Yi People

The Yi or Nuosu people, historically known as the Lolo, are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering nine million people, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People’s Republic of China. They live primarily in rural areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, usually in mountainous regions. The Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture is home to the largest population of Yi people within mainland China, with two million Yi people in the region. For other countries, as of 1999, there were 3,300 Mantsi-speaking Lô Lô people living in the Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, and Lào Cai provinces in Northern Vietnam.

The Yi speak various Loloish languages, closely related to Burmese. The prestige variety is Nuosu, which is written in the Yi script.