1.1 Origins of the Bai

The Bai is an ethnic group with a long history and rich culture. In the process of its formation and development，the Bai people have been benevolent，and have extensively learned from and drawn on various sophisticated influences of the surrounding Han，Tibetan，Indian and South Asian cultures. They have created an ethnic culture with strong regional characteristics，and have made outstanding contributions to the unification of China's southwestern frontier and to the formation and development of a unified multi-ethnic country.

According to the Fifth National Census in 2000，the total population of the Bai people is 1，858，100. It is one of the 19 ethnic groups having a population of more than one million among the 55 ethnic groups in China，ranking the 14th among the ethnic groups' populations. The gender ratio of the Bai population is 103.95 ∶ 100 （947，100 males and 911，000 females）. Compared with the Fourth National Census in 1990，the Bai population has increased by 260，000，with a growth rate of 16.27％ and an average annual growth rate of 1.46％.

The Bai people claim to be Baizi （白子），Baini（白尼）or Baihuo （白伙），meaning“the Bai People（白人）”or“the Bai Family（白家）”. They have also been called by no less than 60 different other names，including Minjia （民家），Lemo（勒墨），Nama（那马），Qixingmin（七姓民），and Jiuxingmin （九姓民）. Among these， Minjia is the Han people's word for the Bai living in Dali（大理）and Kunming（昆明）in Yunnan Province and Sangzhi（桑植）in Hunan Province； Lemo is the Lisu （傈僳） people's term for the Bai living in the Bijiang（碧江）and Lushui（泸水）areas along the banks of the Nujiang River（怒江）； Nama is the Naxi（纳西）people's term for the Bai living in the Weixi（维西）and Lanping（兰坪）areas along the banks of the Langcang River（澜沧江）；and Qixingmin and Jiuxingmin are the ways people in Liangshan（凉山）of Sichuan Province and in Weining（威宁）of Guizhou Province address the local Bai people. In November 1956，following the wishes of the majority of the Bai people，and with the approval of the State Council，the “Bai”was officially fixed as the name of the ethnic group. In June 1984，with the approval of the Hunan Provincial People's Government，the Minjia were also recognized as part of the Bai ethnic group.

There are different folklores about when and how the Bai were formed. The following four legends are the most common.

●The Legend of Pangu（盘古）and Pansheng（盘生）

The Pangu and Pansheng brothers accidentally caught the Third Prince of the Dragon King when fishing，which made the Dragon King rampage and cast a rainstorm for seven years without cease. There was nothing but flood，cracked sky and earth，annihilated sun and moon，and all was darkness. To save the world， the brothers killed the Dragon King. Pangu，the elder brother，turned into the sky，and Pangsheng，the younger brother，turned into the earth. Clouds were used to make up for the broken parts of the sky，and water filled in the holes in the earth. Four great mountains were moved to stabilize the shaking sky，and four giant turtles were used to fix the earth. Finally，the sky and the earth settled；however，Pangu and Pangsheng died. During the flood，a brother and a sister，Zhao Yupei（赵玉配）and Tai Sanmei（邰三妹）survived inside a gold drum. They got married after the flood，and gave birth to ten sons，each of whom gave birth to ten sons，thereby forming a hundred surnames.

●The Legend of Laogu（劳谷）and Laotai（劳泰）

According to legend，in ancient times，there were no humans or any other creatures in the world. The sky and the earth were connected together，with the boundless sea in between. Later，the raging sea water opened a large hole in the sky. There appeared a large sun and a small sun from the hole. The two suns collided in the sky，and the small one fell into the sea. The sea picked up huge waves and separated the sky and the earth. After the small sun fell into the sea，the sea water was boiled，and a sleeping golden dragon was awakened. It roared and swallowed the fiery sun. It was burned by the hot sun in the belly and hit the Luofeng Mountain（螺峰山），and the sun was blown out from the dragon. After the blasting of the sun，the cracks turned into countless pieces and scattered around. The pieces flying into the sky turned into clouds，those hanging in the air into birds，those falling on the mountain ridges became trees and flowers，and those falling on the mountain top turned into beasts. The unbreakable kernel turned into a woman and a man after landing. The woman's name was Laotai，the man's name was Laogu，and they became a husband and wife. From then on，there were human beings and everything in the world.

