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The Naxi ethnic minority has a population of 308,839, most of whom live in concentrated communities in the Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County in Yunnan Province, Weixi, Zhongdian, the Yongning district of Ninglaing, Deqing, Yongsheng, Heqin, Jianchuan, Lanping and some other counties; as well as Yanyuan, Yanbian and Muli counties in Sichuan Province. A small number of Naxi people live in Mangkang County of Tibet Autonomous Region.

TOP History of Naxi Minority

Naxi minority is an ancient nationality of China. The forefathers of the Naxi minority were a nomadic clan of Qiang people from the northern part of China. During the Later Jin Dynasty (936-947), the Qiang people began to migrate southward to the upper reaches of the Minjiang River (in Sichuan Province), then moved southwest to Yalongjiang River field, after that they migrated to the upper reaches of Jinshajiang River. During Tang Dynasty (618-907), they resided at the locations of Lijiang River and Yongnin, ruled by Tubo (Tibetan regime in ancient China) and Nanzhao (649-902, a local regime in ancient Yunnan) one after another. From Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to Qing Dynasty (1616-1911) the ruling chieftains were entitled to feudal hereditary headman, The compass of competency under the control of the chieftain had developed into feudal lord rule system ever since. Especially because of the "bureaucratization of native officers" in early Qing Dynasty, Naxi feudalism society had been well developed.

TOPEthnic names

According to historical documents, the forefathers of the Naxi people were closely related to a tribe called "Maoniu Yi" in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), "Mosha Yi" in the Jin Dynasty (265-420) and "Moxie Yi" in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). But they called themselves "Na", "Naxi", and "Mosuo".

TOPLanguage and Character

Language

Language structure The Naxi language belongs to the Chinese-Tibetan language family, which consists of eastern and western dialects. The eastern dialect is marked with the language of Mosuo people, who live on the boundary of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, while the western dialect mainly refers to that of the Dayan Town in Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County in Yunnan Province. And the Naxi language is based on the western dialect and takes the pronunciation of the Dayan language as its standard voice.

The Naxi language has 39 initial consonants and 22 vowels. Consonants are made up of voiceless consonants and voiced consonants. Vowels include diphthongs and monophthongs and it makes no difference in degree of tightness between diphthongs and monophthongs.

Characters

The Naxi ethnic minority, have learned to use Han characters since the Ming Dynasty. But some are still using hieroglyph called the "Dongba" and syllabic writing.

Hieroglyph is an old pictographic character, namely, "serjelvje" in Naxi language with the meaning of "wooden script and stone script". Wizards "Dongba" used it to record religious classics. Some people use it to keep accounts and events and write letters.

Pictograph has about 1000 characters that are also highly praised for their calligraphy and artistic value. It consists of phonetic loan characters to indicate sound and additional characters basing on pictographic characters that indicate meaning. In Pictograph there are more pictographic characters in contrast to phonetic loan characters and often one pictographic character has several sounds in addition that several pictographic characters can mean a phrases or a sentence. What is more, a pictographic character has different sounds and meanings from person to person in different places. Therefore, it is difficult to record the all the language exactly. And so pictograph is a kind of transition character from original symbol to ideography. Nowadays the classical work Dongba Jing and other literatures written in the language consist of more than 2,000 volumes of more than 500 kinds.

In the history of extant ancient character, pictograph comes first on the list in the world and it is praised to be the only living pictographic character in the world. It boasts to be the origin and development of human language and living fossil.

Geba language in Naxi is a kind of syllabic language created and used by the later Dongba generation. It origins from simplified pictograph and a large number of Han characters. Geba language borrowed not only the Han characters but also their meanings. However, Geba language is spoken only in a few villages in Lijiang and only a few people can master and speak this language even in Dongba district.

TOPCostume

Naxi dress and adornments are usually made of cow and sheep leathers. In the "Welcome to God Dongge" of the classical Dongba Scriptures there is such a statement: The shake of the universe gave birth to a brother and a sister, they formed ties of affection to each other and married and they herded white sheep making sheepskin into clothes, capes, hats and belt. From then on， sheepskin cape became one main symbol for Naxi dresses and adornments.

