the Yis
With a population of b, 672, 000, the Yis a~ distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou, and in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Liang~han Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan holds the single largest Yi community in China. The Yis are respectively known as "Nussu', "Nasu" or "Niesu" depending on where they reside. From the 13'h cenlury till 1950s, they were known as "Luoluo".
The ancestors of the Yi ethnic group can be traced back to the Qiang people living in northwest China. They migrated to the south and joined the local southwest aboriginal, and created a new group (Yi) later. During the Qing and Han dynasties, they lived in the area of Lake Dianchi in Yunnan Province and in Chengdu of Sichuan Province. They established the slave state of Nanzhao by the g~h century. Before the [950s, they maintained a feudal economy and kept a slave system in areas in Sichuan and Yunnml provinces.
Their language belongs to the Yi branch of the Ttheto-Burman group of the Han- Tibetan language family which includes six different dialects. The Yis used a pictographic written script of an ancient type. They now have a new written script devised and standardized since 1950s. A number of works of history, medicine and literature and genealogies of the ruling families written in the old Yi script are still seen in most Yi areas. More and more Yi people learn to use the Han language and characters in their daily life due to cultural and economic exchanges with the Ham One achievement of the Yis' literature is Ashima, a long and colourt~l narrative poem handed down for generations.
Fel Xiaotong, a famous anthropologist pointed out Yis are worthy of special a~tention in academic research because the latest discoveries about them may well result in the rewriting of China's cultural history. The latest discoveries have found that the Yis ancestors introduced a ten month calendar ten thousand years ago. That scientific calendar was based on a series of "small observatories" in the shape of "toward heaven tombs". The moment of tile sun and stars could be used to determine the calendar by obse~ing the sky in certain positions. The dating of these observatories found in many places show the calendar is 10, 000 years old. According to this calendar, each month is 36 days, each season is two months (72 days), with the remaining 5 or 6 days are kept for the New Year celebrations.
This 36 cycle and 72-cycle have influenced the Han Chinese a lot since ancient times ~d
the two numbers are used extensively even now. There am a lot of proverbs and idioms
featuring these two figures. For instance, there are 36 Stratagems l~om the famous ancient
works "Sunzi Militat3' Stratagems", ehere am 72 mythical transformations from Monkey
King from the famous ~lcient literature Journey to the IVest (by Wu Chengen, 1500--
1582).
The Yis believe in many gods and worshiped their ancestors. Some of them living
among Hun people also believe in Buddhism. They engage in agriculture and animal
husbandry in some areas. People living in the plains take rice. wheal, maize and yams as
buckwheat and yams. They have vegetable, fruits, legumes, pork, mutton and beef as
complements to their main food source.
Though the costumes show great variety and differ from place to place, their annual
Torch Festival is a celebration of bumper h~vests by all the Yis. The festival begins after
nightfall when villagers turn out in mass with flaming tomhes in their hands. They set up
pine torches around their fields in order to frighten away lhe pests and then they sing,
dance and drink mast Io each other throughout tile night accompanying with a fourLstringed
plucked instrument with a full-moon-shaped sound box (Yueqin). A very popular dance
atnong them is Axi Jumps over the Moon, Another important traditional festival is the
October New Year. The Yis' New Year falls on the most auspicious day of the last month
of their own calendar. It is held to celebrate the gathering of the ha~est, to offer sacrifice~
to their ancestors and to pray for favourabie weather and good harvests during the coming
year. People slaughter pigs as sacrifices to their ancesto~ and warm themselves around
fire. Three days later, they begin to exchange visits with relatives and friends, takth~
presents of meat and wine to each other.
Many men and women wear long green or blue gowns, waistbands and blue turbans.
Women wear gowns on which the openings and edges are embroidered with designs.
Women's trousers are mounted with floral borders too. Those Yis living in cok
mountainous areas have collarless and sleeveless short gowns made of sheepskin an~
woollen cloaks.