They settled on the banks of the Nujiang River in Yunnan Province. The De'Ang farm and log. They grow tea and fruit, and many communities make money by growing opium in their villages. They also raise goats, cows and hogs. Men wear turbans, shirts slit at the sides and shorts.
Boys have silver necklaces and long swords.
Women wear black jackets with buttons down the front and skirts with red and black flower patterns. For charm, they add on rattan waistbands and silver earrings. A De'ang folk tale tells the significance of the rattan waistbands by explaining that all babies were born in gourds. A fairy goddess cast a spell to make the boys look different. The boys then trapped the girls by casting rattan hoops around them.