Sheepskin cape is also called "You'er" in the Naxi language. It is made of pure black sheepskin by being manufactured with Glauber's salt and power of polished glutinous rice. Then the cape is made to one's measure sewn with black down or Pulu ("You'er Tong") as the sheepskin of the sheep neck, seven patches of colorful velvet embroidery as eyes, seven bars of sheepskin leather as beard, a couple of white cloth as braces. Then wear the cape with braces crossing before your chest and coiling down back to your back.

The male Costume is similar to the Han gowns, mandarin jacket or Chinese-style jacket with buttons. However, the female Costumes have its own unique features; they wears embroidery unlined long gown with a cape on the shoulder. The embroidery unlined long gown reaches the shin behind the back and the knee in the front. Their dresses consist of three main colors trimmed with laces on the collar and sleeve. They are blue, white and black. Down their waist the Naxi women wear trousers, boat-shaped shoes on their feet. Married women wear their hair in a bun and a black gauze cap while the unmarried women do up their hair behind the head with a textile scarf or a black velvet skullcap on.

That the Naxi women's dress is the most distinctive is because of a special cape on their back. This cape is made of black sheepskin and has seven rounded designs embroidered on it. The seven designs on the back of the cape represent the stars. Hence it is named "Seven-Star Sheepskin Cape". The cape consists of two main colors, white and black. The white symbolizes the sky while the black color represents the earth. The sky, earth and stars that are sewn onto the cape symbolize the hard labor of the Naxi women. According to one of the legend, in the remote ages there was beautiful, capable and hard-working girl named Yinggu who fought against the drought devil for nine days and died of being exhausted. The god Sanduo sent his Snow Spirit Dragon to conquer the drought devil and pinched the seven cold suns, which were ever swallowed by the drought devil, into seven stars and inlaid them in Yinggu's sun cape. From then on, Naxi girls imitate and inherit this. While there exists another legend that Naxi people admire frog as the god of intelligence who can help people out of danger. Therefore, the designs depict the eyes of a frog belonging to historical worship to frog totem.

TOPDiet

Eating Habits

According to the Naxi's eating habit, they have three meals a day. Their main diet is Baba（a kind of cake）, rice, corn, potato and pork. They usually have steamed bread and water cooked cake for breakfast while having two courses of fried dishes, salted vegetables and soup for lunch. Among the dishes Naxi people specially prefer chafing dish introduced in from Hui nationality. Whether living on the flatlands or in the mountainous district, people can have greens, such as potatoes, turnip and beans, all the seasons. Naxi people are good cooks. They prepare typical local dishes with local and special products, for example, steamed duck with Chinese caterpillar fungus, chicken with the bulb of fritillary and chicken with the tuber of elevated gastrodia. Of the entire traditional famous dishes mushroom with meat stuffing which is usually served as a kind of sacrifice is the most popular. They love drinking buttered tea in the morning and green tea after meal. In addition, liquor, spicy and sour food and sweet food are also their favorite.

Local Snacks

The characteristic Naxi food is Baba (a kind of cake) that makes your mouth water:

Stewed Baba:the flour cakes simmer in a big covered pot over a slow fire with proper water till they appear golden and smell.

Roast Baba:Put the half-done cake (cooked in water) on a smooth cobblestone lying near a fire and let it roasted into puffy and soft. It is delicious to eat with thick chilli sauce.

Pot-edge cooked Baba: Put a bar of flour cake on the edge of a big covered pot while melons or potatoes are being cooked. When the melons or potatoes are ready, so is the Baba. The Baba cooked this way is very soft.

Sandieshui (Snowy Mountain Feast): It is one of the characteristic foods for Naxi people to entertain guests. It wins the name of Sandieshui because of big bowls, small bowls and plates used during the course of the feast. There is no fixed recipe for the feast but it depends on the seasons. Meanwhile mountain food is a must for the feast. Pipa meat (made of salted pork, pipa-shaped) is delicious while multi-layer roast bread is fragrant and pleasant to taste.

