Ma Xueliang (1913–1999) was a renowned linguist specializing in the Yi language. Under the supervision of Dr. Li Fang-kuei, he completed his master’s thesis on the grammar of the Sani dialect of the Southeastern Yi in 1941 and subsequently served as an assistant researcher at the IHP. In September of the same year, he conducted field research on the Loloish languages (now known as Yi) in Xundian and Luquan, Yunnan province, and to collect linguistic materials, artifacts, and manuscripts as instructed by Fu Ssu-nien.
The Archives preserves accounting records from 1942 which show that Ma purchased several Loloish manuscripts from local ritualists (namely bimo, meaning “master of scriptures”) and their families. Among them, ritualist Zhang Wenyuan, who came from a line of bimo near the Jinsha River, assisted Ma by not only teaching him Loloish and the related manuscripts but also directly cooperating on fieldwork. The accounting records even show remunerations paid to Zhang. Upon returning to the IHP, Ma with assistance from Zhang translated portions of the Yi “Ritual Text for Mourning,” elucidating the Yi ritual of ancestral sacrifices.
For more, see Ma Xueliang, “Translation with Notes of a Fasting Manual in Lolo,” Bulletin of IHP 14 (1949): 341–352 (in Chinese).
The full texts of the majority of the Yi manuscripts acquired by Ma Xueliang are available on the IHP Digital Archives Integration system. See, for example, “Bibliography of Texts of the Hei (Black) Yi Subgroup from Luquan and Xundian, Yunnan.”
The Archives preserves accounting records from 1942 which show that Ma purchased several Loloish manuscripts from local ritualists (namely bimo, meaning “master of scriptures”) and their families. Among them, ritualist Zhang Wenyuan, who came from a line of bimo near the Jinsha River, assisted Ma by not only teaching him Loloish and the related manuscripts but also directly cooperating on fieldwork. The accounting records even show remunerations paid to Zhang. Upon returning to the IHP, Ma with assistance from Zhang translated portions of the Yi “Ritual Text for Mourning,” elucidating the Yi ritual of ancestral sacrifices.
For more, see Ma Xueliang, “Translation with Notes of a Fasting Manual in Lolo,” Bulletin of IHP 14 (1949): 341–352 (in Chinese).
The full texts of the majority of the Yi manuscripts acquired by Ma Xueliang are available on the IHP Digital Archives Integration system. See, for example, “Bibliography of Texts of the Hei (Black) Yi Subgroup from Luquan and Xundian, Yunnan.”