Yi people

Lore & Background

According to Yi legend, all life originated in water and water was created by snowmelt, which as it dripped down, created a creature called the Ni. The Ni gave birth to all life. Ni is another name for the Yi people. It is sometimes translated as black because black is a revered color in Yi culture.

Yi tradition tells us that their common ancestor was named Apu Dumu or (Axpu Ddutmu or Axpu Jjutmu). Apu Dumu had three wives, each of whom had two sons. The six sons migrated to the area that is now Zhaotong and spread out in the four directions, creating the Wu, Zha, Nuo, Heng, Bu, and Mo clans. The Yi practiced a lineage system where younger brothers were subordinate to their elders, which often spurred younger sons to leave their villages and establish their own domains.

Reader's Guide

Of the more than 9 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, 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. Yi populations in different areas are very different from one another, making their living in completely different ways.

Did You Know?

• The appellations of Lolo, Lolopu, etc. are related to the Yi people's worship of the tiger, as lo in their dialects means 'tiger'.
• Some historians believe that the elite of the kingdom of Nanzhao spoke a variant of Nuosu, a Tibeto-Burman language closely related to Burmese.