The Yiwu zhi is a description of peoples, flora, and fauna in the Lingnan and South China Sea regions, compiled by the Eastern Han official Yang Fu (a native of Guangzhou) in the first century CE. The text was lost during the Song period, but fragments have survived as quotes in the Taiping yulan encyclopedia. The passage below describes a mysterious group of “yellow-haired people” in the Lingnan region, unfortunately unattested in other extant sources. While it may be the earliest extant description of a light-haired people in Chinese, its factuality cannot be established.

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The yellow-haired people go around in groups without a fixed abode. Their kind are like animals, sometimes stopping under a tall tree, making a canopy of grass on its branches, and taking shelter under it. Their hair is pure yellow, like a broom’s bristles. When they see Han people, they scatter and hide in the grass. It is impossible to get close to them.