●The Origin of Clans

In ancient times，there was a great flood between sky and earth. After the flood，no one but a brother and a sister，Abutie（阿布贴）and Ayuetie（阿约贴），survived. In order to continue the human species，they practised divination and got married with the permission of the gods，and gave birth to five daughters. Later，the eldest daughter married a bear，and therefore formed the bear clan；the second daughter married a tiger and formed the tiger clan；the third daughter married a snake and formed the snake clan；the fourth daughter married a mouse and formed the mouse clan；and the youngest daughter married a caterpillar but had no descendants.

●The Legend of Jiulong（九隆）

The legend of Jiulong was recorded in many history books. In The Later Han ： Southwestern Yi （《后汉书·西南夷传》），it is written that：

It is said that the female ancestor of the Yi people in Ailao （哀牢夷人） was named Sha Yi （沙壹）， who lived at the foot of Ailao Mountain. There was a river in front of the mountain. One day，when Sha Yi was fishing in the water，she touched a dead wood at the bottom，and became pregnant later. After ten months，she gave birth to ten boys. Later，the wood in the river became a dragon. It flew out of the water and said to Sha，“Where are my sons？”The nine elder children were scared by the dragon and escaped. Only the youngest son stayed with no fear. He sat with his back against the dragon. The dragon was very happy and licked him. Since Sha Yi talked like a bird，she pronounced“back”as jiu and “sit”as long. Therefore，the youngest son was named Jiulong. His nine brothers decided to elect him as the king because he was favored by the dragon. A couple also living at the foot of Ailao Mountain gave birth to ten daughters. When the daughters grew up，they married Jiulong and his brothers，so that generations prospered and formed the Ailao people. The Ailao people liked tattoos of dragons and always wore coats with tails.

According to Xu Jiarui（徐嘉瑞），the legend of Jiu Long was the earliest myths of the Qiang（羌）people，and became the founding myth of the Nanzhao Kingdom which has been spread among different ethnic groups including the Bai .

It is not difficult to see the connection between the Bai people's legends and the widespread myths of flood and the legends of the Han people，which reflects that ancestors of different ethnic groups lived in quite similar natural environments and social conditions. The legend of Jiulong and the origin of clans record the primitive tribal development of the Bai in the form of a collective memory. Although myths and legends cannot reflect the world in a complete and objective way，they can reconstruct an aspect of history. Therefore，it is necessary to pay attention to ancient myths and legends in our study.

Compared with the above myths and legends，the discussion on the origin of the Bai in academic circles is much more complicated. The discussion has lasted for more than a hundred years，since the end of the 19th century. During this period，various opinions have emerged. However，the main viewpoints fall into the following six types.

●Origins from the Thai People

This theory was proposed by some Western and Thai scholars，such as Terrien de Lacouperie in France， E. H. Parker and W. A. R. Wood in the United Kingdom，W. C. Dodd in the United States，and Dr. Phil Wilhelm Credner in Germany who believe that the Thai originated in southern Shaanxi，northern Sichuan or the Altai Mountains in northern Xinjiang. Later，they gradually dispersed into the vast areas along the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. As their living space narrowed down by the growth of the Han population，they were forced to move southward，and finally entered Yunnan and the Indochina Peninsula Island areas in turn，and established the Nanzhao Kingdom during the Tang dynasty. These scholars mistakenly regarded Nanzhao and Dali as the same group. Hence came the theory that the Bai originated from the Thai .

●Descendants of Asoka

This theory was recorded in “The Country of Baizi （白子国）”of An Unofficial History of Nanzhao （《南诏野史》）. But according to Bao Lubin's study，the story that the Bai are descendents of Asoka was completely made up because of the comparative lack of relevant literature and archaeological data at the time .

