Yang Guangdao Collection of Yi Manuscripts

This collection contains digital images of traditional Yi manuscript texts from the Luquan area of China. The material is thought to date from roughly the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The manuscripts belong to a former Bimo priest named Yang Guangdao, who inherited them from his uncle, also a Bimo priest. According to Yi tradition, authors and scribes did not record their names on the manuscripts, and so this information is unknown to us. The original manuscripts are written in black and red ink on cotton paper, bound with string and wrapped in hemp cloth or leather. Material is written in the Wuding dialect.