Yi
ꆈꌠ
彝族

Alternative names: Nuosu and dozens of others
Total population
7,762,286[1]
Regions with significant populations
China: Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi; Vietnam 3,307 (1999); Thailand
Languages
Yi, Chinese
Religion
Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism[2]
Related ethnic groups
Naxi, Qiang, Tibetan, possibly Tujia.

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

The Yi or Lolo people^[3] are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering 8 million, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority 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. As of 1999, there were 3,300 "Lô Lô" people living in Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, and Lào Cai provinces in northeastern Vietnam. Most Yi are farmers; herders of cattle, sheep and goats; and nomadic hunters.^{[citation needed]}

The Yi speak various Loloish languages, Tibeto-Burman languages closely related to Burmese. The prestige variety is Nuosu, which is written in the Yi script.

Location [edit]

Of the more than 8 million Yi people, over 4.5 million live in Yunnan Province, 2.5 million live in southern Sichuan Province, and 1 million live in the northwest corner of Guizhou Province. Nearly all the Yi live in mountainous areas,^{[citation needed]} often carving out their existence on the sides of steep mountain slopes far from the cities of China.

The altitudinal differences of the Yi areas directly affect the climate and precipitation of these areas. These striking differences are the basis of the old saying that "The weather is different a few miles away" in the Yi area. This is the primary reason why the Yi in various areas are so different from one another in the ways they make a living.^[4]

Subgroups [edit]

Although different groups of Yi refer to themselves in different ways (including Nisu, Sani, Axi, Lolo, Acheh) and sometimes speak mutually unintelligible dialects, they have been grouped into a single ethnicity by the Chinese, and the various local appellations can be classified into three groups:

• Ni (ꆀ). The appellations of Nuosu,^[5] Nasu, Nesu, Nisu, and other similar names are considered derivatives of the original autonym “ꆀ” (Nip) appended with the suffix -su, indicating "people". The name "Sani" is also a variety of this group. Further, it is widely believed that the Chinese names 夷 and 彝 (both pinyin: Yí) were derived from Ni.
• Lolo. The appellations of Lolo, Lolopu, etc. are related to the Yi people’s worship of the tiger, as “lo” in their dialects means "tiger". "Lo" is also the basis for the Chinese exonym Luóluó 猓猓, 倮倮, or 罗罗. The original character 猓, with the "dog radical" 犭and a guǒ 果 phonetic, was considered condescending,^[6] comparable to the Chinese name guǒran 猓然 "a long-tailed ape". Languages reforms in the PRC replaced the 猓 character in Luóluó twice. First by Luó 倮, with the "human radical" 亻and the same phonetic, but that was a graphic variant for luǒ 裸 "naked"; and later by Luó 罗 "net for catching birds". Paul K. Benedict noted, "a leading Chinese linguist, has remarked that the name 'Lolo' is offensive only when written with the 'dog' radical.^[7]
• Other. This group includes various other appellations of different groups of Yi. Some of them may be of other ethnic groups but are recognised as Yi by the Chinese. The "Pu" may be relevant to an ancient ethnic group Pu (Chinese: 濮). In the legends of the northern Yi, the Yi people conquered Pu and its territory in the northeastern part of the modern Liangshan.

(Groups listed below are sorted by their broad linguistic classification and the general geographic area where they live. Within each section, larger groups are listed first.)

History [edit]

A Yi woman in traditional dress

Some scholars believe that the Yi are descended from the ancient Qiang people of today's 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 the 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 Liangshan and northwestern Yunnan practiced a complicated form of slavery. People were split into the nuohuo or Black Yi (nobles), qunuo or White Yi (commoners), and slaves. White Yi were free and could own property and slaves but were in a way tied to a lord. Other ethnic groups were held as slaves.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]}

Legend [edit]

Most Yi believe they have the same ancestor, ꀉꁌꅋꃅ or ꀉꁌꐧꃅ (Axpu Ddutmu or Axpu Jjutmu). It is said that Apu Dumu married three wives and had six sons: each of the wives bore two sons. In the legend, the oldest two sons leading their tribes conquered other aborigines of Yunnan and began to reside in most territory of Yunnan. The youngest two sons led their tribes eastwards and were defeated by Han, before finally making western Guizhou their home and creating the largest quantity of Yi script documents. The other two sons led their tribes across the Jinsha River and dwelled in Liangshan. This group had close intermarriage with the local ꁍ (Pup).

