Starting from mid-August, the series of micro-videos on the provincial conditions of Yunnan, titled “Beautiful Yunnan” (Season 3), produced and distributed by the Yunnan Provincial Gazetteer Compilation Committee Office, will be updated online. Following the successful release of 31 episodes in 2025, 69 more are planned for this year. The series is divided into ten thematic categories, including “World Heritage,” “Nine Highland Lakes of Yunnan,” “Ethnic Groups Unique to Yunnan,” “Names of Yunnan,” “Treasures of Yunnan,” “Flagship Species of Yunnan,” “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yunnan,” “Yunnan History,” “Yunnan Mountains,” and “Sources of Rivers.” These categories weave together the diverse aspects of Yunnan, presenting a beautiful Yunnan full of imagery. Stay tuned!

Ethnic Groups Unique to Yunnan: The Bulang People

On the banks of the Lancang River and the Nujiang River in southwestern Yunnan, amidst the life-nurturing rainforests and rushing rivers, lies the homeland of the Bulang people.

Sunrise over Bulang Mountain (Bulang Mountain is located in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture)

Historical Origins

The Bulang people descend from the ancient Pu people. The Pu people living in western Yunnan during the pre-Qin period and the Ailao people of the Han dynasty are considered the ancestors of the Bulang people. According to the “Chronicles of Huayang,” the Ailao people were closely related to the Pu people, and the region around Yongchang (present-day southern Baoshan) was where the ancient Pu people lived. During the Tang Dynasty, they split into two branches: the Wangman and the Puzi Man, with the latter being the forebearers of the Bulang people.

By the end of the Song dynasty, the Bulang people had formed a single ethnic group. Historical records from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties referred to them consistently as “Puman” or “Pu people,” and the distribution of their ancestors had largely taken shape.

Shuangjiang County (Lahu, Va, Bulang, and Dai Autonomous County) in Lincang City

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the ethnic name was officially recognized as Bulang based on the wishes of the people. The Bulang people are a cross-border ethnic group, distributed across China and several Southeast Asian countries. They primarily live in mountainous areas and along river valleys. In China, they are mainly found in the Brown Hills of Menghai County in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Shuangjiang, Yunxian, Zhenkang, Yongde, Gengma in Lincang, Shidian and Changning in Baoshan, as well as Lancang and Mojiang counties. As of 2025, the population of the Bulang people in China has reached 120,000.

The Bulang language belongs to the Wa-De-Ang branch of the Mon-Khmer family of the Austroasiatic languages and can be divided into two major dialect areas: Bulang and Wa. The Bulang people do not have their own script and commonly use the Dai script. Some people speak Dai, Wa, and Chinese languages, and the Dai and Chinese scripts have become important media for cultural transmission among the Bulang people.

Cultural Customs

“Living off the mountains” is a defining characteristic of mountain-dwelling ethnic groups. The Bulang people live in mountainous regions with a mild climate and abundant rainfall. The favorable geographical environment and rich natural resources have led to a production system centered around gathering, hunting, and slash-and-burn agriculture. According to the “Chronicles of Chuxiong Prefecture” during the Kangxi era, “The Puman people live in the mountains and cultivate by slash-and-burn; women weave hemp cloth for a living.”

Bulang Weaving Techniques

The Bulang people are highly skilled weavers. The “Chronicles of Huayang – Southern Region” records: “There is the wutong tree, whose flowers are as soft as silk. The people weave them into cloth that is five feet wide, white and does not stain, commonly known as wutong flower cloth.” By the Western Han dynasty, the weaving skills of the Bulang ancestors were renowned far and wide. “Gebu” is an ancient handicraft practiced by Bulang women in Shuangjiang, Yunnan. Wild kudzu vines are harvested, stripped of their outer skin, torn into thin strips, and connected to form long strands. Several strands are woven into clothes, shoulder bags, blankets, etc. In 2009, the traditional Bulang weaving techniques of Shuangjiang and the cultural heritage protection area of the Bulang tradition in Dananzhai Village, Shuangjiang, were listed in the second batch of provincial-level intangible cultural heritage representative projects.

Bulang Weaving Loom

Both men and women of the Bulang people favor black and dark blue, while young women prefer bright colors as accents, resembling stars in the vast night sky, adding vibrant energy to the stable base colors.

Bulang People Celebrating the New Year “Sangkang Festival”

The Bulang people have many festivals, all lively and festive. Festivals such as the Opening Gate Festival, Closing Gate Festival, New Rice Festival, and Sangkang Festival are closely tied to agricultural production and local beliefs.

The Ancient Tea Farmers

The Bulang people have always been an inclusive group, blending with the Han, Dai, Hani, and other ethnic groups since the Ming dynasty. The “Yunnan General Gazetteer” of the Wanli period recorded that the Bulang people “men farm and women weave, gradually learning writing,” and “the Pu people… engage in farming… know Chinese and conduct trade.” Since the Tang dynasty, the Bulang people, who live alongside tea, have spread their “tea” culture through the ancient tea-horse roads while also gaining significant economic support.

The Ancient Tea-Horse Road Brings More Cultural Exchange to the Bulang People

Tea is a precious gift from nature to the industrious and kind Bulang people, playing a vital role in their lives. The Brown Hills have a long history of tea cultivation, and the Bulang people, who have always been favored by tea trees, have accumulated rich experience in tea processing through generations of practice, forming a colorful Tea culture.

Bulang Villages Amidst Tea Mountains in Mangle Village, Shuangjiang County

The ways in which the Bulang people use tea are varied, ranging from drinking it to using it in medicine and food, preserving ancient culinary traditions. Most Bulang women know how to process tea traditionally, and there are three main methods: loose tea, bamboo tube tea, and sour tea. Loose tea involves stir-frying or boiling fresh leaves until they change color, then kneading them on a bamboo mat and drying them on a bamboo rack. Bamboo tube tea is made by stuffing stir-fried young tea leaves into a bamboo tube and roasting it beside a fire until the bamboo skin chars, after which the bamboo can be broken open for consumption. Sour tea involves cooking fresh leaves and leaving them in a dark place for more than ten days until they sour, before packing them into a bamboo tube and burying it