The origin and origin of the Naxi people in Yunnan

With the development of tourism in the ancient city of Lijiang, the Naxi people are becoming more and more familiar and attracting a large number of tourists with their unique ethnic customs. The Naxi people have a branch, the Mosuo people, who are now the largest non-indigenous ethnic group in Kunming. So, do you know how the Naxi people developed? Regarding the origin of the Naxi people, it is generally believed that they are descendants of the ancient Qiang people. Now, I will reveal the origin and development history of the Naxi people, and let’s take a look at the Naxi culture.

The Naxi ethnic group is descended from the ancient Qiang people. They migrated south from the Hehuang area in the northwest and merged with the indigenous people.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Naxi ancestors established the Quanrong Kingdom in today's Shaanxi and Gansu areas, with their capital in Jingning County (today's Weirong Town). According to literature, the Naxi ancestors were the oldest nomadic people in the northwest. As early as the Yanhuang period, the Quanrong Kingdom was a strong enemy of the Yanhuang tribe. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" records: "In the past, the Gaoxin family had dog and Rong bandits, and the emperor was afraid of their aggression, but could not conquer them." The Gaoxin family was the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor and the father of Emperor Yao.

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Naxi people had migrated to the Dadu River and Yalong River basins, where they mainly engaged in nomadic herding and animal husbandry.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Naxi ancestors established the Bailang Kingdom in Sichuan. Its territory included areas such as Baiyu County to the west of the Yalong River in Sichuan today, and was adjacent to the Yak Kingdom to the east of the Yalong River. According to "The Book of the Later Han·Biography of the Southwest Yi", the White Wolf Kingdom was once a prosperous country and maintained good relations with the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains. By the time of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "White Wolf and other countries had more than a hundred countries, with a hundred and thirty households." More than 10,000 people, with a population of more than 6 million, raised their seeds as tribute." In the Tang Dynasty, some of the Naxi ancestors traveled south along the Yalong River and arrived in Lijiang. Then he sent his troops south and established the first political power in the east of Erhai Lake - Yue Xi Zhao. It is said in history that Yue's imperial edict "has the largest territory and the strongest troops, and has always been a taboo in Nanzhao". The Yue Jizhao was soon destroyed by the Nanzhao, and the Naxi ancestors' march southwards stopped.

After that, the ancestors of the Naxi people retreated to the middle reaches of the Jinsha River; for more than 500 years, they struggled to survive between the three powerful powers of the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao, and Tubo. This special living environment has created the Naxi people's deep, tough, flexible and flexible national character. At the same time, the culture of the Naxi people was nourished by these three cultural circles, and the national culture represented by Dongba culture originated from this.

In the Song Dynasty, the political environment of the Naxi ancestors improved: the Tubo dynasty in the north fell apart; Nanzhao also fell into chaos; the Song dynasty in the east was unable to deal with the nomads in the north and was unable to explore the southwest . "Therefore, after Nanzhao, Dali could not exist in such a state, and Tubo could not reach it. The Song Dynasty also abandoned its land and became the territory of Outuo. It took 350 years." The Naxi people thus obtained a rare opportunities for independent development. While social and economic production has been fully developed (agricultural civilization has replaced the half-farming and half-pastoral production state), some politically dispersed tribes have gradually become unified; the Dongba cultural system has gradually become grander and more complete.

After the Qing Dynasty, the power of Mu Mansion gradually declined. The reason is that Tibet was once again included in the territory under the jurisdiction of the central dynasty, causing Lijiang to lose the political and location advantage of the "southwestern fence", and the manor lord economy controlled by the Mu clan chieftain has gradually become a negative factor hindering the development of productivity. In 1723, Lijiang implemented land reform and returned land to local people. After that, the Mu clan chieftains failed to recover. What benefited was Lijiang's economy, and Lijiang's landlord economy developed rapidly. The handicraft industry also gradually became prosperous, and the pattern of Lijiang Ancient City was finally formed. As a result, the phenomenon of suicide for love spread widely, and Lijiang was called "the capital of suicide for love" by outsiders.

After the Opium War, the Naxi area also entered a period of social turmoil. This period, commonly known as the "Eighteen Years of Troubled Times" by Lijiang people, was particularly tragic. During the Xianfeng and Tongzhi years of the Qing Dynasty, Du Wenxiu's uprising in Dali involved Lijiang and lasted for 18 years. Lijiang suffered heavy losses. Mr. Zhang Xingyuan's "A Brief History of Lijiang" contains: "During the Daoguang period (1821-1850), there were 6,405 registered households, 3,128,276 male and female households, 15,152 male and female households, 15,152 male and female households, 46,456 households. Compared with the Daoguang Dynasty, the household registration was reduced by four-fifths. , one-eighth of the population, we can see the cruelty of Xian Tong’s return to the Han Dynasty.”

During the Revolution of 1911, the Naxi people responded positively, declared their independence from the Qing government, and participated in the National Defense Movement and other counter-revolutionaries. The emperor criticized the feudal movement; more than 400 Naxi people died for the country during the Anti-Japanese War. Because the mainland transportation lines were cut off by the Japanese army at that time, and later Myanmar fell, China's only land transportation lines were Kunming-Dali-Lijiang-Lhasa- Nepal-India. Lijiang became an important transfer station, and Lijiang's business, culture, and education flourished.

On July 1, 1949, Lijiang was peacefully liberated. Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County was established in 1961. In 1996, a magnitude 7 earthquake occurred in Lijiang, killing more than 3,200 people and causing economic losses of 4.5 billion yuan. In December 1997, the ancient city of Lijiang was rated as a "World Cultural Heritage" by UNESCO; in June 2003, "Three Parallel Rivers" was rated as a "World Natural Heritage"; in September of the same year, the Naxi Dongba ancient books were selected as "World Natural Heritage". "List of Memory Heritage." On July 1, 2003, Lijiang was reorganized into a city, and the original Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County was divided into Yulong Naxi Autonomous County and Gucheng District.

The Naxi people mainly live in Gucheng District and Yulong Naxi Autonomous County of Yunnan Province. The rest are distributed in Weixi, Zhongdian (today's Shangri-La), Ninglang, Deqin and Yanbian, Yanyuan and Muli of Sichuan. and Zhikang and other counties in Tibet.

According to research by historians, the Naxi people were originally a branch of the ancient Qiang people in northwest China. They migrated to Lijiang and settled in the Lijiang area around the third century AD. The population is more than 278,000 (the 4th census in 1990).