The Nasu people ( Chinese: 纳苏, ''Nàsū''), are an

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. They are a subgroup 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 are mainly distinguished by their use of the

Nasu language Nasu (Naisu, Eastern Yi), or Nasu proper, is a Loloish language spoken by a quarter million Yi people of China. Nasu proper and Wusa Nasu are two of six Yi languages recognized by the government of China. Unlike most written Yi languages, Nasu ...

, one of five main branches of 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 ...

s. They are divided into the Eastern Nasu with more than 400,000 persons in

Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County (; A-Hmao: ) is an autonomous county, under the jurisdiction of Kunming, Yunnan, China, bordering Sichuan province to the north. As of the 2020 census the population was 378,881. The county seat has two bus ...

, the

Jinghong Nasu Jinghong (; khb, ᨩ᩠ᨿᨦᩁᩩ᩵ᨦ; th, เชียงรุ่ง, , ; lo, ຊຽງຮຸ່ງ; also formerly romanised as ''Chiang Hung'', ''Chengrung'', ''Cheng Hung'', Jeng Hung, ''Jinghung'', ''Keng Hung'', ''Kiang Hung'' and ' ...

with more than 20,000, the Panxian Nasu with more than 300,000 in

Panzhou Panzhou () is a county-level city in southwestern Guizhou province, China, on the border with Yunnan province to the west. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Liupanshui. Administrative divisions As of 2017, Panzhou i ...

, the

Southern Nasu Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

with more than 100,000, and the

Wusa Nasu Nasu (Naisu, Eastern Yi), or Nasu proper, is a Loloish language spoken by a quarter million Yi people of China. Nasu proper and Wusa Nasu are two of six Yi languages recognized by the government of China. Unlike most written Yi languages, Nasu ...

. They are from

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

and

Sichuan 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 t ...

. They are classified as part of the

. The

(Eastern Yi) is one of the

Lolo–Burmese languages The Lolo-Burmese languages (also Burmic languages) of Burma and Southern China form a coherent branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Names Until ca. 1950, the endonym ''Lolo'' was written with derogatory characters in Chinese, and for this re ...

belonging to the

Tibeto-Burman languages The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people sp ...

. Among the Eastern Nasu and the Wusa Nasu, a significant minority is

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

. Most of the Yi people of the Luquan area do not have the autonym Luoluo and Nasu in the local dialect of Yi language means "black", hence the Black Yi (Chinese 黑彝 Hei Yi). However, the terms Black Yi (aristocrats) and White Yi (peasants) are properly caste distinctions, not linguistic ones.四川省凉山彝族社会历史调查资料选辑 -1987 Page 65 "另一方面,战败者要负赔偿责任,特别是曲诺、瓦加常因主子摊派的负担而卖田 II 产,从而也激化了阶级矛盾,七、白#家支"白弗"是和黑彝对称而来的。黑彝是统治者,白彝是被统治者。"

References

{{reflist Ethnic groups in China Ethnic groups in Yunnan Ethnic groups in Sichuan

See also

References