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A Yi Village (Liangshan) |
Yi People is mainly distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou, and northwestward
of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Prefecture. As a whole, its geographical distributing
pattern can be generalized as ' Separated largely but centralized in small
size'. 19 Autonomous Countries are mainly inhabited by Yi which are Liangshan
Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichan, Chuxing Yi Autonomous Prefecture in
Yunnan, Honghe Yi and Hani Autonomous Prefecture, Shilin Yi Autonomous Country,
Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous Country. Furthermore, there are Yi villages
scattering in many places of China; we can see them not only from Dadu River
of north to Yunnan Frontier of south, but also from Wu River of east to
Lancang River. Commonly, Yi People live together with other minorities in
these regions. In addition, there are nearly 30 thousand Yi People distributed
in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Burma, of which more than 10 thousand
live in Vietnam.
China Stone Forest
Photo by Yang Xingming |
The southwest regions, in which the Yi are distributed, are the locus
of the southeast margin of Yun-gui Plateau and Qing-zang Plateau where roll
green mountains, crisscross clean rivers, exist multiple changing climates,
spread out many flatland, line deep valleys, scatter big lakes and lie abundant
resources. Many towering mountains, such as Big Snow-mountain, Daliangshan
Mountain, Wumengshan Mountain, Ailaoshan Mountain and Wuliangshan Mountain
stand in it; Many billowy and surging rivers, such as Dadu River, Yalu river,
Anning River, Yuan River, Lancang River and Nanpan River flow in it. And
there are lots of picturesque plateau lakes, such as Qiu Lake, Lugu Lake,
Dian Lake, Cao Lake and Ma Lake etc.. Furthermore, there are many river-valley
plains and many basins located in mountains, such as Kunming, Qujing, Yiliang,
Mengzi, Yuxi and Ten Liangshan Flatlands etc.. The mountain areas, the half-mountain
areas, the river-valley plains and the basins located in mountains are the
main regions that Yi People inhabit.
LuoJushan mountain(Liangshan)
Photo by You Xiaojun |
The landform and the natural condition are very complex here because the
mountains and the rivers crisscross and the gorges are in great depth. Most
of the places in this region are mountainous or half-mountainous areas,
such as Ailao Mountains and the Wuliang Mountains, and range from 1,000
meters to 2,500 meters above sea level. A few of them are places with the
hills and the river-valley, such as Jinsha River, Honghe River and the valleys
of their branches. And a few of them are cold and high mountainous areas
with the altitude of 3,000 meter around; they are the hinterland of Daliangshan
Mountain and Xiaoliangshan Mountain, the east of Yunnan and the Northwest
of Guizhou. There are great differences in temperature and rainfall in different
regions. In high-cold mountains it is very cool while in mountains and half-mountain
it is warm and rains moderately. The climate of many river-valleys in the
sub-torrid zone is torrid. All above of these provide good advantaged natural
conditions for agriculture, forestry and stock raising. As multiple as the
physiognomy, the resources here are plenty: there are animal resources,
plant resources, water power resources, fish resources and mineral resources
in the vast Yi People's areas. The middle reaches' forest area of Golden
Sand River in Chuxiong of Yunnan, the Honghe Area and the area of Bijie
and Weining of Guizhou are famous Green Steel bases of Chinese southwest.
Many kinds of rare creatures, such as tiger, leopard, bear, orang, mossback,
wild horse, lynx, antelope, panda, canary monkey and birds inhabit in these
braod wildwoods and regenerated wildwoods of Sichuan, which includes great
area of sub-tropic evergreen broad-leaf forest , sub-tropic
A Yi Village (Shilin)
Photo by HuangPingshan |
taiga, sub-tropic high mountain taiga and sub-tropic economy woods in Daliang
Moutain and XiaoLian Mountain. The extremely abundant resources of water
power are contained in billowy Dadu River, Golden Sand River, Anning River,
Yuan River, Lancang River and Nanpan River etc.. Yi inhabited areas teem
with mine of iron, coal, copper and stannum etc.. The iron ore of Sichuan,
stannum mine of Gejiu and copper mine of Dongchuan take great important
role in the same sort of domestic mine. Yi Regions are not only rich in
products but also are cradles for amniote and ancient ape-men. For instance,
the Ramapithecus found in the Golden River's drainage area, which the Chuxiong
Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan is located in, and the ancient fossils of
Yuanmou ape-men, have already been famous both at home and overseas. The
unique ethnic conventions and natural scenery make the tour resources in
Yi Regions rich and particular. For instance, the marvelous spectacle of
the Stone Forest in Lunan, the annual Torch Festival and the colorful wooden
craftworks attract Countless tourists each year. Lots of Yi special products
as tobacco produced in Honghe, Strong chicken in Wuding, ham of Xuanwei,
and Boilered Chicken in Jianshui, are famous and well-known.
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