Known history [edit]

Most Yi live in Liangshan, Chuxiong, and Honghe. At the Lizhou archaeological site (Chinese: 礼州遗址) near Xichang of Liangshan, dating to 3,000 years ago, many artifacts of the Neolithic Age have been discovered. Although no evidence proves that these ancient cultures of stone age have direct correlation with modern Yi people, their descendants, local bronze culture, may have had some influence on Yi people, as the ancestors of Yi people had frequent contact and intermarriage with local tribes, such as Dian (Chinese: 滇), Qiong (Chinese: 邛) and Zuo (Chinese: 笮), during their southwards migration from north eastern edge of Tibetan Plateau. Today, the Yi people still call the city of Xichang as ꀒꎂ (Op Rro). In spite of the affix “or-”, the root “dro” is believed by some scholars as related to the tribe Qiong (Chinese: 邛) as the pronunciation is quite close to the ancient pronunciation of Chinese character 邛.

During the Han dynasty, the central sovereign of China conquered the valley of Anning River, which is a tributary of Yalong River, and founded a county there named Qiongdu (Chinese: 邛都). The site is Xichang of present day and from that time onwards, Xichang has become the bridge of Chengdu and Kunming across Yi area. Since Han dynasty, Yi people have been involved in the history of China. In the north dialect of modern Yi language, Chinese Han is still called ꉌꈲ (Hxie mgat), which is related to the Chinese word 汉家 (pinyin: Hànjiā), which means household of Han.

After the Han dynasty, the Shu of the Three Kingdoms conducted several wars against the ancestors of Yi under the lead of Zhuge Liang. They defeated the king of Yi, ꂽꉼ (Mot Hop; Chinese: 孟获) and expanded their conquered territory in Yi area. After that, the Jin Dynasty succeed Shu as the suzerainty of Yi area but with weak control.

After the Jin dynasty, central China entered the era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties with frequent wars against the invading nomads from the north and lost its control of Yi and Yi area.

Although the Sui dynasty reunited China, it did not retrieve control of Yi but had close communications with Han residential spots scattered within Yi area (most along Anning River). After the Sui dynasty's mere 37 years, the situation continued in Tang dynasty. During Sui and Tang dynasty, the local aborigines of present-day Yunnan and Liangshan were distinguished by Chinese Han as Wuman (Chinese: 乌蛮, meaning black barbarian) and Baiman (Chinese: 白蛮, meaning white barbarian). Some scholars believe that Wuman is the ancestor of modern Yi while Baiman is the ancestor of modern Bai people (Chinese: 白族) of Yunnan.

The Wuman and Baiman people founded six independent cities on Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. The cities are called Zhao (Chinese: 诏) in Chinese history records with actual meaning of city chieftain. In A.D. 649 the king Xinuluo (Chinese: 细奴逻) of the Mengshe Zhao (Chinese: 蒙舍诏) extended his city's territory into a kingdom in the name of Great Meng (Chinese: 大蒙国). The location of the Great Meng is near the Erhai Lake. Yi people believe the capital of the Great Meng was located in the area of nowaday Weishan county. In the year A.D. 737, with the support of the Tang dynasty of China, King Piluoge (Chinese: 皮罗阁) of the Great Meng united the six cities in succession, establishing a new kingdom. As the Great Meng is the most southern polis of the six, Tang dynasty recorded the united Great Meng as Nanzhao (Chinese: 南诏), which means the city located in the south. Although academic arguments exist, there is a popular view that the royal family of Nanzhao is Yi and the most ministers are Bai. In Weishan county of present days, the saga of King Piluoge is still on every Yi’s lips.

