The Yi people, an ethnic minority group in China, have a traditional constellation system known as the "Twenty-Eight Mansions" which is used to mark the position of sun, moon, planets and stars. In recent years, scholars have found similarities between the Yi people's "Twenty-Eight Mansions" and the Indian Nakshatra system on the one hand, and the Han Chinese Xiu system on the other. Considering the unique geographical location of the Yi region on the “southern silk road” between China and India, the Yi Twenty-Eight Mansion system might be seen as an intermediate system between the Chinese and the Indian ones. Our investigation of the Yi Twenty-Eight mansions, which includes the identification of the stars and interpretation of the Yi star names, suggests that the Yi Twenty-Eight mansion system contains star lore from remote ancient times, which suggests possible exchanges of astronomical knowledge between China and India in ancient times.