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Yi has many subgroups. Historically, they shared more
than 100 self-appellations such as Nuosu, Niesu, Nasu, Lowu, Axipo and Sani.
After 1949, they are officially named Yi Ethnic group.
The ancestors of Yi people were closely related with the Di-Qiang(古氐羌)
people, acient nomadic ethnic groups living in the Northwest of today's
China. Many of those Di-Qiang moved southward and they gradually mixed with
local people in the Southwest, so their descendants developed into a new
people around 4 to 5 thousand years ago. The newly developed group was mentioned
as "Bo" (僰)or "pu" （濮） in Chinese historical records
or documents and was thought of as a branch of the Qiang posterity.
 At
the beginning of 400 B.C, the descendants of a noble of Di-Qiang(古氐羌) named
Wugoyuanjian(无弋爰剑), moved southward from the He-Huang area(today's Gansu,
Ningxia and Qinghai provinces) to the area between Mianshan Mountains and
Jinsha River where their posterities evolved into many Qiang groups as Wudu(武都),
Guanghan(广汉), yuexi(越嶲)with the Xi(嶲) and Kunming(昆明), two local groups,
as their neighbors. During the period of Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Kunming
group and the Bo(僰)or Pu（濮）group developed individually.
During the period of Sui and Tang dynasties, the ancestors of Yi were
divided into two subgroups referred to as Wuman and Baiman (Black Local
People and White People) in Chinese documents and records. The former developed
from the Kunming tribe and the latter from mainly the Shou and Pu and other
minority tribes. The inhabited area covered the central area of Yunnan,
Guizhou, Sichuan and part of Guangxi as it is today. In the 30s of the 8th
century, six Yi slavery tribes appeared in the area in the north part of
Ailaoshan and the area around the Erhai Lake. Piluoge, the leader of Mengshezhao
tribe, conquered the other five tribes and founded the Nanzhao Kingdom,
a slavery regime in 783A.D. with the Yi as its main citizens and the Bai
and Naxi included. Its territory covered the east part of Yunnan, the west
of Guizhou and the south part of Sichuan. Later, Loudian and other slaveholders
blocs or regimes were established in the Yi area of Guizhou. Meanwhile tens
of the "zimo", the former military leaders in Liangshan Yi area
in Sichuan also declared independence and set up their own governments.
In 1253A.D (the 3rd year of Menggehan Emperor's reign, Mongolian Yuan Dynasty),
the Mongolian cavalry attacked Yunnan in three routes. The urgent and dangerous
situation made those half-independent Yi tribes, who distributed far away
from each other, reunited under the name of Lolo people and founded a slack
alliance to defense the their home against the Mongolian cavalry, their
common invading enemy. During the Ming dynasty which lasted 276 years, the
hereditary aboriginal Yi governments known as Tusi in Chinese in Shuixi(水西),
Wusa(乌撒), Wumeng(乌蒙), Mangbu(芒部), Dongchuan(东川), Yongning(永宁), Mahu(马湖)and
Jianchang(建昌)across the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan often supported
each other and remained their slavery system well.
During the period of the reign of Kangxi Emperor and the reign of Yongzheng
Emperor, the Qing government implemented the policy of replacement of aboriginal
hereditary officials with appointed officials. As a result, some tribes
were rapidly transitioned from slaveries to feudalist societies while the
ones in some places in Yunnan and Sichuan, especially those in Daliangshan
and Xiaoliangshan, were well kept. Later, 6 big families or clans relatively
adopting the Chinese family names of 龙(long),陇(long),陆(lu),卢(lu),禄(lu) and安(an)
as their own families' names, established feudal bureaucrat comprador blocs
in east Yunnan. After the foundation of the People's Republic of China,
the Yi People were finally liberated from the slavery system or feudal system
and lived a completely new life.
The Yi people have both language and traditional writing system. The language
belongs to Yi Cluster of Tibetan-Burman Branch of Sino-Tibetan Family and
has six dialects that are the East Dialect, the Southeast Dialect, the South
Dialect, the West Dialect, the North Dialect and the Central Dialect. Each
dialect has its own sub-dialects and vernaculars.
Photo by Lielai.Ladu |
The Yi's traditional writing was referred to as "Chuai wen"(爨文),
"chuaizi"(爨字), "chuaishu" (爨书), "Lolowen"
(倮倮文), "Wei wen" (韪文)or "yijing" (夷经)in the Chinese
historical documents while the Yi people call it "nuosubuma"(诺苏补玛),
"naisusongna" (乃苏讼纳), "niesusuo" (聂苏索), "nisi"(尼斯),
"azesu"(阿哲苏)or "nasusuo" (纳苏缩). No final decision has
been concluded yet on the time the Yi writing originated. The inscriptions
on the pottery of the late Longshan culture unearthed from the Dinggong
site in Zou county Shandong province are very similar with the Yi characters
and even can be read in Yi writing way. The seal or stamp in Yi characters
of Tanglang prefecture in the West Han Dynasty was found in the Zhaktong
prefecture of Yunnan. A tablet in Yi characters in East Jin Dynasty named
Jihuo Tablet was also excavated in Dafang county of Guizhou. According to
the historical records or documents in both Chinese and Yi, the Yi writing
system can be calculated being created in Han Dynasty or even earlier. As
for the creator of the Yi writing, there are many ones in Yi folk legends:
Jilu the Old, Benduobengen, Bi-awu, Baibogen, bi-adie, Ranranyiyi and other.
