26 August, 2006
A Yi shepherd takes a rest. There are around seven million Yis scattered mainly through the Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangi provinces. The Yi ethnic group is said to stem from the ancient Qiang people of northwest China, and also to have Tibetan ancestry. They have their own language, and Yi characters - the earliest syllabic script in China - are still used today.