TOPEtiquette and taboo

Etiquette

Nation etiquette is an important part of the nation culture, and a symbol of the nation, ranging from production to daily life, from religious to the value of life, full of characteristics.

Etiquette in construction: Set up the central beam.In Ninglang, Zhongdian, Lijiang and some other places, when people build houses, they will put up a central beam. In Zhongdian, only one beam is needed and it should be thick and straight, when it is cut down, the top should point to the east; and the branches and leaves will be burned with prayers, such as: good luck to the family and livestock. In Ninglang, Mosuo people will put up two beams after they build the walls, one standing for male on the left and the other for female on the right. The two beams will be cut out of the same tree, meaning the male and female come from the same place.

Ceremony of Making a Fire: The Mosuo that is classified as a subgroup of the Naxi nationality lives by the Lugu Lake. When Mosuo people move into a new house, they usually hold a ceremony of making a fire in the new house to cerebrate the movement, which symbolizes that the host (hostess) will have good luck in the future.

Adult Ceremony:"Putting on Trousers" and "Putting on Skirts" ceremony

"Putting on Skirts" ceremony: In the Naxi adult ceremonies "Putting on Skirts" are a typical sample. Usually when a girl grows to 13 years old, she will attend this special "Adult Ceremony" become an adult. Mothers hold the ceremony, which takes place on the New Year's Day. On the New Year's Eve all the girls over thirteen will get together to sing, dance, drink wine and tea to congratulate on each other. On the early morning of the New Year's Day the mothers will help the girls to wear beautiful new dresses and jewels separately in their own homes. After that the girl should sing the adult ceremony song in antiphonal style with the senior of the family, through which the girl shows respect and thanks for the family's rearing and the memory of her happy childhood while the senior send congratulation on her health, beauty and capability. Finally all guests will send gifts to the girl. The girl, after the Adult Ceremony, is allowed to attend all the adult activities and meet her boy friend.

"Putting on Trousers" ceremony: This ceremony is for boys, which takes place on the early morning of the New Year's Day in Ninglang district. On the occasion the boy's uncle or a man divined by the wizard will hold the ceremony. On the Adult Ceremony, the boys stand at the "Male Rank". They keep one foot on the pork meat, one foot on the rice bag, money in the left hand, a knife in the right hand- the symbol of a rich life and power. Then the host will take off the boy's long gown and dresses him short gown, trousers, boot, hat and cape. After that the boy kowtows before the guests while serving wine to them and expresses thanks for their gifts. Finally, a wizard will chant scriptures and serve sacrifices to the ancestor and the kitchen god. After the Adult Ceremony, he is allowed to attend all the adult activities and meet his girl friend. By the way the Naxi people in Qiangsuo district of Sichan would let the boy walk across the roof with a spear in his hand to show the boy's brave and fearlessness.

Wedding Ceremony: The Naxi young people usually get to know each other on the occasion of festivals. After the acquaintance they will ask a person to act as go-between. Then both families will consult horoscope of the young couple. If it is ok, the boy's side will ask the matchmaker to sent two tubes of tea, four or six boxes of sugar and two liters of rice (in some place two pieces of salt are added to show a solemn pledge of love) to the girl's side as engagement gifts. On the occasion of engagement an engagement banquet is a must. When the wedding happens, it will last three of five days. Both sides will entertain their relatives. At the wedding ceremony, when the bride asks guests to take their seat for meal a kowtow must be sent. After that people will play music and serve dishes. At the third course, the person who presides over a wedding ceremony will propose a toast to the guests and at the fifth course the bride and bridegroom will drink a toast to the guest double. After the feast, the host (hostess) and his (her) relatives should stand outdoors to say good-bye to the guests.

