Here, women care for the home, which is
shared with livestock. Toilets might be next to
animal pens. Clothes aren’t always spotless. On
a scroll, in an old syllabic script, is recorded
the tribe’s precious history, safeguarded by the
village chief.
Its people may be poor, but the irony is
rich: The same mountains that ensconce the Yi
people and keep their traditions safe from fast-
developing modern China have also ensured
their exclusion from sanitation and healthcare
initiatives – and prevented them from selling
produce to the cities.
Exempt from the country’s onetime one-
child policy, many Yi have big families, but
cannot afford to send more than a couple of
children – often boys – to school. As with
every other hill tribe, there’s been a gradual
exodus: Young men are heading to the cities in
search of a better life, leaving behind women,
children, and the elderly.
Stepping into
Sichuan’s
Daliang Mountains
is like stepping
back in time.
Photos Claudia Xiaoli Lee