The Gelao nationality is related to the ancient Liao people (Lm 40). gelao language belongs to Sino-Tibetan language family and has no written language of its own, so Chinese is widely used. Gelao language worships his ancestors, the ancestors of Zhu Wang and barbarian king, and the mountain gods.

The Gelao people live in Wuchuan and Daozhen Gelao and Miao Autonomous Counties and Shiqian County in the north of Guizhou Province, and the rest are scattered in more than 20 counties and cities such as Anshun, Pingba, Puding, Guanling, Qingzhen, Zheng 'an, Fenggang, Songtao, Qianxi, Liuzhi, Zhijin and Dafang.

According to the statistics of the sixth national census on 20 10, the total population of Gelao nationality is 550746.