Daughter country by Lugu Lake

There is a beautiful plateau lake called Lugu Lake in Hengduan Mountain area at the junction of Yunnan and Sichuan in the southwest of China. Around Lugu Lake, there is a special ethnic group, who call themselves Namosuo people. They have a strong matriarchal civilization inheritance and live in a warm matriarchal family. They come from and belong to their mother. No matter how many generations have passed, the children of Moling will eventually return to their parents' homes to ensure that Mosuo women are masters of the country and can survive and last forever. Mosuo people and their matriarchal cultural traditions are legendary and famous at home and abroad, and they are called "Oriental Daughter Country" by the outside world.

Experience Mosuo for the first time.

This is my fifth trip to Lugu Lake in mid-spring this year. Recall that my first visit to Lugu Lake was in the early spring of 1992. Before Lugu Lake was officially opened to the outside world, the Propaganda Department of Yunnan Provincial Party Committee organized a propaganda group to preach the No.1 Document of the Central Committee in the countryside. Before leaving, the leader said to the comrades in our propaganda group: Lugu Lake has beautiful natural scenery and unique ethnic customs. You should respect Mosuo people's religious beliefs and folk customs. At the same time, in some places, cameras are not allowed to take pictures without the consent of local cadres and masses.

We went to Lugu Lake with longing and awe. At that time, Kunming to Lijiang was a secondary highway, and Lijiang to Ninglang was a dirt road with steep mountains and narrow bays. It took five days to go to Lugu Lake by car.

We walked along the mountain road by the lake, and the caravan kept ringing, as if we had entered ancient times. At that time, there were only one or two hotels by the lake and there was no electricity in the countryside. In the evening, we lived in the reception public house of Yongning township government and slept on a wooden bed covered with a military quilt. Arrange the propaganda group of our village to preach to the masses in the surrounding farmers' homes. I remember that in a farmer's house in Xiaoluoshui village, there were adults, children, grandmothers, 10 people sitting around the fireplace. The fire is very weak. The accompanying township cadres said that this grandmother is the grandmother at home, with dark and bright skin, and warmly greeted us to sit down. Because of the barrier of the mountain, few people come to the lecture, and they seldom talk. The local cadres translated what we said to the villagers sentence by sentence. The old grandmother said: We have lived here for generations. Now that the party's policies are good, our lives are much better, and we all have kind smiles on our faces.

Mosuo people are generally quadrangles. Grandma's house, Jing Tang, Hualou, Caolou. Grandma's house is the core of the family, with jagged planes and square walls. Grandma's house is supported by two columns, a male column and a female column. Male and female columns must come from the same tree. In the last section, the male column and the female column are juxtaposed. Male columns and female columns symbolize brothers and sisters in the family. They are of the same ancestry and will never be separated. Grandma's house is the place where family members live and die and hold important ceremonies, and it is also the place where the whole family eats, lives, discusses and entertains guests. The hall is the most sacred place in Mosuo family and the tallest building in all houses. Straw house is a man's residence, the ground floor is a yard, and the upper floor is a building with grass. When a man is not married, it is the bedroom. The building opposite grandma is called greenhouse, and Mosuo people call it "Nizai", which means double-decker. There are farm tools downstairs, and upstairs is the bedroom where adult women get married.

Curious to see the greenhouse, want to know about the custom of walking marriage. The township cadres said: Mosuo people take a fancy to Mosuo women, and the man asks the matchmaker to bring dresses, belts, shoes, tobacco, alcohol and tea and other gifts. Go to the woman's house and propose to her mother. Men can't go together, and mothers can accept gifts with their daughters' consent. I also made a pair of linen trousers and a linen belt for my daughter. This process is called "Zuo Zuo Ga", which means exchanging tokens. At the same time, the woman should give the gifts brought by the man to the people and relatives in the same village, indicating that her daughter has "summer". On the night of the first visit, the woman's mother and sister sent the man to her greenhouse.

There is another way for Mosuo people to get married, that is, private marriage between men and women, that is, free love. In daily communication, Mosuo men and women love each other and secretly exchange jewelry and rings. Take this as a token, establish a "summer" relationship, and secretly visit others. If we want to keep this unconventional way, we should establish a "summer" relationship through the "Zuo Zuo Ga" ceremony, so that marriage will be recognized by both families, otherwise it will not be recognized by the family society. The divorce of Mosuo people does not involve other family members, and there is no property dispute. Both men and women are completely based on feelings and are rarely obstructed and interfered by their families. It is the purest love and marriage in the world.

There are many rituals in Mosuo people's life, but there are only three in individual life, namely birthday ceremony, passing ceremony and funeral ceremony. These are the three most important ceremonies in their lives. The three ceremonies are very grand, and Daba or Lama will be present to do things. A birthday ceremony will be held on the day or the next day of the child's birth, and a naming event will be held, presided over by Daba, to name the child. Mosuo adult ceremony was held when Mosuo children passed 13 years old in vain, marking the growth of children. Since then, as adults, they have participated in productive labor and social activities. Adult ceremonies are usually held during the Spring Festival. The elders presided over the ceremony. During the ceremony, Daba or Lama chants that boys and girls step on food bags and pig fat, which means food Man Cang. Livestock is prosperous, and everyone in Mosuo has loquat meat, also known as pig fat, which does not rot for several years, with cinnamon fragrance, fat but not greasy. Pig fat is not only delicious for Mosuo people, but also a symbol of Mosuo women's hard work and wealth.

Feel this fairy-like scene for the fifth time.

