The Li call themselves the Xiao or Ben Di people. They trace their origins to the Luo Yue branch of the ancient Bai Yue people. The Li language belongs to the Tai-Kadai language family. It’s written using an alphabet developed in the 1950s.

According to historical records the Blang are the descendants of the Pu, who inhabited the Lancang River valley thousands of years ago. The Blang language belongs to the Mon-Khmer language family. It has two separate writing systems, both based on the Latin alphabet.

Uyghurs call themselves Uyghurs, a word meaning "unity" in the Uyghur language. Uyghurs are the descendants of the Dingling and Tieles tribes, nomads who mingled and merged in the third century BC. During the 8th and 9th centuries the Uyghurs ruled a vast Central Asian empire.

The Buyeis call themselves the Puyi, Puzhong, Burao, Puman, etc. In historical record they were called the Southwest Aborigines among other things. The modern Buyei are descended from a branch of the ancient Baiyue.

The Zhuang are known by a number of different names in different places, including Bushuang, Buchuang, Bunong and Buman. The Zhuang are descendants of the Tai peoples, a group that migrated south from central China 5000 years ago in search of more fertile soil.

The Lisu are believed to have migrated northwest into Yunnan from Tibet thousands of years ago. Their history is passed on from on generation to the next through a song. The song is now so long that it can take almost a week to sing.