Over 80% of the 1.6 million members of China's Bai ethnic minority live within the villages of the Dali prefecture, the area they have occupied for 4000 years. And they stay here for good reason: they are blessed with some of the most fertile farmland, beautiful scenery, and mild weather in China.
The first thing most people notice about the Bai are the very distinctive traditional clothing their women wear, with their bright colors, beautiful, elaborate embroidery and dramatic headgear. The Bai like the color white (their religion, a mixture Buddhism and various ancient local traditions, regards the color white as sacred) and "Bai" means white in Chinese. However, most foreign visitors don't take nearly so much notice of the white in their garments and ornamentation as they do the bright colors and flashy patterns which appear to be very important to Bai culture.
Another thing visitors are quick to take notice of are the beautiful, embroidered baby-carriers Bai mothers strap to their back. Apart from being decorative, the carriers seem to be very comfortable to the children, with their faces held over their mothers' shoulders providing them with an excellent view of where they are going and what is going on.
Speaking of babies, here's an interesting tidbit: The Bai, or at least Bai women, actually have a preference for female offspring, and it is considered a good omen if the first child born to a family is female. Who ever heard you'd hear that in China? (It should be noted that the Bai, as with all of China's ethnic minorities, are exempted from the one child policy.)
The Bai have a surprisingly fascinating history. In the eighth century they grouped together and formed and established the Nanzhou kingdom. At the height of their power the Bai Nanzhou empire ruled all of Yunnan and much of present day Burma, and defeated the Tang Chinese Imperial army. They were later invaded by Monguls in the 13th century and have been part of China ever since. Still, it seems odd to think that these quaint, charming, rice farmers, who come across as laid-back and somewhat unambitious and whose language has no wriiten form (though I believe most are literate in Chinese), once controlled one of the most powerful empires in Asia.