Li Ethnic Group
Hainan, ‘China's Hawaii’, is the home of the Li ethnic group with a population of about 1.11 million. Lying at the foot of the Wuzhi Mountains, the Li area is a tropical paradise with fertile land and abundant rainfall. Coconut palms and rubber trees line the beaches, people reap three crops of rice a year and they grow maize and sweet potatoes all year round. The area is China's major producer of tropical crops such as coconut, arica, sisal hemp, lemon grass, cocoa, coffee, rubber, oil palm, cashew, pineapple, casava, mango and banana.
There are numerous salt pans and many fine harbors along the coast, and good fishing grounds off shore. Pearls, coral and hawksbill, turtles of commercial value are found in the coastal waters. Black gibbons, civets and peacocks live in the primeval forests which abound with valuable timber.
The Li had no written script. Their spoken language belongs to the Chinese-Tibetan language family. But many of them now speak standard Chinese. A new Romanized script was created for the Li ethnic group in 1957.
According to historical records, the term "Li" first appeared in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The Li are believed to be descendants of the ancient Yue ethnic group, with especially close relations to the Luoyues -- a branch of the Yues -- who migrated from Guangdong and Guangxi on the mainland to Hainan Island long before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.). Archaeological finds on the island show that Li ancestors settled there some 3,000 years ago when they led a matriarchal communal life. Ethnically, the Li are closely related to the Zhuang, Bouyei, Shui, Dong and Dai ethnic groups since their languages bear resemblance in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
In the Song Dynasty (960-1279) rice cultivation was introduced and irrigation developed. Local farmers were able to grow four crops of ramie annually. Brocade woven by Li women became popular in central China.
In the early Yuan Dynasty, Huang Daopo, the legendary weaver in Chinese history, achieved her excellence by learning weaving techniques from the Li. Running away as a child bride from her home in Shanghai, she came to Hainan and lived with the Li. Returning to Shanghai, she passed on the Li techniques to others further spreading the Li textiles fame.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty most of the land was in the hands of a small number of landlords and peasants were exploited by usury and land rent. Large tracts of land were seized by the government for official use. Only in the Wuzhi Mountains did people still work the land collectively, but even this remnant of the communal system was used by landlords as a means of exploitation.
Heavy oppression of the Li people kindled flames of uprising. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Li on Hainan staged 18 large-scale uprisings; during the Ming and Qing dynasties 14 major rebellions took place. After the Opium War in 1840, Hainan was invaded by Western countries who brought untold sufferings to the local Li people, who rose repeatedly against these new invaders.
Li women wear buttonless blouses and tight-fitting long skirts. Women in some places wear pullovers. They do their hair in a coil at the back and pin it with bone hairpins and wear embroidered kerchiefs. They like silver jewelry, and some still tattoo their faces. Men wear collarless jackets, and those in Dongfang County wear much the same kind of jackets as women.
The Li people eat roast meat and pickled sour meat mixed with rice meal and wild herbs. Arica is a favorite with women, who chew it with shell ashes wrapped in green leaves; the juice dyes their lips red. The Li are also heavy smokers and drinkers.
Several families related by blood live together, pooling their labor and sharing the harvest. They dwell in boat-shaped thatched bamboo houses with woven bamboo or rattan floors half a meter above the ground. These houses have mud-plastered walls.
The Li are known for their skill in weaving kapok. They are also famed for their knowledge of herbal medicine. Their remedies for snakebites and rabies have proved very effective.
They keep a primitive calendar and calculate according to a 12-day cycle, with each day named after an animal, similar to the 12 earthly branches used by the Han people.
Agrarian reform, Women’s liberation, Han encroachment, education, industrialization, and tourism have dramatically changed life for the Li. Smallpox, cholera and other diseases, which used to take a heavy toll, have largely been eliminated. Today, tourism has started a process of ‘disney-fication’ of the Li. Now on display, they imitate a forgotten cultural history. Satellite TV, DVDs, and tourists are bringing the outside world into their homes. Many of the younger generation have left the farms for better opportunities in the nearby cities. Many traditional techniques and cultural practices are no longer being passed down to the next generation.
