Yi Sani Economic Life Change Research

Located in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan province, Danuohei is a village mainly populated by the Sani, a branch of the Yi and it is the chosen place of this research and paper writing. This paper attempts to investigate how land use influences the economic life and changed Sani villagers by means of literature review and multiple field work trips. It includes the following six parts.The first part is an introduction to the significance of this thesis including the methods adopted, followed by a literature review on how land use has influenced the economic life of the Sani.Chapter I is a survey of the Sani's traditional ways of land use.Chapter II focuses on the changes in land use from the aspects of land size, forms of farming, agricultural products and the reclamation of woodland after the state set regulations of forest protection. I argue that villagers do not thoroughly earn a living land cultivation, because of the introduction of market economy.Chapter III dwells on the economic life of the Sani by investigating the development and changes taken place in agriculture and animal husbandry and non-agricultural industries.Chapter IV concentrates on the changed views of the Sani on land. After examining the income from land, I argue that land is not necessarily the root of the gaps between the rich and the poor among the Sani, or the only source of income.The sixth part highlights that tourism is an important means of non-agricultural industries in Danuohei. In the development of ecotourism by advocating the Sani culture, land protection should be taken into consideration. It can be concluded that traditional culture protection and fair use of land are critical to attracting tourists who come and stay in farmers'hotels and experience the Sani culture, increasing the income of the villagers at the same time.