Butuo County () is a county of southern

Sichuan Province Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, China. It is under the administration of the

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Liangshan (; Yi: ''Niep Sha'', pronounced ), officially the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture occupying much of the southern extremity of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China; its seat is Xichang. Liangshan ...

. It was incorporated in 1952, and has continuously existed since 1960. The name 'Butou' is based on the

Yi language Nuosu or Nosu (, transcribed as ), also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language () and, as such, is the only one tau ...

words for

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...

and

pine tree A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden ac ...

, giving it the name "a place with hedgehogs and pine trees". It is the unofficial capital of the

Yi People The Yi or Nuosu people,; zh, c=彝族, p=Yízú, l=Yi ethnicity historically known as the Lolo,; vi, Lô Lô; th, โล-โล, Lo-Lo are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering nine million people, they are the seve ...

and the birthplace of the

Torch Festival The Torch Festival or Fire Festival (; Nuosu language: ; YYPY ''Dut Zie''; Bai: ) is one of the main holidays of the Yi people of southwest China, and is also celebrated by other ethnic groups of the region. It is celebrated on the 24th or 25th da ...

. The county has a population of 215,800, 97.2% of whom are Yi People. Butou is considered very impoverished, traditional and still significantly influenced by the legacy of feudalism and slavery, which was only reformed in the 1950s. Most villagers make a living through animal husbandry. Almost all of the non-agrarian economy is concentrated in the county seat. It is a 'key county' for National Poverty Alleviation and Development work, with as of 2018, 122 poverty-stricken designated villages in the county, and 57,000 poor people. The bamboo mouth harp (''

Kouxian ''Kouxian'' () is a general Chinese term for any variety of jaw harp. The jaw harp is a plucked idiophone in which the lamella is mounted in a small frame, and the player's open mouth serves as a resonance chamber. Chinese jaw harps may comp ...

'') of Butou County was included as intangible cultural heritage of the Yi People.

Administrative divisions

Butuo County administers 3 towns and 27 townships. Towns: * Temuli (特木里镇) * Longtan (龙潭镇) * Tuojue (拖觉镇) Townships:

Climate

References

External links

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Amdo County-level divisions of Sichuan Yi people {{Sichuan-geo-stub