Funing County,historically known as“Fuzhou”,is located in the eastern part of the Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture,which is in southeastern Yunnan Province along the southern border of China.To the north is Guizhou Province,to the east is Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,to the south is Vietnam.Funing lies at“the intersection of two countries,three provinces and ten counties”.The county is located between east longitudes 105°14' and 105°13',and between north latitudes 23°11' to 24°09'.With the Tropic of Cancer,as well as China National Highway 323 and the new Heng Kun high speed autoroute running across the county’s territory,Funing is an important gateway between Yunnan and Guangdong,Guangxi and other coastal areas.The total land area of Funing County is 5,352 square kilometers with thirteen districts and townships and 145 villages and urban neighborhoods.The population of the county is over 400,000 people and is composed of the Zhuang,Han,Yao,Miao,Yi and Gelao ethnic groups.Of the total county population,76.5% belongs to minority nationalities,with the Zhuang population being the most numerous at 220,000 people,which is 56% of the county’s total population.Funing has the highest concentration of Zhuang people of all the counties of Yunnan Province.Funing County has abundant natural resources,with tropical zone areas accounting for 65% of the total land area.The annual average temperature is 19.3°C(67°F)with 1,200 mm of annual average rainfall and 1,804 hours of annual average sunshine(5 hours per day).Funing belongs to the South Asian tropical monsoon climate.

Bo’ai Township,in which Poya Village is located,has a total area of 494 square kilometers and a total population of more than twenty thousand,of whom 97.2% of the population is of Zhuang ethnic minority.Bo’ai Township is located in the northeastern corner of Funing County.To the east is Yangyu Township,which is part of the Baise Muncipality of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.To the south is Zhesang District,to the west is Naneng District,both also in Funing County,and to the north is Bagui District,which is part of Tianlin County,in Guangxi Region.Poya Village,where the folksongs were found,is a village under the authority of Bo’ai Township in Funing County,which is about one hundred kilometers from the Funing County seat.Due to the special geographical location and historical reasons,Funing County has been relatively isolated,and therefore has retained the rich traditional Zhuang culture and customs.

The psychology,ethics,spirituality,values and aesthetics of a given ethnic group can be discovered through what is unique and essential to that ethnicity’s culture.In terms of geographical context,Funing is located at the intersection of Yunnan and Guangxi of China and Vietnam on Zhujiang River.Culturally,Funing is located at the intersection of the Zhuang and Dai cultures,whose folk customs belong to the cultural environment of the Youjiang River region.The Youjiang River,historically called the Yusui River,originates in the southeast of Yunnan.The section of this river which flows through Yunnan province is called the Tuoniang River.At the confluence in Bo’ai Township of the Xiyang River,which flows in from Guangnan County,the Puting River which flows through Funing County,and the Nama River,the combined river from this point on is referred to as the Youjiang River,which flows through Baise,Tianyang,Tiandong,Pingguo and Nanning in Guangxi Province until it flows into the Pearl(Zhujiang)River.Bo’ai Township has served as an important trade port between Yunnan,Guangxi and Guangdong provinces.Those Zhuang people who have resided on both sides of the Youjiang River claim themselves to be indigenous peoples of the region.Archaeological discoveries in recent years prove that the Youjiang River basin is a cradle of ancient humanity and the area with the greatest concentration of artifacts indicates distinctive features of Zhuang culture.Historically,this is where the ancestors of the Zhuang,known to the Han Chinese as the tribes of the Xi’ou Luoyue,lived and flourished.Through a long process of development,the ancestors of the Zhuang created a unique material and spiritual culture reflective of their natural environment and available mode of production,which resulted in a unique ethnic and regional culture.There emerged a family of related languages and cultures which have been labeled as the Na,or rice paddy,culture.There are 2,595 villages in Funing County,of which 327 have the syllable“Na”in their name,meaning rice paddy in the Zhuang language.For thousands of years,people have been working in the na,living by na,eating thanks to the na,being clothed by the na,receiving their happiness from the na,and relying upon the na.Thus,a family of cultures originated around this unique religion,etiquette,clothing,architecture,food and songs.And this was the cultural soil where the folksongs of Poya came into being.