Yi people
| Yi | |
|---|---|
| Alternative names: Nuosu | |
| Total population | 6.6 million |
| Regions with significant populations | China: Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi; Vietnam; Thailand |
| Language | Yi |
| Religion | animism <tr><th style="background-color:#fee8ab;">Related ethnic groups</th><td style="background-color:#fff6d9;">Naxi, Qiang</td> </tr> |
The Yi people (own name in the Liangshan dialect: ꆈꌠ, official transcription: Nuosu, IPA: /nɔ̄sū/; Chinese: 彝族; pinyin: Yìzú; the older name "Lolo" is now considered derogatory in China, though used officially in Vietnam as Lô Lô and in Thailand as Lolo) are a modern ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering 6.6 million, they are the seventh largest of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They live primarily in rural areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, usually in mountainous regions. There are 3300 Lô Lô peoples (1999 statistics) live in Hà Giang, Cao Bằng and Lào Cai provinces in Vietnam.
The Yi speak Yi, a Tibeto-Burman language closely related to Burmese, and have their own syllabic script.
Contents |
History
Legend has it that the Yi are descended from the ancient Qiang people of Western China, who are also said to be the ancestors of the Tibetan, Naxi and Qiang peoples. They migrated from Southeastern Tibet through Sichuan and into Yunnan Province, where their largest populations can be found today.
They practice a form of animism, led by a shaman priest known as the Bimaw. They still retain a few ancient religious texts written in their unique pictographic script. Their religion also contains many elements of Daoism and Buddhism.
Many of the Yi in northwestern Yunnan practiced a complicated form of slavery. People were split into the nuohuo or Black Yi (nobles) and qunuo or White Yi (commoners). White Yi and other ethnic groups were held as slaves, but the higher slaves were allowed to farm their own land, hold their own slaves and eventually buy their freedom.
See also
References
- Cheng Xiamin. A Survey of the Demographic Problems of the Yi Nationality in the Greater and Lesser Liang Mountains. Social Sciences in China. 3: Autumn 1984, 207-231.
- Dessaint, Alain Y. Minorities of Southwest China: An Introduction to the Yi (Lolo) and Related Peoples. (New Haven: HRAF Press, 1980).
- Du Ruofu and Vincent F. Vip. Ethnic Groups in China. (Beijing: Science Press, 1993).
- Harrell, Stevan, ed. Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers. The History of the History of the Yi. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995).
- Harrell, Stevan, ed. Perspectives on the Yi of Southwest China. (Berkeley / Los Angeles / London: University of California Press, 2001), ISBN 0-520-21988-0.
- Ma Yin, ed. China's Minority Nationalities. (Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1994).
- Zhang Weiwen and Zeng Qingnan. In Search of China's Minorities. (Beijing: New World Press).
External links
- The Yi ethnic minority (China.org.cn)
- Huge string instruments of the Yi
- Huge string instruments of the Yi
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