Wood Gathering

Visiting the Yi region feels like stepping centuries back in time when mere survival was life’s greatest challenge. Intense manual labor fills most of the villagers’ day. Seasonal weather is becoming unpredictable and natural catastrophes can wipe out an entire region. Working hard each day is a necessity as every day counts. This older man made five trips that day, not just for his household but also for his aging neighbor. He walked over 20 miles, carrying over 200 lbs.

Old Sage

The Chinese zodiac consists of a twelve-year cycle, each year being associated with a certain creature. The order was determined in the so-called Great Race, where each species had to complete a contest of running and racing across a river. The horse is featured as the seventh in the cycle. Without horses, the Yi region would fall even further back in time. This Old Sage stopped and asked about my experience in his remote village. It was not a typical curiosity conversation, but rather a heart-felt welcoming.

Farmer’s Daughters Fetching Water

I had been traveling on a rough road for miles when I saw these two young girls at work. They were carrying buckets of water from a stream to their house, as they have no running water. They were not smiling, but they knew that their role was critical to the wellbeing of their family. Traveling through the Yi territories helped me better understand the Chinese government’s well-publicized drive to eradicate poverty by 2020.

Local Farmer at the Market

For many centuries, barter was the form of trading among the Yi people. Goods for exchange included livestock and grain. Salt, cloth, hardware, needles and threads, and other daily necessities were available only in places where Yi and Han Chinese lived together. This local farmer has been selling his livestock for decades. He cherishes the downtime when he can share a smoke with his friends. Business is survival, but friends are life.

Villagers

The craggy, muddy mountain roads reinforce the vast distance, both geographically and psychologically, between the Yi villages and the outside world. Most Yi people are scattered in frigid mountain areas at high altitudes, while a small number live on flat land or in valleys. This is the primary reason why the Yi in various areas are so different from one another in the ways they make a living.

Family Bond

Family planning rules, known as the One Child Policy in China, are widely ignored among the Yis as children are considered a blessing, even when many are dressed in rags or with faces and bodies so dirty that they suffer from skin rashes. It has to be said, though, that despite all that, small children here look quite happy.

Yi Farmers Smoking Traditional Pipes

The Yi people used to have a syllabic script called the old Yi language, which was formed in the 13th century. It is estimated that the extant old Yi script has about 10,000 words, of which 1,000 are words in everyday use. Since the old Yi language is not consistent in word form and pronunciation, people often communicate in Mandarin, especially in the regional centers. These two farmers wanted to share their stories but none of my guides could understand them. We all smoked and had a good laugh.

Woman with Sacred Rooster

The chicken is an important totemic animal to the Yi. It is honored in a special dance performed at night by dozens of people wearing hats with strung beads arranged in the shape of chicken combs. To the accompaniment of moon guitars, the dancers execute fast tempo steps from the knee down that mimic the movements of a chicken. Even though she was very proud of her rooster, she wanted to make us a meal out of it. Generosity is contagious in the Yi region.

Boy and his Father at the Market

The government has tried to improve access to education for the Yi, but it struggles to recruit teachers to work in such remote areas. Many Yi people do not speak Mandarin, the main language in China. As a result, they have limited options for earning a living beyond farming. My guide struck up a conversation with them and unfortunately gathered that the old proverb was still true: “Like father, like son.” It does take a strong will to break the cycle.

Traditional Dance Performance at Torch Festival

These young Yi girls have moved away from the region to get educated and earn a living. They would not miss performing annually at the Torch festival and bonding with their friends. Their hearts are still well entrenched in their traditional culture. An ancient poem describing the festival centuries ago goes: "The mountain seems wrapped by rosy cloud; Uneven torches move back and forth with people which are like ten thousand of lotus flowers blossoming in mirage, and stars all over the sky fall down to the human world."

