Introduction

According to the sixth national census in 2010, the Lahu people have a total population of 475,000, mainly in the Simao and Lincang areas ofYunnan’s Lancang River basin, as well as in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, the Yuxi City and the Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Honghe. Lancang County is the only Lahu autonomous county in China, home to 190,000 Lahu people. The Lahu people live in a subtropical mountainous area with no sweltering summer and no frigid winter, and a distinct rainy and dry season throughout the year. The Lancang River basin, with its lofty mountains and wellconnected rivers, is rich in resources, products and scenery.

The Lahu ancestors originated from the ancient Qiang people^[13]. They called themselves Lahu. In the Lahu language, “La” is the tiger and “Hu” means roasting food over fire, so“Lahu” means roasting tiger flesh, which indicates they are the tiger hunter, reflecting the hunter-gatherer economy ofthe Lahu people in the past. After the founding ofNew China,the name Lahu was officially adopted in accordance with the wishes of the Lahu people.The Lahu language belongs to the Tibetan-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Some ofthe Lahu have used the Latin alphabets inwriting. The written form oftheir language was created by Western missionaries. Based on that, the alphabetic writing was created in 1957 and widely used till now.

The Lahu people enjoy romantic freedom, and generally practice endogamy. It’s a common convention of living with wife’s family for three years. The Lahu people love black color, typifiedby their costumes.