The second time I went to Lugu Lake was in the early spring of 1997, and I went to Lugu Lake with the leaders of the provincial party committee for investigation. Lugu Lake is relatively closed because of difficult roads. There are not many tourists going to Lugu Lake. A few guests came, but the reception conditions were still very poor. There are several hotels in Luoshui village, which can't meet the needs of tourists. Tourists basically live in ordinary families.

10 years later, National Day in 2008. I went to Lugu Lake for the third time. I love photography and made a special trip to Lugu Lake. During this trip to Lugu Lake, thousands of tourists gathered by the lake, driving, backpacking and cycling. With more people, tourism has prospered. What Goddess Garden, Daughter Country Inn, Matriarchal Family Inn, Goddess Restaurant, Grandma's Room, Leorowi Inn, there are many hotels and inns by the lake to cater to the curiosity of foreign guests. Flowers are everywhere, mountain flowers are in full bloom, and cosmos is in full bloom. Cosmos blooms on National Day, which is called "National Day Flower". There are strange reflections on the calm lake. Sometimes it reflects the figure like a fairy bathing, and sometimes it looks like a tiger, lion and bird, so that tourists can see enough. I kept pressing the shutter to shoot the morning light and the sunset glow. After two days of shooting, I photographed the wonderful light and shadow of Lugu Lake, boarded Gemu Mountain to take a panoramic view of Lugu Lake, and drove to Yongning Hot Spring to experience the bathing scene of that year. Go to the foot of Lion Mountain and film the life of herders. At night, a tall Mosuo woman, wearing a pleated skirt by the fire pond, was photographed with a camera. Mosuo people wear wide-leg pants, fox fur hats, felt hats and boots, sometimes noisy and sometimes soothing, sometimes holding hands, sometimes shoulder to shoulder, singing and dancing carnival scene. During the two-day trip to Lugu Lake, I basically visited the big villages in Lugu Lake, Yunnan and Sichuan, and took thousands of photos. Later, I selected more than 100 photos and published Lugu Lake Photo Collection. Liu Dawei, Chairman of China Artists Association, wrote the title "Poetry and Painting in Yunnan" for the album.

I have been to some places many times and don't want to go again. However, the more times they go to Lugu Lake, the more they feel and yearn for it. In 2008, as the first commander of the Mosuo troops in Lugu Lake, He Shaoquan retired and founded the Yunnan Oriental Mosuo Culture Research Center. In the early summer of that year, He Shaoquan invited 120 famous painters at home and abroad to visit Lugu Lake, where Mosuo people live in concentrated communities, and publicized the cultural landscape of Mosuo people in the form of painting art. This was the fourth time that I was invited to join the team of painters in Lugu Lake, and the tourism service facilities and scenic spot infrastructure in Lugu Lake had been greatly improved. Faced with the beautiful natural landscape and magical human landscape in Lugu Lake area, painters were fascinated and created a number of colorful works of art reflecting Mosuo culture. In those days, during the day, we danced and sang in the lake with Mosuo girls and boys. Mosuo people like drinking, singing and dancing, and their voices are high and melodious, just like the sounds of nature. Dancing, travel-stained, like an eagle spreading its wings and flying, can dance 72 kinds of tunes. The artist couldn't help singing and dancing with a flute, and it ended at the beginning of the month. I wrote this poem "Drunk with My Daughter" with great interest: there are many attachments in life/the most fascinating thing is that the girl country near Lugu Lake has many fates in life/the most difficult thing is that the girl country near Lugu Lake was later composed by Naxi composer He and sung by the famous Naxi singer Dapo Maggie. He has performed in CCTV and large-scale literary evenings inside and outside the province, and now it has become dance music and karaoke on demand.

20 16 is the year of old ice. He Yong, a childhood friend, told me that he has been to Lugu Lake many times for more than 30 years. Now, Lugu Lake Airport has been opened, and the Shangri-La Ring Road of Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet has been completed, which will be a golden tourist route in China and even the world. He invested tens of millions to build a lake view hotel with elegant style, complete water heating and constant temperature. Living in a hotel is neither cold in winter nor hot in summer, so I can enjoy different scenery in four seasons and have a leisure holiday.

In spring, I came to Lugu Lake for the fifth time. It only takes more than 40 minutes to fly from Kunming to Lugu Lake. Seen from the air, Xiaoliangshan is more spectacular. When I got off the plane, I came to Lugu Lake. Today, there are many hotels and restaurants in the scenic spot. You can walk through Daluoshui Village, Xiaoluoshui Village, Luopu Village, Caohai and Lover Tree, visit the Mosuo Museum in Yanyuan, the former residence of the last princess, and board the observation deck. The beautiful scenery is intoxicating.

I am now standing in the secret place of my old classmates-Meian Hotel in Lugu Lake. Looking from the bright windowsill, the blue lake, the bright sky, birds flying, the mountains dripping green, and the green hills by the lake are as picturesque as dreams. I sincerely feel that on this side of the fairyland on earth, man and nature coexist harmoniously, and the lake nourishes Moling people, giving them opportunities for development and showing the changes of a nation. I walked into Lugu Lake again and again, as if Lugu Lake was a ribbon. Wherever I go, she always ties it tightly around my waist. The beautiful Lugu Lake is our common home, and the colorful Mosuo children are descendants of matriarchal culture. Whether in melodious singing or beautiful dancing, Mosuo people are brave, intelligent, optimistic, open-minded, simple and healthy. It shows the happy life of Mosuo matriarchal family and the charm of beautiful mountains and rivers. This magical, mysterious and wonderful place is a sacred place for human beings and has a long and fantastic scenery.