Dai people in China are mainly distributed in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Dehong Autonomous Prefecture, Gengma Dai and Wa Autonomous County and Menglian Dai and Lahu Wa Autonomous County. The rest are scattered in more than 30 counties in Xinping, Yuanjiang and Jinping, Yunnan Province. Living in mountainous and plain areas, it has a subtropical climate. According to the statistics of the fifth national census in 2000, the Dai population is 1 158989. The use of Dai language belongs to the Zhuang-Dai branch of the Zhuang-Dong language family of Sino-Tibetan language family. This family has pinyin characters, which are different from place to place. In 1950s, Chinese characters were reformed.
Dai people call themselves "Dai Nuo", "Dai Ya", "Dai Na" and "Dai War". In the Han and Jin Dynasties, it was called "Dian Yue", "Shan", "Good at", "Liao" or "Kuliao". In the Tang and Song Dynasties, they were called "Golden Teeth", "Hei Chi", "Rude Man" and "White Dress". In the Yuan Dynasty, Bai Yi also wrote Bai Yi, Bai Yi and Bo Yi. After the Qing Dynasty, it was called "dumping foreigners". After liberation, it was renamed Dai according to the wishes of the people of the whole country.
Dai people have a long history, as early as 1 century. There are records about Dai ancestors in China history books. 109, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty developed southwest Yi and established Yizhou County, the southwest frontier of Yizhou County in Dai area. In 69 AD, Yongchang County was added. The Dai area is under the jurisdiction of Yongchang County. At that time, the leaders of the Dai ancestors sent messengers many times to bring musicians and magicians to Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, to dedicate music and perform novel skills. He won the appreciation and welcome of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was awarded the golden seal and purple ribbon, and his leader was also named "Dewey of Han Dynasty", thus establishing a political affiliation with the Eastern Han Dynasty. From the 8th century to13rd century, the Dai region belonged to the Montessori regime and the Dali regime kingdom in Nanzhao, Yunnan. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Dai area belonged to Yunnan Province. The Tusi system began to be implemented in ethnic areas in the Yuan Dynasty. Set up Jinya Propaganda Department in the Dai area in western Yunnan to govern the Dai people in Dehong and other places, and set up a general military and civilian office in Che (Che) in the southern Dai area to govern Xishuangbanna and other places. On the basis of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty established the Xuanwei Department in the west. In the south, we set up a military and civilian propaganda department in the car, and set up a smaller toast area to fully implement the toast system. The appointment of hereditary chiefs and local officials in the vast Dai areas greatly strengthened the rule of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties over the Dai areas. In the Qing Dynasty, the old system of Yuan and Ming Dynasties was basically followed, but the policy of "changing the soil into the stream" was implemented in the Dai areas in the mainland where the social economy was developed, and the stream officials were appointed to rule directly. During the rule of the Kuomintang government, counties and administrative offices were set up in the frontier Dai areas, and the policy of ethnic oppression continued, which deepened the suffering of the Dai people.