae, Lamiaceae, Rutaceae, Polygonaceae and Apiaceae families are commonly used in Kam medicine. Traditionally, Kam healers serve as veterinarians as well.

  1. Neighbors are invited and bring food and gifts.
  2. Announcing the birth to the mother's family.
  3. Visit from the female relatives on the third day or so; gifts are brought.
  4. Homage expressed to the land god for the birth of a male child (practiced by the Northern Kam).
  5. Building a "bridge" – Three wooden planks are lined up side by side to express goodwill to passing people.
  6. Wrapping the hands – The child's hands are wrapped to help prevent him or her from stealing things later on in life.
  7. First haircut at the age of one month.
  8. First eating of fermented rice at the age of about one month.
  9. First eating of meat dipped in wine at six months old – considered a major milestone.

Funerals

Like those of the Miao people, Kam funerals are highly elaborate. People who died from unnatural causes (e.g., accidents) are cremated, while those who died from natural causes are buried.