Boy with Toy Pistol

Despite having invented gunpowder in the 9th century, Chinese culture has no history of glorifying gunslingers. Swords have always been the weapon of choice in Chinese folklore. With so few firearms in Chinese culture, the emergence of toy guns, a growing phenomenon, is all the more inexplicable. The young boy was determined to flag me down. When he got closer, I reciprocated with my fingers as a made up gun. Everybody started to laugh.

Ring Leader

At eight years old, she seems to have already gone through a full cycle of life. She takes care of all her siblings when her parents work in the field. She is the go-to person in this one street village, as other kids look at her for direction. Her exterior demeanor shows toughness, but the inside is tender and warm. On a subsequent trip I shared images with her and she thanked me with a big smile and laughter with her friends.

Grandmother and Kids

At first, this family was resisting our presence. The two girls had just carried water to the house and the young boy was already eating. Rice production is limited, most poor Yi peasants live on acorns, banana roots, celery, flowers, and wild herbs all year round. After we struck up a conversation through the young girls (the grandmother spoke only the Yi dialect), they invited us inside their house. The moisture and piercing cold were forgotten as they welcomed us with open arms and hot drinks around their traditional fireplace.

Old Dwelling

Most Yi houses are low mud-and-wood structures without windows and are dark and damp. Interior decoration is simple and crude, with little furniture and very few utensils, except for a fireplace consisting of three stones. The government offered to build this gentleman a new house, which at first he resisted. His son convinced him otherwise and construction was already under way. The future modern structure will host the extended family to the joy of all.

Homework

Lighting is not a given in Yi homes, but this young girl is eager to learn. Education was quite limited in the old days. Since the late 1950s, the autonomous prefecture began setting up middle schools, secondary technical schools and schools for training ethnic teachers. A new generation of Yi intellectuals with socialist consciousness is coming to the fore, and many Yi cadres hold leading positions at all levels of government in the prefecture. This young girl aspires to become a teacher.

Siblings and their Dog

Yi houses have very few amenities, even in the larger villages. Some homes are built out of concrete and inside heat is almost nonexistent. Walls are sparsely decorated and kids use them as drawing boards. Few toys can be found and those that exist are passed down from siblings. Yet, in the Yi household, pets are common. The bond between the two siblings and their dog was irresistible.

Rare Temple

The Yi people traditionally follow a religion known as Bimoism, an animistic faith filled with a pantheon of deities and spirits, as well as ancestor worship, shamanism and sacrificial ceremonies. The Bimoism emphasis is almost exclusively placed on ancestor worship and a great reverence for nature, which includes the belief that storms are caused by angered gods, and prayers should be offered to long-gone relatives in the hopes of releasing their souls from purgatory.

Family Son

Patriarchal and monogamous families are the basic units of the clans in the Yi territories. When a young man gets married, he builds his own family by receiving part of his parents’ property. The tradition of prearranged weddings by the parents is fading, as well as the bride’s family asking for heavy betrothal gifts. This boy as a long way to go, but he is first in line to inherit his parents’ home.

Traditional Yi Costumes

Even on a rainy day, this dad wanted to take his little girl to the Torch Festival. Yi costumes are wonderful in variety, with different designs for different regions. Men wear black jackets with tight sleeves and right-side askew fronts and either pleated wide-bottomed or tight-bottomed trousers. Beardless men are considered handsome. Women wear laced or embroidered jackets and pleated long skirts hemmed with colorful multi-layer laces. They are very proud to follow and maintain their traditions.

Kids at Play

They have very little, one set of clothes, a few toys. Their parents work the fields during the day and leave the kids behind. Their instinct for survival is ingrained at a very young age. The big lesson I learned is that they truly care for each other. When we shared food, toys, etc., they made sure that everything was evenly distributed. Their hearts are in the right place.

Builder

Few words were exchanged with this builder as he wanted to finish his job before the cold winter months. The Yi have their own calendar – comprised of ten 36-day months – with a year that is divided into two halves, each ending with a solstice. An additional five days are tacked on to each year for festivals. The Yi calendar is believed to be the oldest continually used calendar in the world.