Guest Editor's Introduction

Abstract

When the words “Yao nationality” are mentioned, people tend to think of some stereotype or label. They think the Yao are a mountain people according to the saying “The further the mountains and valleys, the more numerous the Yao.” Others think the Yao have many branches; there are, for instance, more than sixty names they use among themselves, such as “Mian,” “Fumian,” “Men,” and “Bunu,” and another 390 or so names that others use to refer to them. Still other people think of the Yao nationality as being frequently on the move—a cross-border cosmopolitan nationality. It is the same with their means of livelihood, which conjure up the images of a “mountain economy,” “corn as the staple food,” “slash-and-burn agriculture,” “firewood as fuel,” “sweetened fried-flour gruel,” and so on, or their customs and habits, such as the “stone plate” (shipai) system, the “elder veneration” (cunlao) system, and “making friends with those of the same age” (datongnian or laogeng). With the passage of time and the evolution of history, these basic understandings about the Yao have ingrained themselves deeply within people’s minds. As a result, the modern lives experienced by contemporary Yao people are often ignored. Perhaps for fear of