58) warenat niston LAND OF THE WALKING Li Peninsula on Lugu Lake: The cairn (right) is a place where people burn ‘incense and ‘other offerings ‘on behalf of thelr ancestors, For the Mosuo of China, it’s a woman’s world. By Lu Yuan and i Sam Mitchell Zz ‘There ave so many: skilful people, but nome can compare sith my mother ‘There are so many knowledgeable people fut one can equal my mother There are so stan people skilled at song bout nome cae compete with my mother — first heard this folk song around a blaz~ ing fire in southwestern China in the spring of 1995. It was sung enthusiasti- aie cally by women of Luoshui village - ‘members of the Nati, an ethnic group more com- a monly known to outsiders as the Mosuo. During . the past few years, we have returned several times to r visit these people, who celebrate women in more than song, Although the majority of China's ethnic re groups follow a strong patrilineal tradition, the Mosuo ‘matrilineal tics, with matrilin- cally related kin assisting one another to farm, fish, and raise children. Women also head most house- holds and control most fumily property Marriage as other cult know it is uncom- mon among the Mosuo; they prefer a visiting rela- tionship bev rangement they alking ewelve, a to in their age ceremony, and fe male visitors, A over may remain overnight in her rom but will return in the morning (© his own mother’s home and his primary responsibilities. Children born from such a relationship live with their mother, andVMARRIAGEthe male responsible for helping to look after them are her brothers, Many children: know who their fathers are, of course, but even if the re Iations wn father and child is quite close, it Ang I or economic obligation hip at involves no overs can end their relatio Jonger openis joor, When speakin ne Mosuo will mngenent 20 walking ears end marriage the relationship is n (Chaan-kang Shik, an ropoiogist at th versity of Hllinois at Urbana-Champaign and an au rority on the Mosuo, points out that many aspects of their family system have pamalels elsewhere in the ‘husband and wife live to atives or he ey contin to hi ). i others th fin sep se households, make overni visits, Matriineal kinship systems, in which a man looks after the interests of his sisters spouse mi children, are ako well known, And although men Jy wield the power, even in matrilineal omen may play important political an In this 4 nay quite possibly be unique to the Mosuo. of the pect. only precolonial ps matrilineal Nayar of southern India com Shib explain some Nayar gro close, As would tak lovers (with due re iving, Despite 1ed to acknowledge paternity, the bligations to their offspring, Stil, che Nayar had a vestigial form of marriage: sh: fore puberty a git! would be wed to a young man; although this marr e hsted only three days and ie, the unig ‘was offer transition to aduit life and legi hildren. with dhirey-year-old thous. His family ndmother, A Long, who runs a small consisted of his fin iter two-year-old son wth is dito help small ng he days of Friend marriage rood! I our moth flict between the brothers relationship i based 0 9 money or dlswry is involve none Zhe jag” A Lon, ath al Jovers but sarted w have a stable relationship with snshe you taking ad her first chi are of your children times buy candy for them. My responsi- us that che Mosuo systen fiend and [ help our ow come together at nig are few quarrels beowwen us, When we are fifty years old, we will not have ‘friend Ge Ze A Che 3s the le sopulation of more of them Mosuo, with a few Han yy ethnic group as well. He spoke roudly of this small Thave been the ieader of th There has been ler of Luoshui, which han 200 people, the ma Chhina’s mae and P village tor five finie theff, rape, or even argument here, “Friend marriage’ is better than the busban« system smilies everyone helps because in large extended each other, so we not affaid of anything. Its to0 work in the field and at home 1 Han do” hard to do se much Just as a couple, the way Mosue households vary: In one, top, a widower (seated) is the patriarch, while another family, above, is headed by a woman.The Mosuo live which straddles the ‘Sichuan provinces, and in the nearby town of Yongr ing, They are believed to be descendants of the an- cient Qiang, an carly people of the Tibetan plate from whom many neighbor cluding the Tibetans themselves, claim descent. AS result of Han expansion during the Qin dynasty 1-206 a.c.}, some Qiang fom an area near the (Yellow) River migrated south and west into Mosto ap- and the in villages around Lugu Lak ler beoween Yann: and minority groups, in= Hu: Yanan, The two earl pear during the Han dynasty (A.v, 206-2: Tang dynasty (618-907) Js now southwestern China, The Mosuo do not surface aga | in records concerning what in historical ints until after Mongol soldiers under Kublai area in 1253, During the ¥ a pe Khan subjugated th 1368) dynasty (1 the Mongols, the province of Yannan was sncorpo- rated into the Chinese empire soldiers settled in the Mosuo region. In fact and many Mongol the country’s minority nationalities, several Mosuo villages surrounding Lugu Lake identified them- selves as Mongol, and some contin today. When we walked around the Mosuo do each year in the ritaal belie tified themselves. variously to do so lake, as the wenth lunar month od to ens d fortune dur s that iden- Mongol, hrough villag as Mosto, we passed Naxi, Pom, and H. encountered dressed the ame as d spoke the same language. Their dances and songs. too, were the same, and they som ° ferred to themselves as Most, Tibetan Buddhism first entere the late thirteenth century and has g enced the lives and customs of the Mosuo, Bet hy me under the control of the Communist ent, at least one male from almost every The “Mongol” Mosuo and people we gover family