The Yi writing is a syllabic one in which each character represents one
meaning. The characters amount to more than 10,000. Dot, horizontal, vertical
and horizontal-turning strokes are the parts that constitute the characters.
Pictograph, associative compounds, self-explanatory and phonetic loan are
the main way in which the characters are formed. Most of the characters
are single characters and very few are compound ones. Most shapes or structures
of Yi characters in Yi ancient reccrds from Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou and
Guangxi are the same or at least similar. But thare are some differences
in writing ways because of the facts that residences are far away cut apart
by mountains and rivers and that some mistakes were inevitably made when
people copied the records from generation to generation. The Yi writing
in Liangshan of Sichuan is horizontally written from right to left side
while in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi vertically from left to right.
Many ancient books, records and documents have been collected in many
libraries, research institutes and translation agencies both at home and
abroad(as in England, Japan, France and Swiss). And many more are privately
collected by many common Yi people. These Yi historical records, documents
and books deal with many aspects such as religions, history, philosophy,
literature, language and its writing, medicines and medicals, astronomy,
geography and farming skills. Some famous works are mentioned as examples
in the follows. Xinan Yizhi (Yi Records in the Southwest), known as Yi's
encyclopedia, containing 378,000characters, deals with many aspects. It
records the ancient Yi people's rich knowledge about the universe, the history
of human being, "Bagua" (eight trigrams) and "hetu",
the explanation and practice of "jingluo"(Chines and Yi medical
term, means main and collateral channels in a human being's body), and astronomy
and Yi calendar. Qisushu (《齐苏书》) is a Yi medical works or dictionary which
is said to be written in the reign of Emperor Jiajing of Ming dynasty and
won the title of "bright bear in Ailao Distriction. Asima（《阿诗玛》）, a
long narrative poem in Sani Dialect, is a classic works. Beside, the Creation
of Universe（《洪水泛滥史》）, Great Flood（《创世记》）, and the origination of Human Being（《人类的起源》）
are also well-known works written in Yi. The Yi works were often written
on paper, silk cloth and skins of sheep, goats or oxen with brush or bamboo
slips, while a few of them were also carved on bamboo tubes, bamboo slips
or bones of oxen, sheep or goats with knives. Most of the Yi works were
handwritten, and few were wood plate-printed or lithographic printed. More
than thousand handwritten books on Yi history and culture have been found
circulating in different Yi inhabited areas, most of which are about the
creation of the heaven and earth, the origination of human being, the Great
Flood, Marriage between Elder Brother and Younger Sister, wars and migrations,
philosophy, arts and religions etc. Four great epics---Lengeteyi(《勒俄特依》),
Axi's Xianji(《阿细的先基》), Meige(《梅葛》), and Chamu(《查姆》), four great narrative
poems---Asima(《阿诗玛》), Mama's Daughter(《妈妈的女儿》), My Youngest Cousin in Law(《我的幺表妹》),
and Running away for the Sweet Land(《逃到甜蜜的地方》), are favorite readings among
readers at home and abroad, of which Asima has been translated into a dozen
languages and has won a worldwide reputation. Much medical knowledge were
also well recorded in Yi documents. Some works on Yi medical practice written
in Yi during the period of Yuan and Qing dynasties are listed below: Looking
for the Right Medicine(《寻药找药经》), Medical Calculation(《医算书》), A List of Some
Prescriptions(《献药经》), On the Yi Medicine in Ming Dynasty(《明代彝医书》), Medical
Guidance(《指路经》), etc. In the past decades, literate works and arts by contemporary
authors and artists have been developed well and many famous author and
artists have been appearing in the horizon.
Many of the Yi characters were inscribed on tablets or carved on rocks.
The Yi characters on Houqi Tablet (《火济碑》)excavated in Dafang county, Guizhou
province were carved in East Jin dynasty. The bronze or copper bell, also
found in Dafang, which was molded in the 21st year of the reign of Emperor
Chenghua in Ming dynasty (1485 A.D), was engraved in both Chinese and Yi
characters. The Cliff Engraved with Characters(《镌字岩》) in Luquan county,
Yunnan province, which was engraved in the 12th year of the reign of Emperor
Jiajing in Ming dynasty (1533A.D), was also engraved in both Chinese and
Yi characters. Tombs stone tablets and guiding stone tablets carved in Yi
characters are countless. Bones of oxen, sheep and goats and tiles carved
with fortune-telling instructions in Yi characters are also numerous.
After the foundation of the People's Republic of China, the Yi traditional
writings in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guangxi have been standardized
and these standardized writings have been put into use in the Yi inhabited
areas. The Tentative Program for Standardization of Traditional Yi Characters(《彝文规范试行方案》)
was worked out in Sichuan in 1975, in which 819 characters were decided
as standardized ones. The program was ratified to put into practice in Liangshan
Yi Autonomous Prefecture by the State Council (which still have been putting
into practice at present), and had good results.
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