Abstract: It has been one hundred years since ethnology was introduced into China. In 1933, Lin Chunsheng and Rui Yifu did some investigation on the Miao people in Western Hunan and started the ethnologic research here.Then,Shi Qigui, a native Miao scholar, succeeded him and made considerable progress in the research.After the founding of the Republic, scholars such as Yang Chengzhi initiated the research on Tujia people, and Pan Guangdan was the great successor who brought the research to its culmination. In the past 20 years, the ethnological research workers in Western Hunan have accompl ished a lot. They have saved a great deal of valuable materials, published a lot of works and cultivated a number of native scholars.

Key words: Western Hunan, ethnology, initiation, development