Hlai people

Hlai
黎族
Li, Lizu
Total population
1,463,064 (2010)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Hainan, Guangdong and islands in the South China Sea
Languages
Hlai languages, Jiamao, Hainanese and Mandarin
Religion
Animism, Theravada Buddhism[citation needed]
Related ethnic groups
Other Tai–Kadai peoples and populations from Mainland Southern China[2]
Hlai people
Chinese
Literal meaning[phonetic]
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Wade–GilesLi
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese黎族
Literal meaningLi Ethnicity
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLízú
Wade–GilesLi-tsu

The Hlai, also known as Li or Lizu, are a Kra–Dai-speaking ethnic group, one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. The vast majority live off the southern coast of China on Hainan Island,[3] where they are the largest minority ethnic group. Divided into the five branches of the Qi (Gei), Ha, Run (Zwn), Sai (Tai, Jiamao) and Meifu (Moifau),[4] the Hlai have their own distinctive culture and customs.

Traditional weaving methods of the Hlai on Hainan Island, China. The worker uses her feet to stretch the handloom.
  1. ^ 胡鸿保; 张丽梅 (2009). 民族识别原则的变化与民族人口. Southwest University for Nationalities University Press (4).
  2. ^ Peng, Min-Sheng; He, Jun-Dong; Liu, Hai-Xin; Zhang, Ya-Ping (15 February 2011). "Tracing the legacy of the early Hainan Islanders – a perspective from mitochondrial DNA". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 11: 46. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-46. PMC 3048540. PMID 21324107.
  3. ^ Original from Indiana University Viscount James Bryce Bryce (1904). Hans Ferdinand Helmolt (ed.). The World's History: Oceania, Eastern Asia and the Indian Ocean. Vol. 2 of The World's History: A Survey of Man's Record. LONDON: William Heinemann. p. 60. Retrieved 20 December 2011. extended as far as the Han River, and the Man lived on the central and upper Yangtsze, chiefly on the right bank. But the number of the tribes that had not then been subdued must have been much greater; even at the present day, more than two thousand six hundred years later, tribes of original inhabitants in complete or partial independence are constantly found in the southern and western provinces of the empire. That such tribes as the Hlai (Limin or Limu, probably descendants of the Miaotsze to whom Kublai Khan [Shi Tsu] is said to have assigned a part of Formosa in 1292) should have held their ground in the interior of Formosa and Hainan is the less remarkable, in view of the fact that even at the present day whole tribes of original inhabitants have been able to maintain their independence in the provinces on the mainland, where the Chinese supremacy has endured for hundreds or thousands of years.
  4. ^ "Chinese Nationalities (Li Minority)". Retrieved 18 February 2011.