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With a population of about 16,178,811, the Zhuang ethnic minority is the largest minority group in China with a long history and culture. Over 90 percent of the Zhuang people live in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The rest of the Zhuang people reside in Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Hunan Provinces.
The Zhuang ethnic minority has a language of its own that belongs to the Zhuang-Dai branch of Zhuang-Dong Austronesian (an austronesian belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages). The language is divided into two dialects although they have few differences.

Chinese characters were used before 1955 for writing, however since 1957, a writing system based on the Latin alphabet has been created with the help of the Chinese government. The Latin alphabet has been adopted to publish many books. Since then, the Zhuang ethnic minority has had their own language. In the year of 1982, the Zhuang language was revised and has been greatly used among the Zhuang people.

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First time in 10 years I got out today and rented some cross-country skis and did a few hours up on Silver Star in Vernon, BC. I never liked the fiberglass fish-scale non wax type of skis but the ones I tried today were excellent - going up hills was actually less painfull than I thought faster and easier to make corners. The ski boots - the first time I have had a boot that was actually comfortable and warm. Just to get myself into the pace of skiing again the next time I will have to try the waxing type and then the skating type after that.

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