Tibet also noted the spring of Nanzhao, which in Tibetan is called Jang. Although Tibet had maintained suzerainty over Nanzhao for decades, Nanzhao finally turned to the Tang dynasty. At the era of King Geluofeng (Chinese 阁罗凤), who was the son of King Piluoge, the Tang dynasty performed three expeditions against Nanzhao to conquer it, but all failed.

Nanzhao existed for 165 years until A.D. 902. After 35 years of tangled warfare, Duan Siping (Chinese 段思平) of the Bai birth founded the Kingdom of Dali, succeeding the territory of Nanzhao. Most Yi of that time were under the ruling of Dali. Dali’s sovereign existed for 316 years coterminous with the Song dynasty of central China, until it was conquered by Kublai Khan. During the era of Dali, Yi people lived in the territory of Dali but had little communication with the royalty of Dali.

Kublai Khan included Dali in his domain, grouping it with Tibet. The Yuan emperors remained firmly in control of the Yi people and the area they inhabited as part of Kublai Khan's Yunnan Xingsheng (Chinese: 云南行省) at current Yunnan, Guizhou and part of Sichuan. In order to enhance its sovereign over the area, the Yuan dynasty set up a dominion for Yi, Luoluo Xuanweisi (Chinese: 罗罗宣慰司), the name of which means local appeasement government for Lolos. Although technically under the rule of the Yuan emperor, the Yi still had autonomy during the Yuan dynasty. The gulf between aristocrats and the common people increased during this time.

During the Ming dynasty the Chinese emperor expedited its cultural assimilation policy in southwestern China, spreading the policy of Gai Tu Gui Liu (Chinese: 改土归流). The governing power of many Yi feudal lords had previously been expropriated by the successors of officials assigned by the central government. With the progress of Gai Tu Gui Liu, the Yi area was dismembered into many communities both large and small, and it was difficult for the communities to communicate with each other as there were often Han-ruled areas between them.

The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty defeated Wu Sangui and took over the land of Yunnan and established a provincial government there. When Ortai became the Viceroy of Yunnan and Guizhou during the era of Yongzheng Emperor, the policy of Gai Tu Gui Liu and cultural assimilation against Yi were strengthened. Under these policies, Yi who lived near Kunming were forced to abandon their convention of traditional cremation and adopt burial, a policy which triggered rebellions among the Yi. The Qing dynasty suppressed these rebellions.

After the Second Opium War (1856–1860), many Christian missionaries from France and Great Britain visited the area in which the Yi lived. Although some missionaries believed that Yi of some areas such as Liangshan were not under the ruling of Qing dynasty and should be independent, most aristocrats insisted that Yi was a part of China despite their resentment against Qing rule.

Long Yun, a Yi, was the military governor of Yunnan, during the Republic of China rule on mainland China.

After the establishment of the PRC, several Yi autonomous administrative districts of prefecture or county level were set up in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou. With the development of automotive traffic and telecommunications, the communications among different Yi areas have been increasing sharply.

Language [edit]

The Chinese government recognizes six mutually unintelligible Yi languages, from various branches of the Loloish family:^[14]

Northern Yi (Nuosu 诺苏), Western Yi (Lalo 腊罗), Central Yi (Lolopo 倮倮泼), Southern Yi (Nisu 尼苏), Southeastern Yi (Sani 撒尼), Eastern Yi (Nasu 纳苏).

Northern Yi is the largest with some two million speakers, and is the basis of the literary language. There are also ethnically Yi languages of Vietnam which use the Yi script, such as Mantsi.

Many Yi in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi know Standard Chinese, and code switching between Yi and Chinese is common.

Script [edit]

The Yi script was originally logosyllabic like Chinese, and dates to at least the 13th century. There were perhaps 10,000 characters, many of which were regional, since the script had never been standardized across the Yi peoples. A number of works of history, literature, and medicine, as well as genealogies of the ruling families, written in the Old Yi script are still in use, and there are Old Yi stone tablets and steles in the area.

Under the Communist government, the script was standardized as a syllabary. Syllabic Yi is widely used in books, newspapers, and street signs.

