Mainly living in Ximeng, Cangyuan and Menglian counties of Yunnan Province and their surrounding mountainous areas.

It uses Wa language, belonging to Wadang branch of South Asian language family. There are three dialects: Balaok, Wa and Wa. Wa people had no writing at first. 1957, Wa characters were designed and created in the form of Latin letters.

Wa people believe in animistic natural religion.

Wa nationality is an ancient nationality in the southwest of Yunnan Province, China. As early as 2000 years ago, they developed Gaoligong Mountain and Lancang River with the ancestors of Brown, De 'ang and other ethnic groups. They call themselves "tile", "baroque" and "Awa", all of which mean "mountain people". During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, its ancestor was a branch of Baipu, which was called Puziman in the Tang Dynasty, Puman in the Song Dynasty, Gula in the Ming Dynasty and Gala and Hawa in the Qing Dynasty. The local Dai people call it "Kawa", because "Ka" means slave in Dai language, so this name is insulting. After the founding of New China, it was renamed the Wa nationality to reflect the equality and unity of all ethnic groups. Wa people live on high mountains, especially in the mountainous Awa mountain area, with inconvenient transportation, little communication with the outside world and slow economic development. Only when they turned over and became masters did great changes take place and they embarked on the road of modernization.

Department of Veterans Affairs

May 30(th), 2005