The Li People

The Li live in Hainan Province, particularly in and around Tongze, the capital of the Hainan Li-Miao Autonomous Prefecture, and Baoting, Ledong, Dongfang, and other counties under the prefecture's jurisdiction. Others live among the Hui and Han elsewhere on the island. They migrated to Hainan thousands of years ago from China's coastal areas, and archaeological finds indicate that the Li settled 3,000 years ago during the Shang Dynasty or early Zhou Dynasty. They are ethnically related to the Vietnamese and are closely related to the Zhuang, Bouyei, Shui, Dong, and Dai nationalities. Their languages are similar in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. The Li are divided into five groups based on the regions where they live: Xiao Li, Meifu Li, Zi Li, local Li, and Detou Li. Up to 200 households in some villages are reported to have the same name.

The Li are famous for their Bamboo-Skipping Dance performed during the New Year and on festival days, and for their tattooing. A woman's body is tattooed beginning at the age of 15 and is completed before marriage. It begins on her face and inches down to her neck, chest, arms, and legs. They are also famous for their nose-blown flutes and their textile techniques.

Non-Christian Li practice ancestor worship and animism. "The Li do not appear to have been deeply influenced by any of the major religions, although they have borrowed aspects of ancestor worship and magico-religious practices from the Chinese. The Li worship local deities called tau-ti, earth gods which are of Chinese origin ". The reports, which date back to 1988, of the Li church on Hainan Island indicate a weak church lacking a depth of knowledge of the Scripture and wise spiritual practice. The following incident illustrates this: The chapel had no benches. We learned later that the room was bare of furnishings in order to provide space for the believers to perform spiritual dances. One such dance is a ritual to heal the sick. When the service begins, believers gather in the chapel to sing and pray. Then the leader drinks a cup of tea which has been blessed by the Holy Spirit and sprays it over the believers. They then close their eyes and dance until they become exhausted and fall to the ground . This practice hints at possible syncretism in worship, but it is apparently only common in this one village chapel. In another Li chapel, the people focus more on the Scripture; however, their understanding of God's Word is minimal and their depth of insight into spiritual practice is shallow. In 1993, 1,000 Li were reported as being Christian.

Clearly the greatest need for the Li church is theological training. A key problem, too, is the racial division among the different nationalities on the island. The church must spearhead the work of tearing down walls of division while affirming the diversity of individual cultures. Any long-term unity gains will happen only in and through the church.