LOLOS, the name given by the Chinese to a large tribe of aborigines who
inhabit the greater part of southern Szechuen. Their home is in the
mountainous country called Taliang shan, which lies between the Yangtsze
river on the east and the Kien ch'ang valley on the west, in south
Szechuen, but they are found in scattered communities as far south as
the Burmese frontier, and west to the Mekong. There seems no reason to
doubt that they were, like the Miaotze, one of the aboriginal tribes of
China, driven southwards by the advancing flood of Chinese. The name is
said to be a Chinese corruption of Lulu, the name of a former chieftain
of a tribe who called themselves Nersu. Their language, like the
Chinese, is monosyllabic and probably ideographic, and the characters
bear a certain resemblance to Chinese. No literature, however, worthy of
the name is known to exist, and few can read and write. Politically they
are divided into tribes, each under the government of a hereditary
chieftain. The community consists of three classes, the "blackbones" or
nobles, the "whitebones" or plebeians, and the _watze_ or slaves. The
last are mostly Chinese captured in forays, or the descendants of such
captives. Within Lolo-land proper, which covers some 11,000 sq. m., the
Chinese government exercises no jurisdiction. The Lolos make frequent
raids on their unarmed Chinese neighbours. They cultivate wheat, barley
and millet, but little rice. They have some knowledge of metals, making
their own tools and weapons. Women are said to be held in respect, and
may become chiefs of the tribes. They do not intermarry with Chinese.
See A. F. Legendre, "Les Lolos. Étude ethnologique et
anthropologique," in _T'oung Pao II._, vol. x. (1909); E. C. Baber,
_Royal Geog. Society Sup. Papers_, vol. i. (London, 1882); F. S. A.
Bourne, _Blue Book, China, No. 1_ (1888); A. Hosie, _Three Years in
Western China_ (London, 1897).
LOMBARD LEAGUE, the name given in general to any league of the cities of
Lombardy, but applied especially to the league founded in 1167, which
brought about the defeat of the emperor Frederick I. at Legnano, and the
consequent destruction of his plans for obtaining complete authority
over Italy.
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