Zhenyuan County History

Zhenyuan Yi, Hani and Lahu Autonomous County (镇沅彝族哈尼族拉祜族自治县) is an autonomous county under the jurisdiction of Pu’er Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Zhenyuan is famous for the ancient tea tree in Qianjiazhai. Qianjiazhai is in the north of Zhenyuan County, where the altitude ranges from 2,000 to 3,137 meters above the sea level. It includes Qianjiazhai Village, Wanhe River, Zhedong and Enle-Shuitang travel route, covering 44 sq km. Major tourist sights feature primeval forests, ancient tea trees, waterfalls, springs, exotic plants (such as rhododendron), and ethnic customs. In the tea bushes, a striking view is a 18.5-meter-tall, 2.82-meter-round wild tea tree; it is believed to be 2,700 years old.

Lahu History

The Lahu originally came from Tibet. They migrated first to southern China and then began migrating to Burma during the 19th Century. Fearful of persecution by the Burmese government, many Lahu continued to migrate further southwards into Siam.There are now Lahu people living in Myanmar, China and Laos as well as more than 73,000 in Thailand.

The Lahu is a very fractured tribe, and there are at least six distinct sub-groups; the Red, Yellow, Black, White Lahu, the Lahu Sheleh and the Lahu Haega. Of these groups, the Black Lahu makes up about 80% of the population. In Thailand, however, the majority of the population is Red Lahu.

The History of Yi People

Some scholars believe that the Yi are descended from the ancient Qiang people of today’s western China, who are also said to be the ancestors of the Tibetan, Naxi and Qiang peoples. They migrated from southeastern Tibet through Sichuan and into the Yunnan Province, where their largest populations can be found today.

They practice a form of animism, led by a shaman priest known as the Bimaw. They still retain a few ancient religious texts written in their unique pictographic script. Their religion also contains many elements of Daoism and Buddhism.

Many of the Yi in Liangshan and northwestern Yunnan practiced a complicated form of slavery. People were split into the nuohuo or Black Yi (nobles), qunuo or White Yi (commoners), and slaves. White Yi were free and could own property and slaves but were in a way tied to a lord. Other ethnic groups were held as slaves.