Introduction

According to the sixth census ofChina in 2010, the total population ofMongolians reached 5,981,840. They are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, Xinjiang,Liaoning, Jilin provinces and etc. Mongolians in Yunnan largely live in Xingmeng Township,Tonghai County, Yuxi City. The total population ofthe township is 5,524, ofwhich 5347 are Mongolians accounting for 96.73%^[11]. Located in Tonghai County, Xingmeng Township is surely the only Mongolian autonomous township in Yunnan, with a completely preserved ethnic community. It consists ofo five villages: Zhongcun, Xiacun, Baige, Gaoyiwan and Taojiazui. These residents are the descendants of Mongolians fighting for Kublai Khan and being left in Yunnan in the early Yuan Dynasty. The Mongolians in Yunnan can speak Yi language, Chinese as well as their own Mongolian language, in which they can roughly communicate with the Mongolians in the north regions of China. The language of these Mongolians have gradually changed with the development of the society for hundreds of years, thus all the written characters ofMongolians in Yunnan are now Chinese.

Farming is by now the primary mode ofproduction for Mongolians in Yunnan. Their beliefs have characteristics ofpolytheism: they attach much importance to ancestor worship by putting the tablets engraved with forefathers’ names on the central room upstairs; they also resort to the Kitchen God’s blessings^[12] by worshiping the statuette ofthe ruler ofpots and pans put in kitchens and each family with the same surname among all Mongolian families has a ancestral hall. In addition, large Mongolian temples also hold fairs, in which religious and sacrificial ceremonies are gone off and folk performances are made. Not only do the Mongolian people in Yunnan retain the traditional sports activities and festivals of the Mongolians in the north,but also they create a unique ethnic sports culture in adapting to and transforming the new environment. It, simultaneously, shows the symbiosis of sports culture produced by cultural clashes in the process ofcommunications between a migrant ethnic group and other groups.

Through great changes of 750 years, the Mongolian people in Yunnan have experienced the transformation from herdsmen to fishermen and then to farmers. So industrious, brave and simple are the Mongolian people that a distinctive ethnic culture has been formed in the process ofintegration and communication with all ethnic groups in Yunnan. Their language,costumes, songs, dances, cuisines, festivals, etiquette, customs and religion have undeniable charm and rich cultures, catching more attention ofthe people outside here.