674.1 Social and Economic Background
Zhaojue County lies 100 km east of Xichang, the capital of Liangshan Yi Autonomous
Prefecture in Sichuan Province and is located in the rugged and under developed
Liangshan Mountains south of Yuexi County, north of Jinyang, Butuo and Puge
County. The Yi national minority can be found in Sichuan, Yunan and Guizhou and
number about 10 million people. The county covers 2700 km^2 and has low popula-
tion density. Zhaojue County administers 47 xiangs (towns), 267 villagers’ committees
and 835 villagers’ groups. The total population at the end of 2009 was 268,000, 98 %
of whom are Yi people. Yi is widely spoken and is a written language though there
are relatively few sources of print material in Yi. In 1990 there were few radio sets, a
handful of televisions, and no telephones outside Zhaojue and the main road commu-
nication lines. Now radio and television reach most areas, and mobile phones are com-
mon. Remote valleys still remain isolated. Most schools operate using Chinese as the
medium of instruction but some maintain dual medium streams.
The altitude in Zhaojue varies between 520 and 3900 m above the sea level,
with an average altitude of 2300 m. As a result the climate is harsh. The annual
precipitation is high at over 1000 mm, the average annual temperature is 11 °C and
it has nearly 1900 h of sunshine annually. The winters are cold with much snow
and below freezing temperatures and the summers hot and humid. The four sea-
sons can be experienced in one day when moving from valleys to mountains.
The area is agriculturally dependent on wheat, corn, potato, buckwheat and oats
which are cultivated in the lower valley floors. Only about 10 % of the land can
be cultivated. Though water is available in abundance there are also high levels
of erosion along water courses that periodically flood. Historically Yi people were
pastoral herders living in dispersed settlements throughout the region practicing
shifting cultivation and moving up and down the mountains in search of pasture in
different seasons.
Chapter 4
Nine Year Compulsory Education
in a National Minority Area Zhaojue
County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous
Prefecture, Sichuan
© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016
L. Wang and K. Lewin, Two Decades of Basic Education in Rural China,
New Frontiers of Educational Research, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2120-6_4