Ailao Yi is one of the ethnic groups living in southwest China in history.Since the 1970s,the domestic academic research on Ailao Yi has gradually increased,focusing on five aspects:the origin of Ailao Yi,the space-time range and social form of Ailao Kingdom,characteristics and content of Ailao Yi culture,the external communication of Ailao Yi and archaeological research,but the research prog-ress in these aspects is unbalanced.Future research should be promoted from the following four as-pects:establish the academic trend of Ailao Yi research based on the reality;focus on weak areas and deepen basic research;clarify the basic historical materials,explore and use new historical materials;absorb theories and methods from other disciplines and innovate research methods.