Pa-Yi

(obsolete Chung-chia), a nationality in the People’s Republic of China, similar in language and culture to the northern Chuangs. They are settled mainly in the southern part of Kweichow Province, with small groups living in the neighboring areas of Yünnan and Kwangsi provinces and North Vietnam. Population is approximately 1.7 million (1967 estimate). The Pa-yi language is related to the Chuang-Tung, or Thai, languages. In religion some of the Payi are animists and others adhere to Confucianism and Taoism. The chief occupation is farming (primarily rice growing). Approximately 2,000 years ago the ancestors of the Pa-yi became separated from a group of the ancient Thaispeaking Lo-Yüeh tribes that lived in the Kwangsi areas adjacent to Kweichow, and subsequently they made their way north to the regions they now inhabit.