During the wedding ceremony, a wizard will recite scriptures for the happiness of the new couple and draw four pictures as gift for the bridegroom. The pictures are tiger skin, conch, vase and bronze basin, of which the picture of tiger is an image of tiger body with a human head. This picture is of an identical nature of the ancient tiger totem.

Food Crops Sacrifice Ceremony:

In the seasons of spring and autumn, Naxi people hold a ceremony to offer a sacrifice to the god of the five cereals (rice, two kinds of millet, wheat and beans) and the six domestic animals (pig, ox, goat, horse, fowl and dog). They invite a Dongba (wizard) to divine a date for the ceremony. Usually all the families in a village or the families who pasture on the same grazing land hold a public memorial ceremony. They join in the ceremony by buying a pig and a chicken as sacrifices. By the way there is also a ceremony held by one family.

Before the ceremony, all the families drive their domestic animals to the mountains. After that the villagers build a stage with stone and earth. They strew pine leaves or lay Dongba cloak on the stage, then scatter the five cereals, wine and meat on, erect three sacred stones, plant branches of pine, cypress and chestnut tree these three sacred trees beside the stage. After that the pig and the chicken are slaughtered and their blood is sprinkled on the sacred stone, their five internal organs (heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys) are cut off to hang on the branches. Meanwhile the Dongba (wizard) recites The Five Cereals and the Six Domestic Animals God Scriptures, performs rites and offers a sacrifice to the ancestors and the god of the five cereals and the six domestic animals, praying for livestock prosperous and that the land yields good harvests and the people enjoy good health.

Taboo

1. It is a must to wash feet on the Spring Festival Eve. It is forbidden to wash chopsticks or bowls after the get-together meal on the Spring Festival Eve because the left over in the dishes symbolize that there will be always abundant food in the family. On the first day of a lunar new year a foreigner or unknown people are forbidden to enter the Naxis' home.
2. A married woman is forbidden to stay at her parents' home on the Spring Festival Eve and women are not allowed to get up earlier than men on the first morning of a lunar new year.
3. It is forbidden to bestride the white stone in the front of the door and the left seat of the Chinese fireplace
4. It is forbidden to wear a bamboo hat into home or shoulder a hoe into the kitchen.
5. It is forbidden to carry a torch into the living room at night. Be sure to get in the Chinese fireplace before you get into the bedroom.
6. On the occasion of cremation or putting the deceased into the coffin, the unbeatable rival of the dead is forbidden to be present. A person putting on mourning apparel is forbidden to get into the neighbors'.
7. Whistling at home is forbidden because it may attract devils.
8. A pregnant woman is forbidden to climb a tree with fruits on and bestride a string or eat meat without blood.
9. It is forbidden to pollute headwaters or cut the forest for conservation of water supply or any animal having entered the house but to serve them milk or butter to send them out. It is also forbidden to hurt bees flying near your ear.
10. It is forbidden to serve guest rice or boiled water backhand. It is forbidden to send used clothes to others or drink used liquor by others.
11. It is forbidden to beat the host's dog or enter the senior's room, the women's room and the girl's room when you visit the Naxi's.
12. It is forbidden to beat bowls or chopsticks or pick up food continuously.
13. It's forbidden to sit on the threshold or chop things on it.
14. It's forbidden to kill farm cattle, pack horse or cock heralding the break of day.
15. It's forbidden to eat dog meat.

TOPTraditional Festivals

Beiyue Temple Fair(February the eighth of the lunar calendar)

It is also called Sanduo Festival that is observed each year on the February 8th of the lunar calendar. This date was originated from the Beiyue Temple Fair. The Naxi people regarded the god Sanduo as their protector God. To honor god Sanduo the local people build a temple on Jade Dragon Mountain to honor this supposed god. Besides, Naxi people consider Sanduo to be the most powerful god in its mythology and they say Sanduo was born to the year of goat. Therefore, on every goat day, a goat is sacrificed to honor this god.

