Yao

The Yao, a Hmong-Mien-speaking people of Hunan and Guangxi, trace their descent to the ancestor Panhu, a dog turned into a man. Since the thirteenth century their faith has been so thoroughly mixed with Taoism that it is often called Yao Taoism: the principal gods are the Three Pure Ones of canonical Taoism.

Every adult Yao man is initiated into the Taoist clergy through four grades, the first called hanging the lamps. High priests perform the rites for the higher gods.

The hunter god Zhang Wulang acts as exorcist and guide of souls, because the dead are believed to return to the Caves of Meishan to find peace. After the Miao and Yao risings of the 1370s and 1449 many moved south into Guangxi, Guangdong and Yunnan.