Yi people

The Yi (self- designation: ꆈ ꌠ in official transcription: nuo su, IPA: [ nɔsu ]; Chinese彝族, Pinyin Yizu, Yi - folk ), known in the West under the outdated and derogatory name Lolo, are one of the 56 in the People's Republic of China recognized nationalities.

Settlement areas of the Yi

The Yi are 8,714,393 people ( Census 2010) and settle scattered in the southwestern provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi, mainly in rural, mountainous areas.

The autonomous districts and counties of Yi: - Items marked with * circles are simultaneously autonomous counties other minorities -

  • In Sichuan Province: Liangshan Autonomous District
  • Yi autonomous counties of the territory of the prefecture-level city of Leshan: Ebian
  • Mabian
  • Chuxiong Autonomous District
  • Honghe Autonomous District
  • Yi autonomous counties of the territory of the prefecture-level city of Kunming: Shilin
  • Luquan *
  • Xundian *
  • Eshan
  • Xinping *
  • Yuanjiang *
  • Ning'er *
  • Jingdong
  • Jinggu *
  • Zhenyuan *
  • Jiangcheng *
  • Yangbi
  • Nanjian
  • Weishan *
  • Weining Autonomous County *

Smaller groups of the Yi live, mostly under the name " Lolo ", " Lolos " in Vietnam, Laos (approximately 2,000 people ), and probably also in Myanmar and Thailand ( exact number unknown).

History

The Yi go back to the ancient Qiang, which also act as ancestors of the Tibetans, Naxi and Qiang today. Originally from southeastern Tibet, they settled from the 2nd century BC in the area of ​​today's Kunming and the southeast of Xichang. Part of the Yi emigrated to Thailand. The ethnogenesis of the Yi is complicated and draws from several different sources.

Language

The 30 different languages ​​that are spoken among the Yi belong mainly to the Yi languages, a branch of the Yi - Burmese languages ​​within the Tibeto-Burman languages. The single most important language is the Yi with 4.2 million speakers in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan. Two small Yi - groups of a few hundred people, however, speak Kadai languages. In the 13th century its own pictographic writing developed. The font originally consisted of approximately 10,000 characters. 1956 Latin script was introduced, but from 1974/1975 a simplified syllabary was used experimentally. This modern syllabary of Liangshan Yi consists of 1164 characters. In 1980 she finally gained official status.

See also: Peoples of Vietnam

239163
de