Chapter 1, The Yi Peoples Summary and Analysis

Dating back as far as 4000 B.C., the seafaring tradition of China began with the Yi people of the southern regions who did not have farming land available to them and thus were forced to turn to the sea for their livelihood. The forefathers of the Yi peoples migrated from the highlands of central China to the shoreline. Some, who took boats to cross the narrow waters between Java to the island of Sulawesi, are considered the world's first boat people—those who cross a body of water by boat in order to settle in a new land. There is archaeological evidence that these migrants traveled to distant lands including New Guinea and Australia.

Northern Yi people migrated to Alaska and North America. Geologists theorize that the vast migrations occurring in China following the...