Local Culture
The Culture in Yunnan
Yunnan boasts the largest number of ethnic groups in China. Apart from the Han, 26 ethnic groups live in compact communities, accounting for 1/3 of the total population of Yunnan.
As early as in the clan society, three major ethnic groups, namely the Qiang, the Pu and the Yue, inhabited the areas of Yunnan. They were the earliest residents in Yunnan and have toiled and multiplied over time. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the various ethnic groups gradually settled down.
The Yi people mostly live in the northwestern, middle and northern part of Yunnan; the Bai people in the nearby areas of Erhai Lake; the Zhuang and the Miao people in the Eastern and Southeastern part of Yunnan; other ethnic groups in the western, southern and northwestern part of Yunnan.
The Dongba Culture
The Dongba culture, also called the Dongba Sept culture, is within the realm of religion. It’s the very ancient Naxi culture that’s passed down from generation to generation by the Dongba religion. The Dongba religion is an original religion of the Naxi ethnic group. The priest of the Dongba religion is called “Dongba” (means wise man in the local dialect). A priest is usually a generalist with a good knowledge of songs, dances, books, scriptures, history and medicine.
The Dongba culture includes hieroglyph, writing characters, the Dongba painting, the Dongba dances, the Dongba music and various rituals of offering sacrifices.
The Dongba Writing Characters
The Dongba characters are categorized as a kind of primitive hieroglyph. Looked from the perspective of the development of the shape of the characters, the Dongba characters are older than the inscriptions on oracle bones and have the early form of writing. They were originally the marks and images written or drawn on the wood and stones. Later, after the art of paper-making came into being, they were therefore written on paper. In a way, the Dongba characters are presently the only living hieroglyph in the world and they serve as the “living fossil” that throws some light on the origin of the writing characters in human society. There are 1700 Dongba hieroglyphs with a combination of pictures and characters. They are smooth in strokes, simple in style and bright in colors. Today, many of the characters remain in use by the Dongba people.
The Dongba Music
The Dongba music refers to the melodies and tunes that are intoned and chanted with musical instrument by the priest while offering sacrifices or performing religious rituals. The Dongba music is an important part of the Dongba culture. This music style gains its popularity by oral narration and is preserved in odd pieces in the Dongba scripture and pictures. Apart from the art of divining, the Dongba scripture are sang instead of being read.
There are around 50 tones in Dongba music. The chant of the Dongba music is based on the Naxi folk melodies with the company of such musical instruments as bells, drums and cymbals. The rhythm is single and the notes are simple. There are orchestras in the Dongba music as well. In the Dongba rituals of offering sacrifices, singing is usually accompanied with musical instruments in order to make the performance striking in rhythm and resounding in tones.
The Dongba Dance
The Dongba dance is a classical Naxi dance. The Naxi people have been famous for their talent in singing and dancing. Currently, the dances that are newly developed and prevail amongst the people are original dance, Dongba classical dance, group dance and new dance. “Maida Cuo” and “Rere Cuo” are types of original dance with a combination of poems, songs and dances. They demonstrate many features: singing while dancing, singing to promote dancing, dancing to promote singing and stop dancing when the songs end; no accompany of musical instrument; no limitation of the amount of people involved, no restrictions of places and occasions; both man and woman can be involved. Their steps are quite simple. Generally speaking, people put their right hands on the left shoulder of another person or hold their hands with the persons right next to them and move together eastward in circle.
The themes of the Dongba dances mainly come from the folk, absorbing the elements of the folk dances. The local people add some new elements of the Dongba religion to the dances performed in the rituals and turn it to their own Dongba dances; therefore, their dances have a strong flavor of the local lifestyle.
The Dongba Palace
As a major part of the Dongba culture, the palaces play an indispensable role for the inheritance and development of writing characters, music, songs and dances. Located in Lijiang ancient town, the Dongba Palace opens a door for modern people to better understand the Dongba culture.