joined che monastic coma practice of Buddhism ever: incorporated aspects of_ the sisi system, although the women did the muting.” On the eighth day of the fifth lun month, monks taveling to Tibet for religious sth . would camp in fiont of Kaiji vile. Thar night, aN cach monk would be joined by his accustomed 7B siohuan monks fo reach Lhasa safely and to succeed in com- Yi loge plexing eheir studies, And the local Mostio monks, cach of whom lived with his own mother’ family, 6) B ponahinc Conk! ako mei lover, Sach arargemen seem mel fe to defy the injunctions of many schools of Tibetan ©} oo Buddhism, bur by allowing the monks to live and = 6 2 work at home, outside the strict confines of mona. Instead of marriage, Mosuo lovers prefer a visiting relationship. Children live with their mother, whose brothers help look after them. tic life, they helped the Mosuo maintain a stable populstion and ensure an adequate labor force to sustain local agricul The arca around Lugu Lake did not come! under the fall control of China's central govern- 3 ment until 1956, seven years after the the People’s Republic. In 1958 and 1959, during the Great Leap Forward, the nearby monasteries, notably the one at Yongning, were badly damaged ounding of The Mosuo, who live near Lugu Now; however, with a combination of government funds and donations fom local people, they are slowly being rebuilt. One clement of recent relic Lake, shown ssious revival is the Bom tradition, which is ac~ in the map cepted by the Dalai Lama as a school of Tibetan at top, are Buddhism but believed by many scholars to be de- believed to have rived from an earlier, animist tradition, During our ancestral roots walk around Lugu Lake, we witnessed a Bon cre- in Tibet. Above: mation ceremony and visited the Bon temple on A Mosuo girl. ke, The Mosuo also re the eastern shore of the li tain a shamanic and animist tradition of cheir own, known as Daba62] naronat sistony 1100 the West became ac- town of che Mosuo through the work of years ward Chavannes and Party in 1949 spelled fh the contributions of search and missionary activity in the a A while on a botanical ter, Rock traveled lerlands accompanied ards and equipped In the ex Tilting the fie: French ethnographers Ed The fertile farmland bordering Lugu Lake is the envy of people whe throug dveltin the by trains of servants a nearby with such dubious necessities as a collapsible bat h tea set. He made the Naxi ‘an who first Besides c Teccing pla 8 foremost mountains.the Mosuo. The Mosuo stron, = ned by the present nt, which has been reluctant to assign the status of a distinct minority, The Com- snunists claim that the Mosao do not fit the eriteria, nationality status as defined for the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin, According to Stalin, as he phrased it in 2 1929 letter, “A nation but it has been The take, left, is 2 source of small fish. Below: Local farmers grow rice, com, potatoes, and other vegetables. ‘orically I stable community of people, formed con the basis of the con cipal character “A small family is not good for work,” says Lama Luo Sang Yi Shi. “Also, mothers and their daughter-in-law cannot get along well.” non psychological make-up m if features of national culture” torical development, Chinese regarded Mosuo so. ing fossil” charac age and family structures This view draws on theories of social evolution for- merly embraced by Western anthropologists, no terized by ancient m: ). Morgan proposed that societ essive natural efore attaininy and tion.” He also proposed a sequence of marriage forms, fom a hy- ‘oup marriage” of brothers and sisters Chinese scholars ha minority such as the Mosuo, with its u “civilship system, fits into this scheme and thus valida Marxist views. Of course, the application of Mor gan’ theories ¢o minority cultures in China has a enabled the Han major vanced in the chain of This kind of thinking, long discredited in the West is only now beginnin With the coming 76), the Mos bh their way of li. According to Lama Luo Sa Ski (a Mosuo who holds a ¢ nent title spiritual leader), “during the Cel- to sce itself as more a man societal evolution, of the Cultural Revel but is prim: tural Revolution, the governor of Yur Yongning, He went into Mosuo homes and ¢ . - wwithout fathers, Achat time, all ofthe Mosuo were The government, which adheres to Stalin's forwed to marry and to adopt the Hai definition of nationality, has been reluctant to monogamy; otherwise, they would : eee ina being deprived of food.” During this period Mosuo assign the Mosuo status as a distinct minority. ecco. ved ‘was nor perso punished by jth the woman's Family, and divore ed. But even thoug! certificates and lived with their w maternal hor morning to work Luo Sang Yi Shi c ‘cized this artempt to the end ined that 2, the Mosuo soon re d for work. Also, mod A small funily is not and their daughters-in-law Today the Mosuo maintain tem and pursue sisi rela this remain he case? Th Re ned Lugu Lake of visitors, both Chi to arrive. To some degree, this added exposure tlureatens to envelop the Mosso in a society that is homogencous. Yet th a, are beginning Decoming increas ‘sts are drawn not only by the beauty of the Dut by the exotic qualities of the Mosuo people Ironically, their unique qualit be th “wearing the Mosue to endure and prosper dress," top, isa We asked Ge Ze A he Luoshui village gil’ rite of leader, if tourism would Mosuo. “Tt has a extent.” he observ people now like wo wear Han clot ik Chinese, and sing Chit nese songs. In the future they will lose our people’ passage. Above and right: The focal buildings are of timber. Opposite page: Mosuo women ive a Chinese tourist a ride. traditions and customs And what would happen to “friend marriage’ we wondered. It will also change—but very, very dowly