Abstract: The first residents of the Yi community of Yunqiao, Konggang, Kunming were Yi immigrants from traditional villages of Luqian County. Changes of location and environment have entailed both tangible changes, such as food, and intangible changes, such as language. Taking as example preservation of ethnic culture of the Yi people in the aforesaid area, this paper contends that the approach for a people to preserve and inherit their own traditional culture is to hold to their own brilliant culture.

Key words: the Yi people, immigration, cultural evolution