The Dongba Palace stands right in the East Street of Lijiang ancient town. Five local auspicious ornaments are decorated on the top of the door and the Dongba wood paintings are put up on both sides of it. The unique decorations and entertaining activities inside the palace will just expose you to the charm of the Dongba culture. The Dongba Palace is actually a small but complete museum of ethnic cultures in which you can appreciate the unparallel Dongba culture and arts as well as have a better understanding of the Naxi ancient music and the folk dances.
The Dongba Painting
The Dongba painting can be subdivided into wood painting, card painting, scroll painting and scripture painting. The Dongba painting mainly represents the gods, demons, ghosts and goblins that the Naxi people had faith in back in the old days and expresses various ideal worlds in their mind. Some of the paintings also depict the secular life in ancient Naxi society.
The time-honored Dongba paintings with the most striking characteristics are artistic legacies of the Naxi ethnic group. When performing rituals, the Naxi people would draw various images of the Buddha, gods, figures, plants, animals and ghosts, then worship and offer sacrifices to them. This sort of painting serving for religious rituals is generally called the Dongba painting. The Dongba painting shares the same five artistic features with the hieroglyphs and scriptures, namely the form of the Yebei scripture, graceful lines, bright colors, and presentation of dynamism and absorption of characteristics.
The Dongba Ritual
Offering sacrifices to heaven is the most important ritual for the Naxi people. The Naxi people are very proud of this ritual as they believe they are blessed by the heaven. The rituals are performed in spring and autumn respectively in a certain place for offering sacrifices with one household or a clan as a unit.
Offering sacrifices to the god of wind, known as Hailaliken in the Naxi language, is aimed to release the souls of the people who came to unnatural death like committing suicide for love and dying in wars.
Offering sacrifices to Dingbashenluo (a god), known as “Shenluowu” in the Naxi language, is a mourning ritual for the demise of the priest.
Works of the Dongba Art
Works of the Dongba art refer to the puppets made of wood and flours, clay statues and various bamboo-knitting fabrics that are used in the religious rituals. The works are rich in value of appreciation as they are unique in style and vivid in image.
The Dongba sumptuary art is mainly reflected in the works of puppets, flour-made puppets and wood carvings. Carving a piece of wood into a puppet is actually a way that is employed to make flour-puppets in religious rituals. Up to now, over 30 such puppets have been collected. The Dongba people are all excellent handicraftsmen since all of them have a talent in carving various puppets. The shapes of the puppets are different: some have the shape of a thinker; some have the posture of looking far into the distance; some have a wide-open mouth just like being ready to shout. The shapes of the puppets are all whimsical. The Dongba puppets are carved with hats (used in Buddhist and Taoist mass), brooches and pearls. And they have the posture of sitting upright. The carved lines are clear and bold.
The Naxi Ancient Music
The Naxi ancient music is one of the oldest music styles in the world. According to the textual research, it is originated in the 14th century and remains the oldest music style in Yunnan. It’s also the very artistic crystallization that the Naxi people create under the influence of the civilization featuring Confucianism in the central plains of China.
The Naxi ancient music has three characteristics: old songs, old musical instruments and old performers. Most of the performers are 70 to 80 years old (but recently, there are also some young intellectuals who are fascinated by the Naxi ancient music). Not only will the people who have listened to this kind of music come to understand the old civilization of the Naxi ancient music, but they will also appreciate the profound culture of the Naxi ethnic group. Old as the Naxi ancient music is, it has maintained its popularity for over 500 years. In October, 1995, the band of the Naxi ancient music was invited to give performances in the U.S., Belgium and Holland, creating a sensation in Western Europe, the U.S., the U.K. and Italy. The broadcasting corporations in these countries play many pieces of the Naxi ancient music in the prime time. Experts and delegations from Holland and Japan made a special trip to Lijiang for investigating the ancient music and published treatises later.