Orig­i­nat­ing from south­ern Chi­na, the Lolo belong to the Tibeto-Burmese fam­i­ly, also known as Yi peo­ple. After being dis­placed from Chi­na by impe­r­i­al court in the 18^th cen­tu­ry, many Lolo clans chose to immi­grate south to Viet­nam. One of Vietnam’s small­est eth­nic groups today, num­ber­ing about 1,800 souls, the Lolo main­ly resides around the mas­sifs over­look­ing Bao Lac, in the north­west part of Cao Bang Province.

<figcaption>Black Lolo village</figcaption>

<img alt="Black Lolo farmer" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/the-black-lolo/lolo-17-1578373671.jpg" />
<figcaption>Black Lolo farmer</figcaption>

The Black Lolo hill tribe of Bao Lac live in wood­en stilt­ed hous­es in high and dry areas along the hab­it­able edges of the moun­tain­ous range, over­look­ing the val­ley. They are iden­ti­fied by their out­fits in dark indi­go col­or after which the tribe is named, adorned with patch­es of geo­met­ric appliqué motifs and con­trast­ing col­ored fab­rics on the sleeves, almost iden­ti­cal to the Red Yi’s out­fits in Chi­na, con­nect­ing to their ances­tral ori­gin. The make their liveli­hood main­ly from wet rice farm­ing and husbandry.

<img alt="" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/the-black-lolo/lolo-house-1578389851.jpg" />

The Lolo are skilled at mak­ing bronze drums which always come in pair: the female and male drum; each drum is guard­ed and buried under­ground by the head of the fam­i­ly line. While the Flow­ery Lolo use their antique drums for their fes­tive activ­i­ties, the Black Lolo beat their sacred instru­ment only at funer­als. Tra­di­tion­al dances per­formed in the sound of the drums allow the souls of the dead to find their way to the world beyond, the world of their ances­tors. Although there are not many ancient bronze drums left today, for the Lolo, they are still their sacred objects that sym­bol­ize the soul and strength of their people.

<figcaption>Black Lolo</figcaption>

<img alt="Black Lolo" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/the-black-lolo/lolo-6-1578373704.jpg" />
<figcaption>Black Lolo</figcaption>

While in Khuoi Khon vil­lage, par­tic­i­pate in the Lolo’s dai­ly chores: light­ing the fire, col­lect­ing water and gath­er­ing wood. Then, join a Lolo vil­lager on a walk into the upper val­leys: meet Lolo shep­herds and dis­cov­er Hmông for­sak­en ham­lets. Depend­ing on the sea­son, join the Lolo with var­i­ous agrar­i­an activ­i­ties. Learn about their ances­tral hand­i­crafts such as weav­ing, spin­ning, and tex­tile dye­ing tech­niques, or hike along the mys­te­ri­ous trails that mean­der across the wild and glo­ri­ous landscape. 

<img alt="" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/the-black-lolo/illus-1-1578372933.jpg" />