The room within: a Yi writer’s childhood among animals in Yunnan

A small stockade, a big story

Zha Shiyire, a member of the Yi (彝) ethnic group born in Yunnan (云南) in 1990, has published a short, vivid memoir in Sixth Tone about growing up inside a zhaizi (寨子) — a traditional stockaded village — before she left for a Han-majority primary school. The images are intimate: animals as constant companions, a courtyard that served as classroom and playground, and the jolt of entering a world where Mandarin and Han cultural norms dominated. What does growing up among chickens and pigs teach a child? For Zha, it became the seed of a life shaped by care for animals — she is now a pre-veterinary science student living in the United States.

Minority life, schooling, and cultural change

For Western readers unfamiliar with China’s ethnic landscape: Yunnan is one of the country’s most diverse provinces, home to many recognized minority groups including the Yi. Zha’s account illuminates how everyday life in a zhaizi differs from the urban experience — and how public schooling functions as a primary site of cultural and linguistic transition. It has been reported that many children from ethnic minority areas attend Han-majority schools, where Mandarin-language instruction and national curricula can accelerate assimilation and erode local practices and dialects.

Why the essay matters

Zha’s piece is more than nostalgia. It links personal memory to broader social shifts: rural-to-urban migration, educational policies, and the slow disappearance of some traditional village forms. Her story is also a reminder that policy debates are lived at the level of courtyards and classrooms. Sixth Tone’s platform lets a member of an ethnic minority speak in her own voice — a small but valuable corrective to abstractions about “ethnic policy” and development.