Culture [edit]

The Yi play a number of traditional musical instruments, including large plucked and bowed string instruments,^[15] as well as wind instruments called bawu (巴乌) and mabu (马布). The Yi also play the hulu sheng, though unlike other minority groups in Yunnan, the Yi do not play the hulu sheng for courtship or love songs (aiqing). The kouxian, a small four-pronged instrument similar to the Jew's harp, is another commonly found instrument among the Liangshan Yi. Kouxian songs are most often improvised and are supposed to reflect the mood of the player or the surrounding environment. Kouxian songs can also occasionally function in the aiqing form. Yi dance is perhaps the most commonly recognized form of musical performance, as it is often performed during publicly sponsored holidays and/or festival events.

Yi people's son's given name is patronymic, based on the last one or two syllable of father's name.

Religion [edit]

The Yi are animists, with elements of Daoism, shamanism and fetishism. Shamans/medicine men are known as “Bimo”ꀘꂾ (official transcription: bi mox; proximate French pronunciation: pimo), which means the master who can chant ancient documents. Bimo officiate at births, funerals, weddings and fetes. They are often seen along the street consulting ancient scripts. As animists, Yi worship the spirits of ancestors, fire, hills, trees, rocks, water, earth, sky, wind, and forests. Magic plays a major role in daily life through healing, exorcism, asking for rain, cursing enemies, blessing, divination and analysis of one's relationship with the spirits. They believe dragons protect villages against bad spirits, and demons cause diseases. However, the Yi dragon is neither similar to dragon in western culture nor the same as that in Han culture. After someone dies they sacrifice a pig or sheep at the doorway to maintain relationship with the deceased spirit.

The Nuosu religion (from the Nuosu or Nasu group in the Yi minority) distinguishes two sorts of shamans: the Bimo and the Sunyi ꌠꑊ(official transcription: su nyit; proximate French pronunciation: sougni). Bimo, who can read Yi scripts while Sunyi cannot, are the most revered and maybe also important agents in the Nuosu religion, to the point that sometimes the Nuosu religion is also called “bimo religion”. While one becomes a Bimo by patrilineal descent after a time of apprenticeship or formally acknowledging an old Bimo as the teacher, a sunyi must be elected. Both can perform rituals. But only Bimo can perform rituals linked to death. For most cases, Sunyi only perform some exorcism to cure diseases. Bimo are literate too. Generally, Sunyi can only be from humble civil birth while Bimo can be of both aristocratic and humble families. In order to preserve this heritage and promote tourism, the local government helped construct a museum to house ancient artifacts.

In Yunnan, some of the Yi have been influenced by Buddhism through the Han culture. The most important god of Yi Buddhism is Mahākāla.

The Yi believe in numerous evil spirits. They believe that spirits cause illness, poor harvests and other misfortunes and inhabit all material things. The Yi also believe in multiple souls. At death, one soul remains to watch the grave while the other is eventually reincarnated into some living form.

In the 20th century, some Yi people in China converted to Christianity, after the arrival of Gladstone Porteous in 1904 and, later, medical missionaries such as Alfred James Broomhall, Janet Broomhall, Ruth Dix and Joan Wales of the China Inland Mission. According to missionary organization OMF International, the exact number of Yi Christians is not known. In 1991 it was reported that there were as many as 150,000 Yi Christians in Yunnan Province, especially in Luquan County where there are more than 20 churches.^[16]

See also [edit]

• Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture
• Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture
• Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture
• Hani people
• Bai people
• Yiminaspis, a prehistoric fish named in honor of the Yi.

Notes [edit]

