Ethnic Groups

There are about 17 million Zhuang people in China, including more than 1 million in Yunnan. There are many branches to the group, including more than 40 branches in Yunnan alone. 

More than 8 million Yi people live in the hillside and basin areas of China, including about 5 million in Yunnan.

The Yao ethnic group numbers more than 2.8 million throughout China, in Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Guizhou, and there are about 190,000 Yao people in Yunnan.

The Wa people live in the upland regions of eastern Myanmar and southwestern Yunnan.

The Tibetan People, or Zang ethnic minority, number more than 6 million in China, mostly living in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, but about 128, 000 are in Yunnan Province.

The Shui Ethnic Group has a population of more than 410,000, mainly in Guizhou Province, but only about 12,000 of them live in Yunnan, mostly in the Fuyuan and Yiliang areas.

There are nearly 40,000 Pumi people in China and most of them live in the northwest quadrant of Yunnan.

The Nu ethnic group has a population of 37,000, nearly all of which live in Yunnan in Fugong, Gongshan and Bin'e Township in Lanping County in the Nujiang Susu Autonomous Prefecture.

Of about 300,000 Naxi people in China, most live in Naxi Autonomous County in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, others in Sichuan and Tibet.

Of approximately 6 million Mongolian people living throughout China, only about 28,000 of them live in Yunnan, mostly in Xinmeng Township, Tonghai County.

Most of the more than 9 million Miao people in China live in the southern Guizhou Province and the western Hunan Province, but there are about 1 million Miao people in Yunnan.

The Manchu people were originally a northern ethnic group that migrated to Yunnan during the Qing Dynasty and gathered around Kunming and other nearby areas.