This presentation focuses on variation as commonly found in published descriptions of lesser-known languages of China. Specifically, two or more studies occasionally yield widely differing descriptions of one and the same language, or of closely related varieties of that language. The studies may offer dissimilar inventories of grammatical markers, and/or distinct analyses of the same grammatical markers. This presentation looks at possible reasons for these differences, as well as ways to meaningfully interpret them while proceeding towards more a comprehensive analysis of the given language. The discussion is based on one case study: a description of verbal enclitics and auxiliary verbs and the categories that they encode in Shuhi (a.k.a. Shixing, Xumi, ISO 639-3 sxg). The presentation concludes with reflections on available methodologies of data collection and analysis, and on effective strategies for recovering complex linguistic structures at the intersection of evidentiality system with other semantic and pragmatic systems in lesser-known languages.