Yilasha Village

Yilasha Village

Yilasha Village Yilasha is China’s largest natural Yi ethnic village, often referred to as “the No.1 Yi Village under Heaven.” Nestled deep in the mountains on the banks of the Jinsha River at the southern tip of Panzhihua, Sichuan, it is home to over 600 households, with more than 400 densely clustered on a small hillside. The houses here are mostly wooden structures with tiled roofs, built in a similar architectural style reminiscent of regions in Jiangsu and Anhui...

With a history of about 600 years, Yilasha is a unique community formed through the blending of Han and Yi cultures. It inherits the ancient characteristics of the Yi people while also incorporating elements of Han culture. Today, over 1,500 people live here, belonging mainly to four major surnames: Qi, Mao, Na, and Zhang. A local saying goes, “The Qi family has wheels (symbolizing mobility), the Mao family has pens (symbolizing scholarship), the Na family has corn (symbolizing agriculture), and the Zhang family has wine jars (symbolizing brewing).” Research suggests their ancestors were from Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty, making them witnesses to the historical event known as “Hongwu Opens Yunnan.”

According to local records, in the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang sent an army of 300,000 to campaign in Yunnan. The troops were primarily from Nanjing, along with some from Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Anhui. Later, the Ming government encouraged intermarriage between Han soldiers and local ethnic minorities, stipulating that soldiers who married Yi women would be classified as Yi, and those who married Naxi women would be classified as Naxi. Over generations, the Yi-inhabited natural village of Yilasha gradually grew into its current scale.

It is said that the residential architecture in Yilasha is a clever blend of Jiangsu-Anhui and Yi styles, modified by architects from Jiangsu and Anhui. Yi men here do not wear the traditional chawar (a type of cape), and Yi women do not don sheepskin capes. In Yi homes, the central hall typically features only a spirit tablet, without a hearth. The ethnic and folk culture is also distinctive, with styles that incorporate the melodies of southern Yangtze River folk music from the Qinhuai region.

“In Yilasha, every household has a courtyard, and every courtyard is adjacent to others; there’s an alley in front of every door, and every alley connects to the next. These village lanes and alleys crisscross like a spiderweb—generally speaking, you’ll get lost if you haven’t walked through them two or three times,” say local villagers.

Yilasha means “where the water flows down” in the Yi language.

Scenic Location

Southeast end of Pingdi Town, Renhe District, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province