The Bird People of China

AIIK_wong, I found this paragraph from the link you provided.

Ancient Chinese had different terms for barbarians in four directions. Dongyi or Yi-of-the-East will include peoples in Manchuria, Korea and Japan. In early times, the Yi was associated with the word 'niao' for bird, and there were eight to nine different 'niao-yi' people in the east. Shang Dynasty people, considered a group of Yi people, were recorded to have treated 'Xuan Niao' (i.e., Black bird, possibly sparrow) as their totem. Manchurian legends as to the birth of their founder had something to do with birth-mother swallowing the red fruit dropped by a bird. Toba Wei Dynasty, in return for being called the nickname of 'suo lu' (pigtailed enemies), would call southern Chinese by the derogatory name of 'niao yi' (i.e., bird aliens) for possibly southern Chinese pitched accents or generic kind of name for southeastern Chinese and islanders. In later times, the Yi designation would be associated with a word 'dao' for island, pointing to the barbarian peoples in East China Seas. (Both the character 'niao' and 'dao' looked quite close and might have corrupted consecutively during the course of history.) Yi is more an inclusive word to mean aliens. The big Korean school of thought, touched on in prehistory section, claimed that the Koreans were true descendants of the Dongyi people.

Do you think this might be the correct reference?

To be honest I'm not sure at all. I just thought when I heard someone say it's an insult to the people of China I was thinking more like the North or mainland of China. If this is an insult to the people of the South in that manner. How is it an insult to the people of North/main/whole of China (and not just the South)? The answer I seek would be to that question.

Sorry, that is all I could come up with. The film, Bird People of China, seems to be very positive in terms of the village where there are bird people. The protagonist questions whether he should return to his home or stay in this enchanted village.

I hope someone else will see your thread and be more helpful than I.

Yeah, I know what you mean in the movie they didn't seem to make any references of "bird people" in that manner. I guess it could be just a coincidence.