Many foreigners have heard that there are 56 ethnic peoples spread in China. But most students who learn Chinese in China may don‘t know Jing people, the ethnic group in south China with the smallest population. The population in 2007 was 21 thousand. They mainly live in Dongxing city in Guangxi province.
They were called Annan or Yuezu before and it was renamed as Jing people with the approval of State Council in 1958. They have their own language and some of the people speak the dialects of Cantonese. Of course, foreigners who study Chinese in China should know that they understand Chinese language. It is said that the ancestors of Jing people originated from Vietnam in the 16th century. If you study Mandarin in China, you should know it was a desolate island without people at that time. Then they constructed the island with Han people and Zhuang people came later.
In the 19th century, the French imperialism ever invaded China. Some of the foreign students who learn Chinese in China may be told that Jing people made great contribution to fight with the imperialism as well as in Anti-Japanese war and war of liberation.