Hani and Yi

The dominant ethnic group in the highlands of Ailaoshan, the one who built most of the terraces, is the Hani. The Yi are the second most numerous and the history and culture of both nationalities are intertwined. Both languages belong to the Yi branch of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family (along with Lahu and Lisu) and both claim to have migrated here from their original homeland in southwest Sichuan, crossing the Jinshajiang at the same time.

Though their grammar, structure and morphology are roughly the same, the vocabulary is very different. And Yi has a written form, with books kept by the bimaw (ritual specialist) in each community. The Hani say they, too, had an alphabet and books when they were in Sichuan. When about to cross the Jinshajiang they asked the Yi how they intended to preserve their books. The Yi bimaw replied that he would wrap them up and keep them close to his stomach as he swam across. The Hani mistranslated the explanation and thought the Yi said to wrap the books inside the stomach. So the Hani ate their books before they crossed the river and ever since then their literature has been oral.

From a distance it is not possible to distinguish a Hari village from a Yi. In Upper Ailaoshan they each live in brick and wood houses with tiled roofs in the rural Yunnanese style. The same is true in Luchun and most of Honghe. But in Yuanyang and Jinping Counties they use the two-story, flat-roofed, mud-brick style house like that of the Dai in the valleys, the only difference being a small storeroom on the roof, which is covered by a peaked, thatched roof. Hani call the style the "mush-room house." Some houses, even whole villages, are with-out this appendage, though.

Villages lie beside bamboo groves, or at the lower edge of a forest, above the terraces. Not apparent until entering the village are the special, ritually-consecrated characteristics that identify the village as Han or Yi. Traditional Hani villages will mark two of the entrance paths into the housing area with a ritually consecrated gate, separating the human world from the spirit realm. The principle is the same as that practised by their ethnic cousins the Aini, but the gate is much simpler, basically a crossbeam with part of the sacrificial animal affixed to it during the renewal ceremony (Gatutu) in the summer. The Yi have a sacred area within the village where three stones are set in the ground, representing their original ancestors. All important rituals take place here.

Dry fields, and freshly built ter-races the first few years, are used to grow maize, soybeans and cassavas. The water-filled terraces are strictly for rice, one crop per year in the mountains. Ponds, springs, irrigation and drainage channels are collectively owned, even if surrounded by property privately owned or managed.Hani villages select one man to be Guardian of Channels, who is in charge of checking the flow of the main irrigation channel, cleaning it of debris and overseeing the post-harvest repairs. He is also custodian of the wood-cut measures which indicate the amount of water allowed to be channeled off for different portions of the terraced area. These he can use to determine whether anyone has surreptitiously changed the dividers in the main channel to allot more water to their fields.

The woodcut measures originate from a collective village assembly decision shortly after the foundation of the settlement. Any subsequent modification of this water-flow network requires the common consent of the village headman and the representatives in the assembly. To guarantee that every family in the village receives a fair share of the available water thus demands a high degree of cooperation among its residents.

This has affected the cultural outlook of the people, instilling a strong sense of solidarity beyond the normal kinship bonds. The very first step in organising village life and society is to make sure everyone has equal access to water-the stuff that sustains and nourishes life. The Hani begin with equality and from then on any gain in status is up to individual initiative and energy.

The habit of sharing water influences their notion of hospitality as a matter of sharing what they have with outsiders, believing the act will rebound in mutual benefits, just as sharing the water insures the common welfare of all. One can hardly walk around a Hani village for long in Lower Ailaoshan without being invited inside for something-tea, tobacco, flu, maybe a whole meal. The Hani like to make social events out of ordinary meals and if they have guests they will turn dinner into a drinking, smoking, nibbling affair that can last up to two hours. And their Yi neighbours are only slightly less gregarious.

This strong sense of localism is the main ingredient in ethnic pride, which is manifested most visibly in the preference the women have for donning their traditional costume. More sub-groups of Hani than Yi live in Ailaoshan, but the women's costume of each contains similar elements. Except for the Gado Hani in western Jinping, who wear indigo skirts, the main components include a side-fastened, long-sleeved jacket, belt with the ends hanging loose over the hips, trousers and some kind of head-gear. In general, the Yi jackets and belts are brighter and more heavily embroidered. The exception is the Alu sub-group in Laojizhai township, who wear black garments and a brightly coloured belt, the latter woven on a narrow, bamboo loom propped up against the wall.

In Yuanyang the Nisu sub-group applique several thin bands, some embroidered, in contrasting colours, on the sleeves, cuffs, around the shoulders and down the lapel. Other Nisu styles feature horizontal bands of white, or silver or nickel studs, closely packed across the entire front. Trousers are usually black and blue. The jacket hangs down the back to the knees and its lower corners and hem are decorated. Around the waist they tie a belt with big, diamond-shaped end flaps that drape over the buttocks. Called zunyi in Yi, these are enhanced with white pile-embroidery and coloured flowers stitched in the centre. In Honghe the ends are much smaller, without the pile-embroidery.

In Honghe Yi women wear simple, single-colour head scarves, but in Yuanyang the everyday head scarf is a band of black cloth with embroidered ends, which they tuck into the scarf at the top of the head. Around Huangcaoling Yi women wear an open-topped, tubular cap studded with silver half-globes. The same embel¬lishment may be used to cover the surface of the wubi tumaw, the chicken-shaped cap worn by young women and little girls. Pile-embroidery, in white, with some arabesques, is more common, though the cap may have some silver pendants attached.

In Yuanyang only the Yi wear the wubi tumaw, but in the hills of Honghe, especially the Lawbi sub-group in Langti township and the hills east, it's the Hani girls who don them. But their jackets are less embroidered, mainly indigo with black or other colour bands stitched along the lapel, which is fastened to the jacket with silver coin-buttons. Some of these are Republic era Chinese coins, others from French Indo-Chinese piastres, plus the occasional old Mexican silver peso or U.S. trade dollar.

Hani in Shalatuo, Niujiaozhai and the hills south-west of Yuanyang are among the most flamboyant dressers. One group shows heavy Nisu Yi influence in the jacket style, though on the belt end-flaps they applique arabesques or embroider, in the cross-stitch style. Some-times the belt ends may be straight tabs, rather than diamond-shaped, and fully embroidered. Another group dispenses with applique and lays a thick band of embroidery along the lapel and down to the jacket hem. They may also lengthen the jacket in front by appending a flap of indigo-dyed cloth in tie-dye patterns. Both groups wear a round head-band, with a double row of silver studs all around and coloured yarn hanging down the back.

The same side-fastened, short jacket is common to other Hani groups in Yuanyang and Luchun, though the lapel and cuff decorations differ. In Luchun they use a single cloth, brighter, sometimes silk, very close to the late Qing Dynasty Han style. The Luchun turban resembles a tasseled fez, while in Huangcaoling a rectangular cloth is wrapped around the head and its end tucked into the top. Others wear a silver-studded round cap under a turban.

The little silver half-globes some Hani stitch onto their sleeve cuffs other groups sew onto the upper lapels of front-fastened jackets. The Alu jacket has two wide bands of these running all the way down the front. Their round black caps also have a wide band of these studs all the way around, with big pompoms and tassels of bright woolen yarn attached above the ears. The Alu's neighbours, the Duny Hani, dress like Huangcaoling's Goho Hani, except that they may wear the Yi-style wubi tumaw on their heads.