Abstract
Li Tribes of Hainan Island A PRELIMINARY study of the origin of the Li tribes of Hainan Island by Chungshee H. Liu appears in the first issue (January 1940) of Meridio-Occident-ale Sinense, a newly established journal for the scientific study of south-west China published by the South-West China Society at Kunming, China. The Li tribes are first mentioned in the “Annals of the Han Dynasties”(206 B.C.–A.D. 219), and since have been known by various cognate names, themselves adding a labial which by a phonetic change might suggest a relation with “Malay”. In some localities Moi points to a common origin with other aboriginal tribes of Indo-China; or again an affinity with the Lao of Tonkin has been suggested. There is reason to believe that the present Li tribes are descended from the Lii family or clan; but whether they had settled in Hainan before the Han dynasty or came to the mainland through Hainan demands further research. Physically the Li are a fine race of stout or slender build and medium stature (160 cm.). The skin is yellowish-brown, red-brown, or pale yellow; hair black, straight and fine; eyes medium brown, rarely light brown, oval, semi-oval or round in aperture, the eyefold being absent, but rarely traceable; nose concave or straight with more or less flat apertures. The cheek-bones are not prominent. The cephalic index is 80-20, the nasal index 75-73. In all these characters they differ from the Chinese, but are akin to Tai (Shan) on the one hand and Malay on the other. There has been, however, a generous admixture of Chinese blood. Racially they may be classified as Oceanic or Southern Mongols or Nesiots, or as Palseomongolides of von Eichstedt's new classification. The cultural relationship is complicated, but they appear to belong to the Indonesian cultural cycle. Linguistically their language belongs to the Thaic family.
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Research Items. Nature 146, 202–203 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146202a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146202a0