Most Yi people call themselves "Su Nuo", "Na Su" and "Nie Su" (or later "Po", which means "people" in Yi language) because Yi people are widely distributed. There are many different self-proclaimed names in history. According to incomplete statistics, until the eve of liberation, there were Naluopo, Mishapo, Prapo, Puwapo, Axipo, Shunipo, Li Po, Gepo, Luopo and Luowupo. Su Nuo, Nie Su are all Yi languages, and Nuo, Na and Nie are all caused by phonetic differences in different dialects, all of which mean "black" (also meaning "tiger"). In the concept of Yi people, black contains deep, wide, tall, big, strong, rich, noble and subjective meanings. "Su" means group, people and family, while "Su Nuo" (or "Su Na" and "Nie Su") means "subjective nation" and "black nation". Starting from 1950, the Yi people chose Ding Yi's "Yi" as their surname, replacing the word "Yi" in the old historical documents.

(2), ethnic origin?

Yi nationality originated from the Yi nationality of the ancient Qiang nationality. Due to the lack of historical records of China, there have been various opinions in academic circles for a long time: in the south, that is, ancient Vietnamese and Malays; In the east, the Chu people said; In the west, Tibet or the Tibetan-Burmese border; Yunnan aborigines said; Hehuang ancient Qiang people in the north; In addition, there are Pu people, Lu people and Yunnan aborigines. 6000-7000 years ago, the ancient Qiang people living in Hehuang area in northwest China began to develop in all directions and swam to the southwest of the motherland. More than 3,000 years ago, the ancient Qiang people who swam southwest settled along the Jinsha River in Du Qiong in Anning River Basin and Dianchi Lake in Pudu River Basin. In history, the residents of Dianchi Lake were called "Yue Qiang", "Qing Qiang", "Barbarian", "County Yi" and "Left", and they have been integrated with local Bo (Pu) people, Liao people and Han people, becoming the ancestors of Yi people. ?

On the basis of the integration of ancient Qiang people and southwest indigenous tribes, the integration of Kunming people and Bo (Pu) is a new development in the formation of Yi people. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, the integration of Kunming people and Bo (Pu) developed into the integration of modern people. From the Han Dynasty to the Six Dynasties, the main residents of eastern Yunnan, western Guizhou and southern Sichuan were called Zuo Ren in China's history books, and sometimes they were tied with Pu. ?

Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there have been two kinds of barbarians among the ancestors of Yi people. Wuman is developed from Kunming tribe, while Baiman is mainly composed of Lao, Pu and other ethnic groups, and is integrated with other ethnic groups. ?

During the long-term formation and development of Yi ancestors, their activities once spread all over the central areas of Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and a part of Guangxi, and their core areas should be the vast areas adjacent to the three provinces. Yi people all over the country have the same legend from Zhong Mouyou. According to the Complete Genealogy of Shuian, it has been passed down to 85 generations in the early years of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, which can be traced back to the early Warring States period, and the six sons born have developed into the "six ancestors" tribe.

The origin and formation of yi nationality. The ancestors of the Yi people are closely related to the ancient stone men and Qiang people distributed in the west of China. In the Western Han Dynasty, an ancestor of the Yi nationality was named "Kunming". "Sou" in the Eastern Han Dynasty was also the name of the ancestors of the Yi people at that time. Wuman people in Tang and Song Dynasties (called "Luoluo" after Yuan Dynasty) are the direct ancestors of Yi people. Due to different historical conditions caused by various reasons, the formation of the Yi people has always been dual. A branch represented by the Yi people in Yunnan was formed on the basis of the emergence of the state. The establishment of Nanzhao State in the Tang Dynasty marked the real formation of this Yi people. The other is represented by the Yi people in the north of Liangshan, Sichuan. They never established a country, but first United into a tribe and then developed from a tribe into a nation.

2. The historical evolution of the geographical distribution of Yi people. The Yi people are mainly distributed in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces, namely, the Daliangshan area south of the Dadu River in Sichuan and on both sides of the Anning River, a tributary of the Yalong River, the area between Jinsha River, Yuanjiang, Ailao Mountain and Wuliangshan in Yunnan, and Huaping, Ninglang and Yongsheng in western Yunnan, which are called "Little Liangshan" in Yunnan and Anshun and Bijie in Guizhou. The natural environment in these areas where the Yi people are distributed is relatively poor, most of them are very complex mountains, some of them belong to extremely cold mountainous areas, and there are few flat dams and river valleys. The formation of this distribution pattern has experienced a long historical evolution.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the activity centers of Yi ancestors were in Dianchi Lake in Yunnan and Du Qiong in Sichuan (now southeast of Xichang), engaged in farming or nomadic industry. Later, it moved southward along the banks of Yinuo and Quyi, namely Jinsha River and Anning River. Around the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it gradually expanded from Jinsha River, Anning River Basin, Dianchi Lake and Ailao Mountain to northern Yunnan, southern Yunnan, northwestern Guizhou and northwestern Guangxi. The establishment of Nanzhao State in Tang Dynasty and Dali State in Song Dynasty expanded the distribution of Yi people to areas affected by the state. In the Yuan Dynasty, the central government set up departments of land, government, prefecture, county and Xuanwei in Yunnan Yi people's inhabited areas, Xuanwei in western Guizhou (now in western Guizhou and Dafang), Mahu Road in Leibo, Pingshan and Jinsha River, Jianchang Road in Xichang, Mianning and Puge, and Luoluo Xuanwei in Liangshan. The determination of this administrative division has basically stabilized the geographical distribution of the Yi people. In the Ming Dynasty, three administrative measures, namely floating officials, local officials and local officials, were implemented in Yi areas, which expanded the influence of feudal landlord economy, and a large number of Han immigrants played a very significant role in promoting the economic development of Yi areas. In the Qing Dynasty, the practice of "changing the land into the stream" strengthened the direct rule over Yi areas and further promoted the establishment of feudal landlord economy.