A Journey to Luguhu in 1990　

At last I have reached to Luguhu(Lugu Lake),the place I long to visit. It locates on the boundary between Yunnan Province and Sichuan Province and is approximately 2,700m.above sea level. The place has the beautiful lake and is surrounded by the towering Lion Mountain.Mosuoren(Mosuo people),a branch of the Naxizu tribe,are living there,still retaining customs and manners of matriarchal society. They call Luguhu Xienami,meaning"Maternal Sea".Lion Mountain is said to be an incarnation of the legendary goddess"ganmu".Every year,on July 25 by lunar calendar,the goddess festival is held at the mountain foot. The Luguhu area still has manners and customs often observed in the primitive society where the female is predominant as the leader of the family. This is precisely the reason why the area is called "The Females'Kingdom".
The way to Luguhu was long and far.It took 3 days to get to NinLang from Kunming via Dali. The northern part from Lijiang is yet to be open.It may take 5 days to Luguhu from Kunming by bad luck because the bus service from NingLang to Luguhu is only available every other day. On top of that,the rough road extends to Luguhu from NingLang.They say that sometimes a car falls over a precipice. It may take some time before the area can be open to the public.It is about 72km.distant from NingLang to Luguhu. But it took 5 and 1/2 hours by bus to get there.The bus jolted badly on the rough road. That made me exhausted.However,the moment the mystic Luguhu came into my view,my fatigue vanished somewhere.

Quiet Villages in Luguhu

When I got off a bus,the smell of the earth came into my nose. That is somewhat fragrant and relaxing.A Mosuo woman went by me obviously on her way home from the farm labor. She wore ethnic clothes.That was my first time to witness it.It is not for tourists.It is a natural ethnic appearance coming from a traditional way of life. I saw people wearing different ethnic clothes.They said "We belong to Pumi".
Last year(1989),"The 4th Athletic Meet for the Yunnan Ethnic Minorities Tradition" was held in Kunming. People of ethnic minorities gathered in the meet from each district of Yunnan Province. There I watched various kinds of beautiful ethnic clothes with my eyes wide open. But this time they were totally different, not gorgeous but worn in their daily life.
They have their own way of wearing peculiar to each ethnic minority.I like their every day clothes better. Originally,ethnic clothes are made so that those ethnic people look most beautifully. It is a real pity that "Sinicization"would penetrate into their way of dressing. Hope their ethnic clothes could be inherited forever as a tradition or a symbol of ethnic minorities.

There are three hotels (to be precise,lodgings) in Luguhu.They are Pumi Hotel,Caojia Hotel and Mosuo Hotel. They look like a log house that used to be a house for the Mosuo people. Guest rooms tell it.But you can feel and imagine how they have been living. Most of the hotels were almost deserted with very few guests staying. But this tranquil environment is really something. Because very often in China,the streets are bustling and crowded with people. This area is blessed with lots of what to see.However,no barkers are around and hotels seem to be no business-minded. Anyhow I had to secure the place to put up for the night.I chose Caojia Hotel that faces Luguhu.To tell you the truth,this was a terrible mistake. I tell you why later on.

A Rare Fish Dish

A dining room is attached to this hotel. I asked for something to eat because I was so hungry. They said"A fish dish is recommendable". I ordered it right away. I thought I had a good luck to get a delicious fish in Yunnan. However,what was brought was a fish whole with no garnish. This is no surprise in rural part of China where it is not easy for people to procure various kinds of food materials due to an inconvenient distribution system. A fish is available here,but vegetables are not. The same is true of meat. The Mosuo people eat zhupiaorou that is pork preserved in salt and dried. But zhupiaorou is rarely offered in hotels. Not so often,but I saw peddlers selling meat or vegetables. I purchased some eggs and a long onion from the female peddler. I brought them back to the hotel and asked for cooking them. Fishes caught from the Luguhu are let go in a fish preserve of the hotel. A ordered fish is cut and cooked on the spot. A girl,maybe around a first grader of an elementary school,was helping her mother scale and gut a fish. I was so impressed by her skill. My ordered fish was cut into two pieces and deep-fried. Seasoning is salt,nothing else. I ate it. That was bothing but delicious. It had no smell probably because the water of the Luguhu is clean. I was so satisfied to eat a good fish after a long time.

What we lost

I have had plenty. I went for a walk around the villages of the Luguhu. The villages of the Mosuo people are on the lakeside. They are surrounded by green trees and look very beautiful. Their houses mostly stand very close to the water of the lake. So,I was a bit worried about the cold or dampness or even a flood in the area. But I found out soon that I was worried too much. Because they have long lived that way. Dugouts called "A Pig Trough Boat" line up on the shore of the lake. Ducks are swimming nearby in flocks. At the water's edge,chickens are busy eating algae along with chicks. Then pigs came and ate waterweeds with their bodies soaking in the water. People making a net,children playing on the boats and fishing boats floating on the surface of the lake-these are really a pleasant view. An old man was having a stroll slowly. Cows were walking at a snail's pace too. I feel almost the same tranquility here as I did in Xishuanbanna although the climate and the atmosphere are different between the two.

