This is one of the minority tribes of China. They mostly live in the Naxi Autonomous County in Lijiang, Yunnan
Province, while the rest live in Sichuan and Tibet. Their population is
308,893 according to the 2000 census. In the name Naxi (also spelled
Nakhi), Na means senior and honored and Xi means people.
Their language belongs to the Tibetan-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan
phylum. In the past, they used a pictographic language called 'Dongba'
and another called 'Geba'. In 1957, they designed characters based on
the Latin alphabet and now most can write in Chinese. The Dongba
Scripture (or Dongba Jing) that their ancestors left has recorded all
facets of the Naxi life and is highly valued for posterity as a means of
studying their character and history.
The culture is very male-centric--the women do all the work and the men do nothing but be waited upon and complain. They live on farming, stock breeding and handicrafts. Reaches of the
Jinshajiang River is abundant in botanical resources such as trees and
medicinal herbs. The Lijiang horse (the horse part of the Tea Horse trade route that runs through the region) has also enjoyed the reputation for
years of one of the 'Three treasures of Lijiang' which were presented to
the official courts because of its ability to transport goods in
mountainous area.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
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