Yi people

Yi people

Yi woman in Yunnan
Regions with significant populations
China	9 million (2010)
Vietnam	4,827 (2019)[1]
Languages
Yi, Southwestern Mandarin
Religion
Majority: Bimoism (native Yi variety of Shamanism); minority: Taoism
Related ethnic groups
Tibetan, Bamar (Burman), Nakhi, Qiang, Tujia

The Yi or Nuosu people (Nuosu: ꆈꌠ, [nɔ̄sū]; see also § Names and subgroups) are an ethnic group in southern China. Numbering nine million people, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups recognized by the Chinese government. They live primarily in rural areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, usually in mountainous regions. The Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture is home to the largest population of Yi people within China, with two million Yi people in the region. In neighbouring Vietnam, as of 2019^[update], there are 4,827 Lô Lô people (a subgroup of the Yi) living in the Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, and Lào Cai provinces, in the country's north.

The Yi speak various Loloish languages, closely related to Burmese. The prestige variety is Nuosu, which is written in the Yi script.