The She ethnic minority mainly lives in Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces in southern China. The She people have their own language but dot not have their own way of writing. The She people are mainly engaged in agriculture. The mountainous regions where they live are rich in woods and bamboos, and are well known for the tea at home and abroad.

The daily staple food is rice. Most of them eat hot dishes. Every household possesses a hot pot. The meat is usually pork, and often fried with vegetables. Bamboo shoots are nearly a year-round vegetable.

The She people are fond of wine. Tea is also indispensable in their daily life. The She areas are teemed with tea, including many precious kinds, such as Huiming tea, Phoenix tea, black tea and Wuyi rock tea, etc. The oolong tea, a subcategory of Phoenix tea and one of the famous teas of China, comes from Shiguping Village where the She people live. It was a tribute to the royal palace in the ancient time.

Their foods on festive occasions include black rice, themeda leaf dumpling and Ciba (glutinous rice cake).

Black rice is consumed on lunar March 3. The Shes collect the leaves of Wuren Tree (a wild plant in the mountains), grind them in a stone mortar, put them in a cloth bag, place the bag into an iron pot, add water and boil till the soup turns black, remove the residues in the bag, and soak selected glutinous rice into the soup. After a few hours, take out the rice and steam it in a wooden steamer. Black rice is black and blue in color, and soft and delicious in taste. Due to the preservative effect of Wuren, black rice will not turn sour in days in the cool and ventilated place. Eating black rice has the symbolic meaning of preparing for the spring sowing and wishing for a good harvest.

Themeda leaf dumpling, also called themeda dumpling, is usually consumed on the Dragon Boat Festival and the Dragon Day. People of the She ethnic group soak quality glutinous rice in soda water for several hours, fold two leaves into a holding base, and put the glutinous rice in the base to make a 20cm-long dumpling in the shape of a corn cob. Then put it in a pot and boil for about a dozen of hours. During the Dragon Boat Festival, themeda dumplings are offered to the ancestors, as well as presented to friends and relatives as a gift.

The Shes make Ciba for the New Year, Mid-July Day and Winter Day, with the symbolic meaning of good luck and happy life. Ciba is made by soaking glutinous rice in water for a day, draining the water, steaming the rice in a wooden steamer, then grinding it in a stone mortar, and kneading it into small rolls or cakes.