Chapters One and Two explored how the state categorised the population into 56 fixed entities. In order to have a nuanced understating of the Bai identities and Bai Identity construction，this chapter goes beyond conventional ethnography and examines the Bai elite who have been writing their own narratives in terms of local history and culture，thus filling and re-inventing the Baizu category. Bai studies started in 1956 and have undergone three phases. At first the newly classified Bai category was theoretically weak，then it was totally ignored during the Cultural Revolution （1966-1976），and finally it re-surged in the 1990s following the promotion of ethnicity and economic development.