1. ^ China.org.cn - The Yi Ethnic Group
2. ^ Travel China Guide - Yi
3. ^ Nuosu: ꆈꌠ [nɔ̄sū]; Chinese transcription: 诺苏 Nuòsū; Chinese: 彝族; pinyin: Yízú; Vietnamese: Lô Lô; Thai: โล-โล, Lo-Lo
4. ^ http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-yi.htm
5. ^ Some scholars, however, argue that the Nuosu-series appellations are from the word "black" instead (ꆈ, Nuo).
6. ^ Ramsey, Robert S. (1987). The Languages of China, p. 160. Princeton University Press.
7. ^ Benedict, Paul K. (1987). "Autonyms: ought or ought not." Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 10: 188. Italics in original.
8. ^ Martin Schoenhals Intimate Exclusion: Race and Caste Turned Inside Out 2003- Page 26 "A non-slave-owning Black Yi, or a poor one, was nonetheless always higher in caste status than any White Yi, even a wealthy one or one owning slaves, and the Black Yi manifested this superiority by refusing to marry White Yi even if the latter ..."
9. ^ Barbara A. West Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania 2009 - Page 910 "Yi society prior to the revolution in 1949 was divided into four ranked classes or castes: Nuohuo, or Black Yi; Qunuo, or White Yi; Ajia; and Xiaxi. The Nuohuo, or Black Yi, was the highest and smallest caste at just about 7 percent of the ..."
10. ^ Yongming Zhou Anti-Drug Crusades in Twentieth-Century - China: Nationalism, ... - 1999 - Page 150 "The black Yi (about 7 percent of the population) made up the aristocratic ruling class, and the white Yi held subordinate status. Within the white Yi, however, there were three subgroups: Qunuo, Anjia, and Jiaxi. Qunuo (about 50 percent of the ..."
11. ^ S. Robert Ramsey The Languages of China 1987- Page 253 "The Black Yi looked down on farming, and all cultivation was traditionally done by White Yi and slaves. The Black Yi were responsible only for administration and military protection. Even so, however, they usually took great care to tend to their ..."
12. ^ Stevan Harrell Perspectives on the Yi of Southwest China 2001 - Page 174 "One village is for Black Yi, who speak Black Yi language. One village is for White Yi, who speak White Yi language. One place is for Red Yi, who speak Red Yi language. One village is for Gan Yi, who speak Gan Yi language. One village is for ..."
13. ^ Daniel H. Bays Christianity in China: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present 1999- Page 144 "In the local hierarchy of ethnic groups, they ranked near the bottom, below the Chinese, the Yi aristocracy (Black Yi) and free men (White Yi), and the Hui, closer to the Yi slave caste."
14. ^ Andrew West, The Yi People and Language
15. ^ http://www.yizuren.com/article.asp?articleid=549
16. ^ "OMF International". Retrieved 2008-02-18. 

References [edit]

• 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.
• Clements, Ronald. Point Me to the Skies: the amazing story of Joan Wales.(Monarch Publications, 2007), ISBN 978-0-8254-6157-6.
• Dessaint, Alain Y. Minorities of Southwest China: An Introduction to the Yi (Lolo) and Related Peoples. (New Haven: HRAF Press, 1980).
• Du Ruofu and Vip, Vincent F. Ethnic Groups in China. (Beijing: Science Press, 1993).
• Goullart, Peter. Princes of the Black Bone. (John Murray, London, 1959).
• Grimes, Barbara F. Ethnologue. (Dallas: Wycliffe Bible Translators, 1988).
• Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers. The History of the History of the Yi. Edited by Stevan Harrell. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995).
• Perspectives on the Yi of Southwest China. Edited by Stevan Harrell. (Berkeley / Los Angeles / London: University of California Press, 2001), ISBN 0-520-21988-0.
• China's Minority Nationalities. Edited by Ma Yin. (Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1994).
• Zhang Weiwen and Zeng Qingnan. In Search of China's Minorities. (Beijing: New World Press).
• Ritual for Expelling Ghosts: A religious Classic of the Yi nationality in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan (The Taipei Ricci Institute, Nov. 1998), ISBN 957-9185-60-3.

Bibliography [edit]

• Benoît Vermander. L'enclos à moutons : un village nuosu du sud-ouest de la Chine. Paris. Les Indes savantes (2007).

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yi people

• China.org.cn. "The Yi ethnic minority".
• Peoples.org. "Yi Peoples of China".
• Yizuren.com. "Huge string instruments of the Yi".
• Vermander, B. "The Yis of Liangshan Prefecture".
• Vermander, B. "Nuosu Religion: Rituals, Agents and Belief".
• Ayi Bamo. "The Bi-mox in The Liangshan Yi Society."
• Perspectives on the Yi of Southwest China. Edited by Stevan Harrell.