In the old Annals of Yunnan, the Hani are described as a people who "fear the law and are shy of controversy." Indeed, they are a simple, good-natured people. Most of the Hani today speak only Han and wear Han dress. Only people up in the mountains, and perhaps old ladies in the towns, still manage to keep their Hani identity.

Ethnicity

According to anthropological studies, the Hani, Yi and Lahu are descendants of the ancient Qiang people of northwest China, who gradually migrated to the south and eventually settled in the area between the Ailao and Mengle mountains in the seventh century.

Language

The Hani language belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibetan-Burmese language group in the Chinese-Tibetan family of languages. It has three tones. The Hani had no written language until the government helped them to create a script based on the Roman alphabet in 1957. As they are widely distributed, the Hani speak three different dialects: Hani-Aini, Biyue-Kaduo and Haomi-Baihong.

Population

There are 627,000 people who speak the Hani language in China. About 1.5 million people are in the Hani people cluster, which includes other minority groups. The Chinese government recognizes this cluster as one of the 55 minority groups.

Location

Most of the Hani live in southern Yunnan province, where most are located in the valleys between the Yuanjiang and Lancang rivers, a vast area between the Ailao and Mengle mountains.

Culture

The Hani are a poverty-stricken and needy people. The central government, in indexing their quality of life, ranked the Hani as being the lowest of China's official minority groups (38.3% compared with the national average of 62.7%). They also have a high infant mortality rate: 107 of every 1,000 Hani infants die during infancy. The life expectancy is just 58 years.

Religion

The Hani are polytheists and ancestor worshippers. Rituals are regularly held to worship the gods of Heaven, Earth, the Dragon Tree and their village, as well as their family patron gods. Because of their superstitions, the Hani view certain events as unlucky. For example, if there is a birth of twins or a handicapped child, the children are killed, their parents banished, and their homes and possessions burned.

There are three major clergymen the Hani look to. The zuima is a male from the oldest household who directs all religious activities. The males who perform magic and exorcism are called beimas. Those who made predictions and administer medicinal herbs, both male and female, are called nimas.

Christianity

The Hani are 0.03% evangelical Christian. The Hani have been one of the most neglected minority groups with the gospel. Translation of the Scriptures and the Jesus film is currently in progress. There are no Christian broadcasts.

Missions

In the early 1940s, a Danish pastor started preaching the gospel in Mojiang, south of the Ailao mountains. According to a recent visitor to the area, there are more than 80 meeting points and over 8,000 baptized believers among the Hani in the Mojiang Jani Autonomous County. In adjacent Yuanjiang County, there are about 1,000 Christians. The situation of the church is like that in other parts of China: there are many believers but few shepherds. According to current estimates, there are about 48,000 Hani Christians in China today and there are many inquirers.