What is Li people?
{{Infobox Ethnic group |group = Hlai |total = 1.3 million (est.) |regions = [[Hainan|Hainam]], [[China]]<br>[[Vietnam]] |languages = Hlai languages,<br> Hainanese and Mandarin |religions = [[Animism]] and [[Buddhism]] }} The '''Hlai''' or '''Li''' ({{zh|c=黎|p=Lí}}) are an [[ethnic group]] living primarily on the island of [[Hainan|Hainam]], off the southern coast of mainland [[China]] and just east of [[Vietnam]]. The Hlai are one of the [[Chinese nationalities|56 ethnic groups]] officially recognized by the [[People's Republic of China|Chinese government]]. The Hlai were known to the [[Sui Dynasty]] Chinese by the name '''Liliao'''. Presently they refer to themselves as the Hlai or Sai people. The ethnic group is called [[Li|Lí]] in [[Mandarin language|Mandarin]] and Lai in Cantonese. The Hlai people have their own language. Some dialects of the Hlai language are too different from each other for people to mutually understand each other. The Hlai language is distantly related to languages such as [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Lao language|Lao]], and [[Cuengh language|Cuengh]]. The Hlai language did not have a writing system before the 1950s, when the [[Latin alphabet]] was adopted. Some to most Hlai people nowadays can understand [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] and [[Hainanese Chinese|Hainanese]]. [[Category:Ethnic groups in China]]