March Fair: This is an annual event held every March the15th of the lunar calendar, which last about three or five days. It is not only a festival to offer sacrifices to the King Dragon but also an occasion for all minorities to exchange materials.

July Horse Fair: The Naxi people have had a fine tradition of raising horses from everlasting. Their caravan remains prosperous over hundreds of years reaching Dali, Kunming and even Lhasa. In Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the Lijiang hereditary headmen Mude ever paid Lijiang horses as tribute to the emperor. Since then Lijiang horse became well known. With the development of commodity and economy, Lijiang horses have a good sale and therefore a horse fair was formed annually. Now, not only Naxi nationality, the Lisu nationality, the Pumi nationality, the Han nationality but also the Bai nationality, Tibetan and the Yi nationality come to the fair for materials exchanges. With the development of reform and open policy, many other activities add the content of the fair. For example, there are National sports games, national style songs and dances performances, painting and calligraphy exhibitions, and Lijiang ancient music performance and so on. All these promote the development of the local economy and culture; enrich the content of the festival.

HolyMountain Festival: This festival is the grandest one for the Naxi people living in Yongnin prefecture. There is a Lion Mountain that lies by the Lugu Lake. According to the legend, this mountain is also called Gemu Mountain, on which there lives a goddess who ensures people happiness, cows and sheep prosperous and an abundant harvest of all crops according to the legend. On the day of July the 15th annually people gather at the Lion Mountain foot to worship the goddess. They dress up; gather together at the mountain foot to burn incense, offer meat, wine and fruit as sacrifices to the goddess. On this occasion a kowtow is a must and Lama chants scriptures. Besides, many programs such as singing in antiphonal style, dancing, horse race, arrow shooting, and playing on the swing are held to make the people happier.

Torch Festival

Like the Yi nationality and the Bai nationality, Naxi nationality has Torch Festival on June 15th each lunar year. Tradition has it that god was jealous of the happiness of the man's world which seemed better than that of the haven. So the god sent the official of fire to burn down the man's world. But the official betrayed him and arranged people to light torches in the front of their houses pretending to be on fire. The god found this and the official of fire was beheaded. In commemoration of the kind official of fire every family lights a torch in front of the houses on June 15th every lunar year.

There are other sacrifice ceremonies, among which "Naxi Offer Sacrifice to Tianda" is the grandest. This occasion often happens in the first ten-day period of a month or the midmonth. When the time comes people should select a good place for the ceremony. The master of the Dongba religious sect acts as the host. On the occasion a pig fed by the villagers in turns is slaughtered as a sacrifice, and every family must donate wheat, religious sect to make wine as bait. After the ceremony, a kind of pig blood sausage will be made; the pig head and the internal organs will be cooked for the villagers to share.

Another ceremony is "Offering Sacrifice to Sanduo". Naxi people consider Sanduo to be the most powerful god in its mythology and they say Sanduo was born to the year of goat. Therefore, on every goat day, a goat is sacrificed to honor this god.

The Naxi nationality in Lijiang district often has a picnic at a landscape on the occasion of "Offering Sacrifice to Sanduo".

TOPArt and Literature

Dongba Literature

More than 1,000 years ago the Naxi people created pictographic characters called Dongba script, the only living pictographic writing system in the world today. The Donba wizards usually used it to record Donba history and write scriptures. The Dongba script has strong characteristics of picture writing: one character one object or one thing or one meaning indicating something by simple strokes without a regular way to sound. Even those who know Dongba pictographic characters, they are not able to chant the Dongba script except those who followed a wizard from childhood.

Naxi people have created a brilliant civilization during its long history. The Dongba Scripture (Dongba Jing), a religious work written in the Tang Dynasty in pictographic script is the master work, which describes the various aspects of Naxi people during their long transition from slavery to feudalism covering an amazingly wide range of knowledge or subjects:, social history, animal husbandry, religion, philosophy, linguistics, astronomy, geology, arts, literature, medical science, local customs and practices, food and beverage, family system and relations between ethnic groups. It isan encyclopediaof the ancient Naxi society. The Dongba Scripture (Dongba Jing) consist of more than 2,000 volumes, of which The Creation of the World, a long epic describes the origin of the human kind and the struggle against the bad natural conditions singing high praise for the labor and love of the Naxi people. The Chart Route of God may be rated as a gem in the world with a length of 15 meters while The Dongba Dance Manual, one of the oldest dance manual recording about 60 ways of dancing in details, boasts to be art treasure. It is a unique dance monograph in ancient minority characters in China.

