The origin of the Bai people and the relationship between the Bai people, the Yi people and other surrounding ethnic groups

1. The origin and formation of the Bai people. The Bai nationality is an ethnic minority with a long history. The (thorn people) of the Han and Jin Dynasties are the direct ancestors of the Bai people, and the Baiman of the Tang and Song Dynasties are their predecessors. Baiman not only participated in the Nanzhao State regime in the Tang Dynasty, but also personally established the feudal serfdom state of Dali State as the main body. The Tang and Song Dynasties were important periods for the formation of the Bai people. During this period, the Bai people had close exchanges with the Central Plains. They were influenced by the Han people in many aspects, promoted the development of their own nation, and also assimilated some of the migrated Han people.

2. The historical evolution of the geographical distribution of the Bai people. At present, the geographical distribution of the Bai people in my country is relatively concentrated. More than 80% of them live in the Dali area of ??Yunnan, which is located on the coast of Erhai Lake and has the Jinsha River running from east to west. Nearly 20% of the Bai people live in scattered places such as Xichang, Sichuan and Bijie, Guizhou. This is a distribution method in which large concentration and small concentration coexist.

Dali is the largest concentration of the Bai people, not only because the Erhai area is the birthplace of the Bai people, but more importantly, it has had close relations with the mainland for a long time, basically maintaining a relatively stable society and economy. Relatively developed and peaceful environment for people to live. During the Western Han Dynasty, Yeyu, Yunnan, Bisu, Tang and other counties were established here, under the jurisdiction of Yizhou County. A large number of Han people were also moved here, bringing advanced production technology and ironware, which promoted the economic development of the Erhai region. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Erhai area was transferred to Yongchang County. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang established Yunnan County in the Erhai area after he conquered Yunnan. In the Tang Dynasty, the Yaozhou Governor's Office was first established here, and later it supported the local government of Nanzhao. Dali also got along well with the Song Dynasty and the mainland. The Yuan Dynasty established a province in Yunnan and set up Dali Road and Heqing Road in Dali. The Ming Dynasty implemented the policy of "reforming native officials and returning them to local officials" in the Erhai area of ??Dali, abolishing hereditary native officials and appointing "liuang officials" to govern. It also basically maintained the continuity of administrative divisions and organizational systems in the Erhai area for a long time, thus maintaining The integrity of regional relations and the relative stability of social, political and economic conditions.

The ancestors of the Bai nationality have lived together with the ancestors of the fraternal ethnic groups in the southwest since ancient times, and have close exchanges with Southeast Asian countries. For this reason, the fraternal ethnic groups have more than 60 other names for the Bai people. The Han people call the Bai people "Gou Yuju" (actually the Bai language Godmipzi - the Chinese transliteration of Erhaizi and Kunmingzi), "Minjia", and "Seven Surnamed People" (called by Guizhou people); most Tibeto-Burman speaking people call the Bai people by this name , whose meaning is "Hu Family" or "White Tiger People". Xishuangbanna calls the Bai people "he" (the "river" of Erhe River). However, whether it is the southern dialect represented by Dali, the central dialect represented by Jianchuan, or the northern dialect represented by Bijiang and Lanping, the Bai language claims to be extremely unified, and is called Baiphox (White Huo), Geilho (Chicken Family) or BaipziBaipyvnx(白子白女).

Looking at the origin of the Bai ethnic group, the indigenous people around Erhai Lake are "Kunming", "Sou", "Baiman", "Wuman", "Sanlang", "Wuman" and "Heman" ", as well as the "Dian Bo" in eastern Yunnan, the "Xicuan Man" in central Yunnan, etc., are all part of the Bai ancestors. In the course of thousands of years of history, due to historical reasons such as conquests, land expansion, trade, settlement, and border settlements, people from Dijiang, Chu, and Shu (including Miao Yao, and Baiyue), as well as a large number of Han people from the north and south, were integrated into the process. Some of the fraternal ethnic groups among the "Thirty-Seven Barbarian Tribes" in the province give the Bai ethnic origin a diverse character.