What the Mosuo people are

The Yongning Naxizu are called "Mosuoren(the Mosuo people)". It is said that the word "Mosuo" first appeared in history books as huayangguozhi or shuzhi. It is quite old. In the end of the 7th century,there was an alliance among six tribes in the coastal area of the Erhai Lake where Dali currently exists. A head of each tribe called himself"zhao (the king)" respectively. That was why the alliance was called"liuzhao (the Six Kingdoms)". zhao means the king in the Qiang language (or in Thai language). Among the Six Kingdoms,ShiLangzhao was a country of the Bai,a ethnic minority of the Pai-man descent. And Mongshezhao was said to be a country of the Yizu,a ethnic minority of the Wu-man descent. Yuexizhao located in the north-end of the Six Kingdoms had another name Moxie(Mosuo)zhao. Mosuo is said to be the old name of the Naxizu.
The Mosuo have lived in the area that straddles Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces. They were called differently according to the places they inhabited. They were called "Naxi" in Lijiang area and "Nari" in the Luguhu area respectively. In Weixi, they were called "marimasha". In 1954,they were united into the Naxizu.

The Mosuo around the Luguhu are quite different from the Naxizu in Lijiang. Public transportation is very poor in this area. And a feudal lord system has been predominant for a long time. These could be the reasons why the matriarchal society has been maintained and the name of Mosuo still remains. Possibly,the Mosuo retain the remnants of the northern nomadic tribes like "Qiang" or "Di" in ancient times. While I was looking over the tranquil Lugu Lake,this kind of thought occurred to me and I was immersed in a historical romance for a while.

On board a Pig Trough Boat

Somebody called"Why don't you take a boat?". When I turned around, a Mosuo woman was standing. She was the first barker here in the Lugufu. She asked for it moderately as if she were very sorry. I said "OK" to her because I have long loved to go aboard a dugout in the Luguhu. She looked very happy and said "Wait a moment please". Then she started running to get her colleagues.

According to their legend, the origin of a pig trough boat is as follows. The Luguhu used to be the grassland. However, one day in the past, people pulled a giant fish out of a cave. The water gushed out of it. Then the grassland was submerged by a flood. A female swineherd made use of a pig trough as a boat to save her children. Her children had a narrow escape from the flood although she was killed. Since then, people hollow out a log first, then shape it into like a pig trough when they make a boat. A pig trough boat is paddled by three women. One of them steers a boat. The main purpose was just to be onboard a pig trough boat. I had no specific destinations. I asked them to make a round trip to "The Snake Island". The handmade boat runs more smoothly than expected. The Lion Mountain, nearby villages look totally different when viewed from the boat. I really enjoyed it. Some people were casting a net in the middle of the lake. I asked a paddler the reason why an island was called "The Snake Island".

She answered "There is a lot of snakes on the island". No wonder. When I landed on the island, prayer flags(Dar Cho)that are peculiar to Lamaism were fluttering in the wind. Snakes were really there. Slender and black snakes were all over. I never expected that they bit me. However, I decided to return as soon as possible because the area was densely covered by plants. That made me feel uneasy around my feet. It was a short, but a pleasant cruise.

The Mosuo still keep a matriarchal family system. Even so, the Mosuo women are nothing but hard workers. As far as I witnessed here, they run the hotels, paddle the boats and do a firm work. Obviously, they are the center of the family. However, the Mosuo women never load it over men. They have a good physique and work hard. Average men can not give any competition to them. That was my impression.

The Mosuo men, therefore, may have to be strong enough to do a good job in fishing or farming and to take a good care of cattle, or sometimes to go mushrooming far into the mountains in order to win the heart of the Mosuo women. They could never be attracted by town-bred men. The signboard "The Female's Kingdom" reminds you of sweet images, but realities are far from those images. This kingdom is composed of strong women and men who have survived the harsh environment. "Walking Marriage" could be a desperate means not to let the Mosuo minority die out.

An Midnight Attack

Night closed in when I returned to the hotel. There is no electricity in the Luguhu. A candle light makes up for it. It is dark and inconvenient, but this atmosphere is really something. In this situation, we can reconfirm that a night is originally dark, and we can be moved by the glittering stars in the darkness. While I was drinking Baijiu along with still and beautiful night, I suddenly felt like going to the other side of the lake. What kind of people can I see in the unknown places? "He who hesitates is lost." I decided to make a circuit of the Lugu Lake on foot tomorrow. A couple of days may be enough to do so. "Yes, the Luguhu is really a good place", thinking that way, I got to sleep. However,"It" came in the middle of the night. A sudden itch woke me up. I slept again, but woke up in a short while feeling an itch. In the end, I could not sleep at all due to this. "Oh,no,It's a tick". Previouly I said I made a big mistake. This is it. The room and the bedclothes were far from clean. But it is no surprise in rural parts of China. Even so, it is rare that you are bitten by a tick. In my experience, Yunnan is much better compared to the situation in countries like India. However, once bitten by a tick, an itch lasts long. It is painful as well. On the next day, I found out that I had 30 spots of my body bitten by a tick. But this might be one of the real thrills we can experience in the undeveloped areas.