Naxi, ethnic group of China who live mainly in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces; some live in Tibet. They speak a Tibeto-Burman language that is closely related to that of the Yi and were estimated in the early 21st century to number more than 300,000. The Naxi have two indigenous writing systems: Dongba, an early script created with components of Chinese characters, and Geba, a syllabic script. A third, alphabetic script based on the Latin alphabet was created in 1957.
Most of the Naxi engage in agriculture and grow rice, corn (maize), wheat, potatoes, beans, hemp, and cotton. Their indigenous religion, called Dongba, is a form of shamanism influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. Matriarchal family structure predominated among the Naxi until the mid-20th century, and remnants of it can still be observed.