Yi People in Liangshan

by photographer Li Lang
1999 FiftyCrows PhotoFund Winner
Winner of the 1999 Mother Jones Medal of Excellence

Yi nationality is one of the 55 national minorities in China. Sichuan Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, lying in the Daliangshan Mountain, a transition zone from Hengduanshan Range to Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, is the biggest Yi compact community. There are totally over 1.6 Yi people distributing in the 60,100 sq. km land around Daliangshan and Xiaoliangshan.

Amid the mountainous zone with shear crags and harsh climate, Yi people inhabit in the flatland partitioned by the chains of hills for generations. The adverse circumstances and poor living condition threaten their lives occasionally. However, the brave and diligent Yi people have fought their way out from the long and depressing years.

Yi nationality is the eldest one inhabiting here and has a history of more than 2000 years. Before 1949, it was semi-feudal and semi-slavery society. Moreover, the closed geographical position and lagged productive force hinder the exchange between Yi culture and other cultures. So, Yi people preserve their inborn national culture and ethos in primitive integrity. The spirit of tenacious struggling betrayed by the suntanned skin of every Yi people especially touches me.

In current days with rapid progress in science and technology, China is implementing open-up policy. Yi nationality is no more an isolated tribe and is also included in the reforming tide. Yi people’s livings and values have been affected and assimilated by the outer culture. Yi people begin changing. Many Yi peculiarities begin fading away and even vanishing. Therefore, I am eager to preserve the original yi culture and customs through my lens and photos. Cherish the wish, I go into the Yi villages to record and demonstrate their living and their unyielding spirit in the staitened circumstance.

Description

As my investigation on Yi nationality in a deep going way, I find them an irresistible charm. The charms does not only derive from the peculiar customs and picturesque scenery of Liangshan, but also from Yi people’s ardent longing for life under such mal-condition and their profound attachment to the land.

Since 1994, I have made full use of all my spare time and explored the Yi people on the land. At Yimou, Guli, Liuhong and other Yi villages, together with my old and new Yi fellows, we went uphill and down dale, merely to act as a guest in their homes. We had drinks and ate tuotuo (a kind of Yi food) merely for the reunion of friends. We listened to Bimo’s (a title for a Yi religionist) chanting scriptures merely for sensing another world. In order to understand Yi people and to realize Yi people, I manage to merge myself with them and be a part of them. Then, I am not a cameraman but a friend and brother of Yi people. As I penetrate into Yi people, I keenly realize that I am duty bounded to demonstrate their unsophisticated living, to eulogize their indomitable vitality and splendor humanity. Meanwhile I want to notice that there lives an industrious and brave nationality on the land.

These twenty photos were taken from 1994 to 1998.

I plan to complete and enrich my project in several aspects below as to reveal the theme.

1. Live together with the Yi people. Go to typical Yi villages and stockades to trace ordinary Yi people’s daily life. Because the daily trifles can most convey the national spirit of a nation without artificial modification. Under the reforming and opening background of China now, many folkways of Yi is fading, such as their religion and living customs.
2. Religion. Yi people believe in spirits and ancestor worship to pray for safety and happiness. Bimo is Yi’s traditional clergy engaged in religious affairs. They conduct religious rites bridging mortals and ghosts, and deal with religious incidents. They enjoy special status and fame in Yi society since they offer belief, psychological and spiritual services for Yi people. There are many living in Meigu County and Zhaojue County. As the Yi is in progress, the real Bimos are dwindling as well as Bimo believers.
3. Yi’s ceremonies. Yi is an ancient nation and owns its peculiar and simple ceremonies, such as baby-born ceremony, growing-up ceremony, wedding ceremony and funeral. Baby-born ceremony and grow-up ceremony have almost been lost. If possible, I’d go deep into some remote village and seek such ceremonies. Wedding ceremony is joyful and exhilarating. The sorrowful funeral can almost reflect Yi people’s attitude toward the land and life. After the death of a Yi folk, his family invites a prestige Bimo, who leads the clan reciting ‘send off soul” to pray for safety of the departed. A chicken will be sacrificed to serve for the complicated sending-off-soul ceremony. Then people will sing different sending-off-soul songs in profound grieves. On the morning three or five days later, led by Bimo and accompanied by clansmen, people fire the corpse at the nearest hill. The sorrowful and solemn scene betrays their love and eagerness to live. I will report and reflect their rich inner world.
4. Torch Festival—Carnival of Yi. Torch Festival is the most significant festival peculiar to Yi nationality. The one-week festival befalls on every June 24 of lunar calendar. Festivals in Butuo, Puge, Ningnan counties are most spectacular. Torch Festival is to commemorate a brave Yi woman in old days. It is said that a Yi chief was deluded away by another clan and soon burned dead. The wife of chief led her clansmen and defeated the rival. She found her husband’s corpse and returned her hometown Liangshan with lighting torches. The clansmen at home also lifted torches to welcome her triumph. That was the day of June 24 of lunar calendar. During the Torch Festival, in daytime, Yi people, wearing ceremonial costumes, hold grand gathering, at which they have bullfighting, horse-racing, dancing and singing. When night falls, Yi people lighten up the torches, encircled the village to commemorate their ancestors. They enjoy tap dance till late night.
5. Yi nationality has sparse population in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province. I plan to record all these Yi living conditions and compare, analyze their similarities and differences in different regions and different backgrounds.