What are the ethnic minorities with a large population in Hainan Island?

The largest minority in Hainan Province is the Li nationality.

Hainan is a multi-ethnic province, with 53 ethnic minorities besides the Han nationality. Among the 53 ethnic minorities, Li has the largest population, followed by Miao, Zhuang and Hui. Zhuang nationality is mainly distributed in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hui nationality is mainly distributed in Ningxia, and Miao nationality is mainly distributed in Hunan and Guizhou.

The Han nationality, Li nationality and Miao nationality in Hainan province live in the world, and the rest are cadres, workers and immigrants who moved in after liberation, and they are scattered all over the province. Li nationality is the earliest resident of Hainan Island.

Most of the Li and Miao people living in the world live in Qiongzhong, Baoting, Baisha, Lingshui, Changjiang County, Sanya and Wuzhishan City in the south-central part. The Han population is mainly concentrated in the northeast, north and coastal areas.

Li nationality name

"Li" is his name, which is what the Han people call Li nationality. Before the Western Han Dynasty, some ethnic minorities in the south were called "Luoyue", "Li" and "Man" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and "Li" and "Liao" in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, including the ancestors of the Li nationality in Hainan Island.

"Li", as the name of the Li nationality today, was first seen in Liu Yao's Lingyi in the late Tang Dynasty. There is a record in the book of "observing the sea, rejuvenating, and picking (purple shellfish) as goods". In addition, The Book of the New Tang Dynasty Du Youchuan (179) records that during the Tang Dezong period (780-805), "Zhu Yali Min III was spared."

However, The Book of the New Tang Dynasty was written by Ouyang Xiu, a poet in the Song Dynasty, and the name of "Li" should be recorded at the earliest. In the Song Dynasty, "Li" generally replaced "slang" and "Liao" in various historical records, and became the exclusive national name of Li nationality in Hainan Island today.

Li people call the Han nationality "beauty", which means "guest". They treat the Han nationality as a guest and treat themselves as natives. Due to the differences in dialects, customs and geographical distribution, Li people have different self-names such as "Ha" (once called "Xun"), "Run" (once called "local" Li in Chinese) and "Mobil", but they generally call themselves "Sai" in foreign exchanges, and Sai is their inherent national name.