Nu

The Nu are a Tibeto-Burman people of the gorges of the Salween, called Nujiang, and the upper Mekong in northwest Yunnan, their name taken from the river. They comprise four branches, Nusu, Zauzou, Anong and a Drung-related group, speaking mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman tongues without a native script and writing in Chinese.

After Nanzhao and Dali ruled their valleys, the Yuan in 1275 set up the Lanzhou native prefecture under the Lijiang route; the Ming governed through local tusi chiefs, and the Qing replaced Lanzhou's native prefect with an appointed official.

They farm maize, buckwheat and barley on steep slopes and supplement the harvest by hunting and fishing, living in plank or bamboo stilt houses. Northern Nu follow Tibetan Buddhism, while central and southern groups keep animist cults of mountain and river spirits.