云南省的少数民族 - The Minority Peoples of Yunnan

What a lot of people do not realize is that China’s population is not as homogenized as one might think. The majority of the population is Han Chinese, but there are 55 minority peoples throughout the country, each with unique cultures, customs, language, and dress. There are the Uighur people in the northwestern province of Xinjiang who speak a Turkic language, are European or Middle Eastern in appearance and who live lives similar to those of other central Asians. In addition, there are the famous cases of the Mongols and Manchu (in the north and northeast, respectively). The Mongols were from whom the Han Chinese built the Great Wall in order to defend against, but this no longer became an issue when the Mongols ruled all of China during the Yuan Dynasty. Similarly, the Manchu people ruled China during the Qing Dynasty, at which time they became quite sinicized (adopted customs and practices of the majority Chinese culture). Sure, the Han people account for nearly 90% of the total population, but in a country with over 1.3 Billion people, the sheer numbers of China’s minorities dwarf the populations of nearly all but a handful o f nations. Of the 55 minority peoples, Yunnan Province is home to 25 of them – another testament to the incredible diversity of this amazing province.

Minority Women in traditional dress gather along the side of the road