About Yi People
The Yi ethnic group, with a population of 7,762,286, is mainly distributed over the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
There are more than one million Yis in Sichuan Province, and most of them live in an area south of the Dadu River and along the Anning River.
Most Yis are scattered in mountain areas, some in frigid mountain areas at high altitudes, and a small number live on flat land or in valleys. The altitudinal differences of the Yi areas directly affect their climate and precipitation. Their striking differences have given rise to the old saying that “the weather is different a few miles away” in the Yi area. This is the primary reason why the Yis in various areas are so different from one another in the ways they make a living.
