Hlai

Hlai is the speech of the Li people of Hainan Island and forms a branch of the Kra-Dai family, used in the central and southern mountains in several varieties, together with the ethnically distinct Cun language. Linguists derive its speakers from migrants who crossed the Hainan Strait from the Leizhou Peninsula in prehistoric times; Chinese records called their mainland ancestors Li or Liliao, and the name Li is attested from the Later Tang period of 923 to 937.

On the mainland the Li were united in the sixth century under the hereditary chieftain Lady Xian, but after the eleventh century disappear from continental records, surviving mainly on Hainan. Imperial rule reached the lowlands indirectly under the Song and the whole island under the Qing, who restored administration by 1700.

Confined to the highlands as Han settlers took farmland, the Hlai rose against merchants in 1766. Their language remained spoken, with no writing system.