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Naxi Minority, Yunnan, China
   

 

 

The Naxi Minority :

The Naxi minority, known by their ancient name as "Muoxie", were the descentants of Qiang tribe. This tribe over the years had migrated from the northern part of China and settled in Yunnan and Sichuan province.

 

There are about 280,000 Naxi people and they are mainly located on the border of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet. Lijiang county of Yunnan province is the main region where Naxis reside. Over the last ten centuries, the Naxi people had lived, laboured, mutiplied here and at the same time created a very unique culture of their own.

The Naxi minority have their own language and written characters which is considered as the only exsisting pictographs in the world today.

They also has their own religion which is really a hybrid of the Tibetan''s and Han''s religious beliefs.

The main feature of Dongba religion is in their ancestors and nature worship. Dongba which stands for sages, are responsible for passing down the Dongba culture to successive generations.

The Naxi culture is derived mainly from the Dongba culture, then their art forms such as music, dance, painting are a replica of the old original Dongba''s culture.

 

 

Characters "Dong Ba". This picture was taken down the "Yu Long Xue Shan" mountain. Around this stone, there is a stage around which Naxi people perform traditional dances.

 

 

Traditional wooden Naxi statues displayed at the Dongba Culture Center in Lijiang Countryside.

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

  

 
Painted scenes featuring Naxi legends
Naxi woman in her Traditional costume

 

  

 

A traditional Naxi percussionist displays his sticked-played drum.

 

  

 

In ancient China, "Dongjing" Music was performed during the religious Taoism ceremony. Later this music was being adopted by Scholars and officials as part of their music appreciation and culture. Disciples of Confucius used this kind of music to promote inner peace and harmony within themselves. The Taoists adopted it for their physical and spiritual exercises. This Dongjing music was very popular amongst the educated elites. During the Jiaqing period (1522-1566 AD) of the Ming Dynasty, the headman of Naxi brought this Dongjing music into Yunnan Province from Nanjing, Fujian and Sichuan. In the late Qing Dynasty, with the spread of western civilisation, this Dongjing music almost ceased to exist in central China. Fortunately in the remote and isolated area of southeast China, the Naxi people continued to enjoy and appreciate Dongjing music.

The above Orchestra containing around 20 people holds half of musicians aged 70 years old or above (the percussionist is 84 years old!) and they are almost the only remaining chinese orchestra continuing to perform traditional Naxi Music today. They are regularly invited to play overseas (USA, Europe, Japan...).

 

 

This is the entrance of the Jade Water Park in Lijiang countryside, a sacred area for Naxi People.

 

 

... walking up the hill on about 500 meters...

 

 

... till getting to the source of the Holy Spring, sacred place on which people present offerings.

 

 

About the Dongba Characters




The Dongba priests used this form of character to record the Naxi’s civilization. This Dongba character is considered as the only unique existing pictographs in the world today.

There are approximately 1400 Dongba characters that are still in use today. Pictographic characters are also highly praised for their calligraphy and artistic value. Dongba priests usually write pictographs into scriptural forms using small sticks. In the Old Town, there are many souvenir shops selling Tee shirt and painting with these old pictographic characters. However only the Dongba priest read and write such characters. Currently there are only 20 elderly Dongba shamans in Lijiang. When these shamans are not around, such knowledge of Dongba characters will ceased to exist unless the new generations of Naxis’ are willing to acquire such knowledge.

The Naxis''s classical literatures are written in Dongba pictographs. Currently there are about 20 thousands pieces of well-preserved classics stored in libraries or museums in China and also in some other countries as well.

(source : www.ljnaxi.com)