Mianning County is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

History

Mianning County has a long history of being a multi-ethnic region. The Annals of Mianning County, published during the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor (1850-1861), listed a number of major ethnic groups in the region, including the Tosu, Lizu, Yi, and the Namuzi peoples.

Climate

Administrative divisions

Mianning County administers 1 subdistrict, 15 towns, 2 townships, and 1 ethnic township.

Ethnic groups

A large number of the Tosu ethnic group, which comprises about 2,000 people, live throughout Mianning County. Sizable clusters of Tosu people are located within Gaoyang Subdistrict, the former town of Houshan (后山镇, now part of Shilong), Fuxing, Hui'an, the former township of Haha (哈哈乡, now part of Gaoyang Subdistrict and Ruoshui), the former township of Linli (林里乡, now part of Fuxing), and the former town of Shaba (沙坝镇, now part of Manshuiwan).

Languages

Two of the three Ersuic languages, the critically endangered Tosu language, and the Lizu language, are spoken within Mianning County. A 2013 survey found nine partial speakers of the Tosu language, all of whom lived in Mianning County, and were proficient in Southwestern Mandarin, which they used for daily life.