1061, 3164 CHINA (Guangdong / Guangxi / Guizhou / Hainan / Hubei / Hunan / Sichuan / Yunnan) - Miao people

3164 Miao people

Posted on 21.04.2014, 08.10.2017

Miao is an ethnic group who live primarily in southern China, in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, and Hubei, but also, in smaller numbers, in northern Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Miao is actually the official Chinese term for four distinct groups of people who are only distantly related through language or culture (and doesn't reflect the self-designations of the component nations of people): the Hmu people of southeast Guizhou, the Kho (Qho) Xiong people of west Hunan, the A-Hmao people of Yunnan, and the Hmong people of Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

1061 Long Skirt Miao women in Guizhou

There are some nine million Miao in China, of whom the Hmong constitute probably one-third. The Miao are related in language and some other cultural features to the Yao; among these peoples the two groups with the closest degree of relatedness are the Hmong (Miao) and the Iu Mien (Yao). Much of the Miao area is hilly or mountainous, and is drained by several big rivers. The weather is mild with a generous rainfall, and the area is rich in natural resources. Major crops include paddy rice, maize, potatoes, Chinese sorghum, beans, rape, peanuts, tobacco, ramie, sugar cane, cotton, oil-tea camellia and tung tree.

3093 CHINA (Yunnan) - Pumi people

The Pumi people are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China, ethnically related to the Tibetans, and recognized as an official minority nationality unique to Yunnan, with a population of 30,000. They live on rugged mountains as high as 2,600 meters above sea level, cut by deep ravines. They live in approximately 500 villages spread in rugged mountains as high as 2,600 meters above sea level, cut by deep ravines. In many locations they live beside members of the Naxi nationality. Prinmi, the Pumi language, belongs to the Qiangic branch of the Tibeto-Burman family.

2127, 3007 CHINA (Yunnan) - Jino people

2127 Young Jino woman

Posted on 16.12.2015, 01.04.2017
The Jino people are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group, which live in an area of about 70x50 km in the Jinoshan Mountain, in the extreme south of Yunnan province, in a series of mild hills with wet climate, crisscrossed by numerous rivers and streams. They are one of the less numerous (about 22,000 people) of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China and the last one included as "national minority", being recognized in 1979.

3007 Jino women beating in a Sun Drum

It is said that they migrated from Pu'er and Mojiang or from places even farther north, and when they settled around the Jinoshan Mountain, still lived in a matriarchal society. This gave way to a patriarchal society some 300 years ago, but they were still in the transitional stage to a class society at the time when the People's Republic was founded in 1949. Zhuoba (the village father) and Zhuose (the village mother) were the leaders in a communal village.

2186 CHINA (Yunnan) - Ganden Sumtseling Monastery in Shangri-La

Situated in the heart of the mountain range known as Hengduan Mountain Range, at an elevation of 3,380m, 5km from the Shangri-La City, the Ganden Sumtsenling Monastery (also known as Sungtseling and Guihuasi) is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan province, sometimes referred to as the Little Potala Palace. It belongs to the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelukpa order of the Dalai Lama, and was established in 1679 by the Fifth Dalai Lama's Buddhist visionary zeal.

1691 CHINA (Guizhou / Guangxi / Yunnan / Sichuan) - A Gelao women

The Gelao people (also spelled Gelo) are an ethnic group of China and northern Vietnam. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China. However, many Gelao are also variously classified as Yi, Miao, and Zhuang by the Chinese government. They number approximately 500,000 and are mainly located in the western part of Guizhou, being often considered the aboriginal inhabitants of this province. Some live in western Guangxi, southeastern Yunnan, and southern Sichuan. The main religion practiced is  Taoism with a small but significant Buddhist minority. The Gelao language is a dialect cluster of  Kra languages in the Tai-Kadai language family. Today, only a small minority of the Gelao still speak this language.

0144 CHINA (Yunnan) - A bright smile

Today is Tuesday 13, so I thought to offer you a smile to chase away bad luck. The two women who smile so sincere are from rural area of Yunnan province, located in southern China, at the border with Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. As I say here, China seems to use another scale than Europe. For example Yunnan province covers an area about as Romania, Hungary and Serbia together (ie 394,100 km2), and a population as these countries, plus Bulgaria and Macedonia (ie 46 million inhabitants). Even if Yunnan is noted for a very high level of ethnic diversity, nevertheless 67% of the population belongs to the Han group (the largest single ethnic group in the world, about 20% of the entire global human population), so I may assume (I hope I'm right) that these two women belong to this group.