Nationality Song and Dance

The Naxis are fond of singing and dancing, especially at weddings and funerals. The most popular songs are descriptive and short. They are sung at very high pitch and with strong rhythms, to the accompaniment of simple dances. The most common musical instruments are flutes, reed pipes and wind-string instruments. The ancient representatives of songs are as follows: Guqi, Wo Rere, Wo Menda, Zaiyang Tune (Transplant Rice Seedlings Tune), Jianu Tone (Marry off a Daughter Tune), The Moon Mother. The ancient representatives of dances are: Dongba Dance, Leba Dance, Ancient Music, Calabash Sheng (a reed pipe wind instrument) Tune, Bili Tune, Kouxuan (the string of a musical instrument) Tune, and so on.

Ancient Naxi Music

The two sets of great classical musical composition named " Baishaxile" (Baisha Soft Music) and "Dongjing Yingyue" (Dongjing Music)

Baisha Soft Music is praised as the most ancient symphonic music, which is a set of large-scale classical music that shows the deep attachment, and separation between loved ones in life or death. It was often played for folk funeral arrangements relying on musical instrument performance with songs and dances. There are about eight movements that have been passed down. They are Du (flute solo), Shao Shi (A Letter), Shansi Ji (Shansi River), Ar Li Li Guo Jin Pa (Beautiful White Cloud) and etc. Only a few folk artists are able to play Baisha Soft Music because of the difficult tunes of the music.

"Dongjing Yingyue" (Dongjing Music) used to be Daoist music of Han people, and is widely spread among Naxi people. It gains its name from the Daoist scriptures. The tune of Dongjing Music is simple, elegant and unsophisticated, which consists of Scripture tune, Qupai (the name of the tunes to which Qu are composed) and percussion music. The tune and the cantus of music changes a little because the music belongs to church music adding to Naxis' self-enclose and admiration for excellent culture. Besides, the medium named Gongchepu (a traditional Chinese musical notation) hands down the music, which also blocks the development of the music. The following sets are passed down after 400 years: Waves Washing the Sands, The Sheep on the Hill, Song of Water (Shui Long Yin) and The Eight Diagrams.

TOPResidence

The Naxi people live in log cabins. These log cabins were all wooden structure without nails or bricks. There are several basic types of Naxi houses in the old town. The first type has a courtyard enclosed by three sets of apartment and a wall called Zhaobi. The second type has a big courtyard enclosed by four sets of apartment with smaller courtyards at the four corners of the house, The third type is one with front and back yards, and another type is one with an entrance to two yards

The Naxi residence is featured with "lane". Each lane is made up of three rooms joined by corridor with doors in every entrance to keep the yard tidy and quiet. Most of the houses have two stories with a yard in the center. The yard is large with fresh air and enough sunshine due as a result of the houses of moderate height. The main house usually faces the south or the east couching good luck will come from the east or the south to make the host a bright and promising future.

The basic types of plane figure of the yard:

The first type has a courtyard enclosed by three sets of apartment and a wall called Zhaobi- The three rooms - namely, the main room, the east room and the west room - stand in row facing the south, and further south are the Zhaobi and the courtyard.

The second type is the enclosed Siheyuan-a compound with four sets of rooms, namely the main room, servants' lodgings, west side room and east side rooms. Besides the courtyard in the middle, there is another four small yards at the four corners. Usually there is a lower side room on either side of the four main rooms. The side rooms face the wall next to another main room with a yard between.

