Regarding the situation of the Dian people, there are limited historical records. It was first found in “Historical Records: Biography of the Southwestern Yi”, and later “Hanshu: Biography of the Southwestern Yi”, “Huayang Guozhi: Nanzhongzhi”, and “Later Hanshu: Biography of the Southwestern Yi” basically They all refer to the records about the Dian people in “Historical Records:

Biographies of the Southwestern Yi”. However, scholars of different ethnic groups and with different positions have always held different views on the ethnicity of the “Dian people”.

1. The Dian people belong to the Qiang people

Scholars who believe that the Dian people belong to the Qiang people mostly rely on the following historical materials: First, there is a king of Dian named “Chang Qiang” in “Historical Records. Biography of the Southwest Yi”. There are Qiang chiefs named “Dianling” and “Dianwu” in “Xiqiang Biography”. ” said that “Nanzhong” has “Sou”, and Dian Kingdom is also a part of “Nanzhong”, and “Sou” belongs to the Qiang people, but “Nanzhong” is very broad, and “Nanzhong” has “Sou” does not mean that Dian Kingdom has “Old man”; thirdly, there are many Yi people distributed around the Dianchi Lake today.

It is generally believed that the Yi people are descendants of the Qiang people, and it is inferred that the ancient Dian Kingdom was the Qiang people’s regime. However, this inference cannot stand up to scrutiny. The ethnic distribution in China cannot be equal to that of more than 2,000 years ago, and the Yi people are typical mountain nomadic peoples, while the Dian people are typical rice-growing peoples in the dam area.

2. People from Dian belong to Pu people

The basis for thinking that the Dian people belonged to the Pu people is: “Huayang Guozhi. Nanzhongzhi” combined the words “Dian” and “Pu” as “Dianpu”. However, “Pu” is actually a general term for various ethnic groups in Southwest China in ancient times, not a single ethnic group.

3. Dian people belong to Yue people

The basis for thinking that the Dian people belonged to the Yue people is that the cultural relics unearthed from the ancient Dian Kingdom are somewhat similar to the cultural relics unearthed from the distribution areas of the “Baiyue” ethnic groups on the southeast coast. However, “Yue” is only a general term for the ethnic groups in the southeast coast of ancient China, not a single ethnic group; moreover, similar cultural relics have been found in different places around the world, and there is no connection between the two places, which only shows that human civilizations all over the world have Certain similarities.

4. Dian people are Dian people

It is believed that the Dian people are the Dian people, not a branch of any ethnic group, and their descendants have evolved into the current Dai-Tai ethnic group.

When Sima Qian told us the general situation of the ancient Dian Kingdom, he also left many mysteries behind. In short, there are different opinions, and each has its own opinion.