With a long history and profound culture, the Yi is an ancient ethnic minority in and has the largest population among ethnic groups of Yunnan living in most parts of the province.

The Yis have their own written language, and their ancestors composed a great deal of classic documents and literature works-which have circulated for a long time and enjoyed a big fame both at home and abroad. 

However, what the Yis take pride in mostly is the Ten-month Solar Calendar which originates from the Fuxi period (dating back about 10,000 years) in Chinese history. Comparing to the civilisations of ancient Egypt, India and Babylon, the Ten-month Solar Calendar makes the Chinese civilisation date back to an earlier period.