This is a large group in southwest China's Guizhou province with a population of at least 2.87 million (2010 census), putting them in 12th place by population among all of China's ethnic groups and accounting for 97 percent of China's total. The Bouyei mainly live in Guizhou's Qiannan and Qianxinan prefectures, and Zhenning, Guanling, Ziyun counties, with more than 100,000 living in Guiyang, the provincial capital. They can also be found in neighboring Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and northern Vietnam. 

Their language is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family's Zhuang-Dong Dai branch. In the 1950s, linguists created a romanized form of the Bouyei language. They make their living from agriculture, and their ancestors are credited with being the first people to cultivate rice. During the Qin and Han periods (221BC-AD220), they were quite active.