The third type is a compound of the two mentioned above. It's also a small type of civilian residence with a flower hall in the center connecting the front yard and the back yard. The houses in the front yard are mostly small pavilions cohering with the garden.

Another type is a compound of two sets of apartments with an entrance and a passage leading to two yards. And in each yard the rooms are distributed as the types above, and joined with the others by flower hall and passages.

The whole building is compactly constructed, well designed and often elaborately adorned. The wooden doors of each house were all hand made and are beautifully curved with intricate designs of nature and surrounding creatures. The Naxis love plants, hence their courtyards are decorated with all kinds of green plants and blooming flowers, such as: plum blossom, sweet-scented osmanthus, chrysanthemum, and orchidacean.

TOPCraft

People in Naxi have clever hands and good sense of art. They make fine woolen into Dongba tapestry, woolen fabric carpet, Tibetan apron fabric and other articles. Such handiworks bear newfangled designs, embodying good luck, which can stand wear and tear. And "Niuleiba" woolen fabric made of spinning embroidered knitting wool was ever conferred the title "Products of quality" by the Ministry of Nation Light Industry and the Nation Committee. The wax-printed costumes and ornaments, bags handkerchiefs and scarf are popular with the tourists from around the world.

Woodcarving

Woodcarving formed on the basis of dough modeling.

When Dongba people offer sacrifices, they will mould a certain dough supernatural figurines, so that they could convince the hosts. Sometimes there happen to be many sacrifices activities, especially when natural disasters strike the village; the whole village will hold grand ceremonies, and all the families try to get the chance to host the ceremonies. When Large-scale infected diseases arouse much fear, the villagers will ask Dongba for a sacrifice to Heaven so that they can be protected from diseases. Every time Dongba enter a family, they will mould dozens of dough supernatural figurines, which takes time; as a result, eventually woodcarving takes the place of dough modeling. With enough time, the statue of a god can be well designed and made.

The facial features and dress and beads can be made better than those of dough modeling, but still marked with the Dongba style. Such statues are not so lifelike, for example, the eyes are like two holes, and a line stands for a mouth, which looks simple. But, the statue s still feels smart and powerful, and some looks funny.

TOPReligion

Most Naxi people were followers of the "Dongba" religion, which was popular in Lijiang district, including Baidi Sect, Baoshan Sect, Baisha Sect and Tai'anludian Sect. This religion sect gained its name from their master interpreter and chanter of scripture named Dongba. The earliest ancestor that Dongba followers worship was the master of Ben Sect. The Dongba sect, inherited from Di and the Qiang [Chiang] nationality's natural worship, then to a form of Shamanism, and finally to Dongba religion, can date back to their original worship of heaven and earth, sun and moon, stars, wind and rain, thunder and lightning, water, fire, mountains and rivers and stones. The Dongba religion was based on the soul idea and ghosts and gods idea whose period of full bloom of Dongba religion was in the time of the fourth and the fifth century.

Dongba

Dongba is the proverb of the Confucian classics teacher according to the scriptures, which was handed down in the family way or by a teacher. Almost all the Dongbas are versatile scholars, expert in writing, painting, singing and dancing. They play the role of developing, transmitting and, above all, inheriting Naxi's ancient Dongba culture. Generally, the Dongbas don't give up manufacture even they can get small reward from the religious ceremonies.

In Naxi area there are Common Dongba, Big Dongba and King Dongba relying on their separate learning, skill and prestige. The Common Dongba usually chant scripture, host common religious ceremonies while the Big Dongba, who is said to have been to Baidi (the Holy Land of Dongma Sect) to receive the ceremony of sect entrance, is expert at chanting scripture, drawing, mold a statue, sorcerer's dance in a trance. Big Dongba who enjoys high prestige is also believed to have supernatural power with which he can conquer demons and ghosts. He usually acts as the master of the altar in the important religious ceremonies. In addition he has the right to adapt students and propagate doctrines of the ancient sages. By the way the King Dongba is the one who bear the highest prestige among the Dongbas.