The Holy Land of Hani People: NoMaAMei

During the Sui and Tang dynasties(from 581- 907BC), the vast areas Hani people inhabited now, appeared ancestors of both Hani and Yi peoples, called "Wu Man" by then. At the early Tang period( at about the 600s), a tribal named "He Man"("Man" means barbarians in Chinese ) is separated from the "Mans" in Liu Zhao (six tribes unified by Nan Zhao in 738BC; Nan Zhao is recognized as nowadays Dali, Yunnan) area at the southeast part of Yunnan. "He Man" had done tributes to the Royal Court of Tang repeatedly for maintaining its contacts with the main land. After the rising of Nan Zhao, "He Man" went directly under it as a part. Together with the ancestors of Yi people living in the south and east areas of Yunnan, "He Man" was called the "37 tribes". Out of the 37 tribes, seven subgroups including "Yin Yuan"(lived in today's Yuanjiang and Mojiang), "Si Tuo"(the Red River), "Xi Chu" (Yuanyang and Jinping), "Lo Kon"(Lvchun), "Wei Mo"(Chiubei, Luxi and Guangnan), "Chiang Xan"(Wenshan, Yanshan and Xichou), and "Wu Nong"(Maguan and Pingbian), were mostly recognized as one big tribe in the name of "Honi"--rising in Ailao and Wuliang mountains in 7th century, it is the original figure of Hani people.

According to the fifth population census in 2000 in China, the Hani population is 1.42 million, ranking in the first 16 of the country's 56 ethnic groups. Hani people are mainly distributed in the Ailao Shan and Wuliang Shan mountains, and in the mountains and valleys of Mojiang, Babianjiang, and Lancangjiang districts. They are concentrated in and around the autonomous city and county of Mojiang where two-thirds of the population of more than 300,000 is Hani. This is the only autonomous Hani County in China. Hani also live densely in Jiancheng, Puer, Zheng-juan, and Lancang.

(Edit:Ruby)