Bai nationality was once the largest ethnic group in southwest China in the history of Tang and Song Dynasties. Why has it become an unknown minority now?

In fact, this is entirely a matter of government policy: the Ming Dynasty adopted a cultural castration policy for whites. Ethnically, the dilution policy is implemented. The Ming Dynasty conquered Yunnan and burned the historical and cultural books of the Bai people. The Bai people have lost their cultural heritage. A large number of immigrants immigrated to Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty. The Han nationality has become the main ethnic group. With the weakening of national memory and racial oppression, a large number of Bai people who have been severely sinicized have been assimilated into Han people. However, the Bai people with a solid cultural foundation can easily participate in the social life dominated by the Han people under the new order: taking the imperial examination as an official. The number of white people has been seriously reduced, and the settlements have shrunk back to the Pan-Erhai Lake area, and the number has become a real minority. During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the Bai nationality almost lost its identity as an independent nation. At that time, in the anthropological investigation, the Bai people in Pan-Erhai Lake area had a crisis of national consciousness on a large scale and did not consider themselves as ethnic minorities. This shows that this is actually the role of Han chauvinism!