The population is close to 430 thousand. The Wa people mainly live in the three counties of Ximeng, Cangyuan and Menglian in Yunnan Province, and are also distributed in counties such as Gengma, Lancang, Shuangjiang, Zhenkang, Yongde, Changning and Menghai. They use the Wa language, which belongs to the Wa branch of the Mon-Khmer languages of the South Asian language family. It is divided into three dialects: Baraoke, Awa and Wa, each of which is divided into several vernaculars. The Wa ethnic group does not have its own script, but a writing system of Wa in the form of the Latin alphabets was devised in 1957. The Wa people were initially mainly engaged in hunting, collection and raising livestock, and then they are mainly engaged in agricultural production. The Wa people believe in the animistic natural religion. They are good at singing and dancing, and the folk art is rich and colourful. The wooden drum is a sacred artefact of the Wa people and has become an indispensable instrument in folk dance. “Wooden Drum Dance” is bold and unrestrained with strong rhythm, showing the simple lifestyle of the Wa people.