●Origins from the Han

This view has been recognized by many scholars，including Zhang Haiqiu（张海秋），Xu Chengjun（徐承俊）and Qin Fengxiang（秦凤翔），all of whom believe that the Bai people are descendants of the Han ethnic group who moved into the Erhai Lake area. Their arguments are based on three reasons. Firstly，according to the record in Guoyu ：Zhengyu（《国语·郑语》），“Shuxiong（叔熊）took refuge in the Pu（濮）area and became barbarous（叔熊逃难于濮而蛮）”. We can infer that the Chu（楚）people had entered Yunnan in BC 720 and developed into a new ethnic community，that is，Baiman（白蛮）in the western Yunnan region in the Tang dynasty . Secondly，through the study of the Bai language family，it is clear that the Bai and Han languages belong to the same family which is based on the ancient Chu language，and has incorporated some elements of ancient Sichuan dialect and developed independently from the Qiliang（齐梁）dynasty to the early Ming（明）dynasty. It can be shown that the Bai people were merged from the ancient Han（汉）and Chu（楚）people . Thirdly，based on some Bai people's genealogy，it is recorded that their ancestors“had migrated from the Yingtian prefecture of Nanjing（南京应天府）”，which indicates that the Bai originated from the Han.

●Theory of Aborigines

This theory is held by such scholars as Yang Kun（杨堃）and Zhang Xu（张旭）.Through the study of the formation and development of the Bai people，Yang believes that although the Bai has certain kinship with the Tibetan-Burmese language family in the Sino-Tibetan language family，it also has certain kinship with the Han. However，from the perspective of ethnology，it is developed from an independent ethnic group or an ethnic community，not a branch of any other ethnic group . Zhang does not agree with the viewpoint that there were Han descendants among the Bo（僰）people who moved southward to west Yunnan province. He believed that the Bai people were indigenous peoples in Yunnan，and their ancestors had been living around the Erhai area since ancient times .

●Origins from the Di and Qiang（氐羌）People

Among all the theories，this one probably exerts the strongest influence. All great masters studying the history of southwestern China，such as Fang Guoyu （方国瑜），Wang Shuwu（王叔武），and You Zhong（尤中），held this view and believed that the Bai originated from the Bo who had a close relationship with the Di and Qiang people. Fang believes that the Bai lived in the south Erhai area before the establishment of the Nanzhao Kingdom and originated from the Bo people who migrated southward through Northeast Yunnan to the Dali area during the Pre-Qin period （先秦）and the Western and Eastern Jin dynasties（两晋） . Wang believes that the Bo people began to move southward from the Qin（秦）and the Han（汉）dynasties，inhabited in the Dianchi lake（滇池）area during the period of Wang Mang's（王莽）reign and were called Baiman in the early Tang dynasty. The Baiman of the West Cuan （西爨白蛮）were forced to move to the Erhai Lake area during the time of the Nanzhao Kingdom and then formed a major Bai inhabited region . However，You Zhong observes that after the end of the Neolithic Age，the distribution of various ethnic groups in Yunnan had become basically stable. During the Qin and the Han dynasties，there were Bo people in the present Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture .

●Theory of Multi Ethnic Integration

Today most experts and scholars hold this theory. For example，Ma Yao（马曜），a local Bai scholar，believes that the Bai are mainly Erbin people（people living by the Erhai Lake）who had achieved the bronze-age culture in the Shang dynasty and merged with the Bo people from the east，the Shu（蜀）／ Sou（叟），the Chu（楚），the Qin（秦）and other neighboring ethnic groups. At the same time，the Bai people absorbed a great deal of the culture of the Han and other ethnic groups and thereby formed an open ethnic community . The revised edition of A Brief History of the Bai （《白族简史》） published in 2008 also records that the Bo in Yunnan province（滇僰），the Sou（叟），and the Cuan（爨，also called Baiman of West Cuan）form the major part of the Bai people's ancestors in the Han and the Tang dynasties. During its development，however，it had assimilated and integrated the cultures of not only groups in the Erhai lake area，but also the Han people and many other ethnic groups .

From recent archaeological discoveries in the Yinsuodao island （银梭岛）in Dali and the Haimenkou （海门口）in Jianchuan （剑川），there is evidence of frequent human activities in the Erhai region from the Neolithic Age 5，000 years ago to the Spring and Autumn Period around 2，500 years ago. This may prove the existence of the so-called Erbin people who became one of the important cornerstones for the formation of the later Bai ethnic group. What is more，from the long-term and close contact between the Bai culture and the cultures of Chuan（川）and Chu（楚），it is not difficult to see shared cultural factors of the Bo（僰）and Sou （叟）tribes，which indicate that from another aspect the Bai originated and developed from different sources and has integrated cultures of different ethnic groups. pqty26Aa56RARlIK87ouBc7lqnWQVP8vEpbumbC4rDoV+boZXfnFeG7mWe4BTB4e