An Yi boy plows a field with his family in Liangshan, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. Photo: CFP





One of China' minority communities came into the spotlight recently when several people from the Yi ethnic minority were punished for smashing a Sichuan Province restaurant which said it would not hire people from the group.



A crowd gathered at the restaurant on May 3 and destroyed its furniture and fixtures, after a recruitment notice the eatery posted on its WeChat on April 30 said that it would not accept applications from ethnic Yi people, the Xichang city government said on Sina Weibo Friday.



A Xichang local surnamed Li told the Global Times Tuesday that he saw more than 100 people protest against the restaurant, some of whom later assaulted it. There were no casualties, Li said.



Police detained the alleged vandals and protest leaders, punishing one "fugitive" and three "drug users" involved, the government said.



An apology letter written by the restaurant was shared on May 4 on the WeChat account of Zhongguo Yiyu, the official radio station of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture which governs Xichang. The restaurant said that it already has several Yi employees, and just wanted to hire some "locals." However, this requirement was "misunderstood" by the advertisement's author, surnamed Chen, and the restaurant did not carefully examine the message, the letter claims.



Xichang police have detained Chen, as his post had an adverse social impact.



Despite the restaurant's apology, some Yi people told the Global Times that discrimination against them has been a problem.



As of 2016, Liangshan had a population of 5.12 million, 51.9 percent of which are ethnic Yi, Liangshan's bureau of statistics said on its website. About 45 percent are ethnic Han.



"They tend to shun Yi people in employment, or renting apartments to them," Li claimed in the interview, adding that the restaurant assault was a reaction to unfair treatment.



Discrimination is problem



Li's claim was echoed by Hou Yuangao, a professor specializing in the development of western China at the Minzu University of China. "I think discrimination against Yi people is not confined to Liangshan. It is a problem," Hou told the Global Times on Thursday.



The prefecture is one of the country's poorest, with an annual per capital disposable income of 14,031 yuan ($2,034) in 2015, said the Liangshan government.



Young Yi people started to head to cities for work just like hundreds of millions of rural people across China in the 1990s, Hou said, adding that many became disillusioned as they found it difficult to earn money as they lack marketable skills and often speak Putonghua poorly.



Also, since the 1990s Liangshan has had a problem with the narcotics trade, as the prefecture is located on the route drugs take as they travel from the Golden Triangle opium-producing region to the Chinese mainland, Hou noted.



This trade has caused many problems, including relatively high HIV prevalence and a high crime rates. Around 25,608 Liangshan residents had been diagnosed as HIV-positive as of June 2013 according to the local government, accounting for 50 percent of Sichuan's residents living with the virus.



The association of Yi people with drugs and HIV which has been reinforced by the media has worsened traditional prejudices against the group, said Hou.



Poor education has also hampered Liangshan's development, Luo Qingchun, dean of the department of Yi studies at Southwest Minzu University, told the Global Times.



School investment







However, both Luo and Hou commented that Liangshan is developing as more and more people are able to access education.



The Liangshan government aims to increase high school enrollment rate to over 90 percent by 2018. China Central Television (CCTV) reported in March that Liangshan plans to invest 5.8 billion yuan in education from 2016 to 2020.



As more children head to school, the lack of teachers has become a problem. In one middle school in the area, 3,000 students are only taught by 161 teachers and the local government says that the prefecture needs an extra 5,500 teachers, the Guangming Daily reported.



The Liangshan government spent 17.4 billion yuan on poverty alleviation from 2010 to 2014, covering areas such as developing new types of agriculture, AIDS prevention, education and infrastructure construction, local newspaper Liangshan Daily reported.



The prefecture government, aims to build some 5,000 kilometers of roads this year, according to CCTV.



Poverty alleviation will be focused on education and skills training, combined with sound health services and ecotourism development, Hou noted.