Nakhi people
The Nakhi, Nashi, or Naxi are a people inhabiting the Hengduan Mountains abutting the Eastern Himalayas in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province, as well as the southwestern part of Sichuan Province in China.
The Nakhi are thought to have come originally from northwestern China, migrating south toward Tibetan-populated regions, and usually inhabiting the most fertile riverside land, driving the other competing tribes farther up the hillsides onto less fertile land. The Nakhi traded over the dangerous overland trading links with Lhasa and India, on the so-called tea and horse caravan routes.
The Nakhi form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. The official Chinese government classification includes the Mosuo as part of the Nakhi people.
Nakhi culture is largely its own native Dongba religious, literary, and farming practices, influenced by the Confucian roots of Han Chinese history. Especially in the case of their musical scores, it acts as the foundation of the Nakhi literature. The Nakhi have their own writing, their own distinct language and their own native dress.
Art and architecture
There are many arts that are native to the Nakhi people, such as the rarely seen Nakhi handmade embroidery, Dongba painting, Dongba wooden carving and so on. Much of the wood carving that characterizes Nakhi houses are made by Bai craftsmen today. Absorbing architectural styles of the Han, Nakhi houses are built in a standard Han style of one courtyard with one, two, three or four buildings around it, sometimes with linked adjoining courtyards. The mud brick and wood structures have been described at first sight as crude and simple in appearance, but a closer inspection reveals elaborate and delicate patterns on casements and doors, elegant pillars and pillar supports, and a very comfortable and airy living environment.Nakhi temples are decorated on the interior with carvings on poles, arches and wall paintings that often exhibit a unique combination of Dongba and Buddhist influences. The decorations include depictions of episodes from epics, dancers, warriors, animals and birds, and flowers. The mural paintings depict Dongba gods, and stylistically are derived from Han Chinese interpretations of Tibetan Buddhist themes. A good example is the Delwada Temple.
"There are strong arguments that support the idea that in the past the main ritual activity performed on a temporal basis was the worship of Shu nature spirits on the first days of the second lunar month, and that this was the traditional New Year of the Nakhi. In Baidi, where the old traditions have been preserved, this is the most important festival, when everybody dressed in their best clothes, gathers around the Baishuitai terrace in a festive atmosphere and pay respect to the Shu gods of nature."... "Around the same time when the Shu Nature spirits are worshiped in Baidi, the people gather to honour Sanduo in Baisha and Lijiang."... "Worship of Heaven ceremony, celebrated some days before Worshiping Shu, is a ritual celebration to remember that Nakhi ancestors came from Heaven, and that therefore they descend also from a celestial lineage." The New Year is nowadays the main festival for the Nakhi of Lijiang. the New Year is considered a time of renovation for humans, their houses and their fields, a time of spiritual and physical rebirth when every person must be born again, clean and uncontaminated from the hard existence of the previous year.
The Nakhi celebrate the annual Torch Festival on the 24th and 25th of the sixth month of the Lunar calendar, which corresponds approximately to July 8–9, and the Sanduo Festival on February 8.
According to legend, Sanduo is a war god who defends the local people. In ancient times, a hunter discovered a strange stone on Jade Dragon Mountain, and carried the stone home. On his way home, he had to put the stone down for a rest, because it was extremely heavy. When he decided to continue his trip, he could no longer lift the stone, and many thought that it was the embodiment of a god. The Nakhi later built a temple to honour this god, whom they later named Sanduo, and depicted as an immortal in a white coat and a white helmet, carrying a white spear and riding a white horse. They believed that Sanduo would protect the local people and their land. Because Sanduo was thought to have been born in the year of the Goat, it is sacrificed at his festival.
Clothing
The Nakhi women wear wide-sleeved loose gowns accompanied by jackets and long trousers, tied with richly decorated belts at the waist. Sheepskin is worn over the shoulder. Especially in Ninglang County, the women wear short jackets and long skirts reaching the ground with several folds. Large black cotton turbans are worn around their heads, which are accompanied with big silver earrings. The men's costume is much like that of Han Chinese. In modern times, traditional dress is rarely worn among the younger generation. It is now usually only worn at cultural events and on special occasions.Language
The language is written with Geba script and Dongba script.Music
The Nakhi have several indigenous forms of music, including baisha xiyue and the Chinese-inspired dongjing discussed above.Society
Nakhi from the northern region, Yongning, recognized at the provincial level as a separate group, the Na, are known to be matrilineal and matrilocal, i.e. parentage is by the mother and all children – men and women – live in the house of the mother, from birth until death. Their family system is different from the one we know in the West since marriage – that is to say the recognition of a union of individuals by an institution – does not exist. The practice of sexual life is free between non-consanguineous adults: at night, the man goes to the woman with whom he would like to have sex, the woman being free to accept or not. Both men and women are free to have multiple partners. As a result, children do not always know their biological father. The children are raised by the inhabitants of the household, the maternal uncles assuming the role of "father" as understood in the West. This conception stems in part from one of their beliefs presenting the man as the rain on the grass: it serves to foster what is already there. The reproductive role of the man is thus to "water" the fetus already present in the woman. For Nakhi, hereditary characters are contained in bones, and are transmitted by women. However, with the opening to tourism and the exile of some inhabitants, manners tend to change, some Na people conforming to the monogamous couple.These practices, which are still observable in the 21st century among the Na, are no longer practiced among the Naxi since the implementation of Confucian practices decided by the lords of Lijiang.
Traditions
Cremation has been a tradition since ancient times, although burial was adopted in most Nakhi areas during the late Qing Dynasty and remains the preferred method of disposing of the dead today. Religious scriptures are chanted at the funeral ceremony to expiate the sins of the dead.Among the Nakhi in Yongning County in Yunnan and the Yanyuan County in Sichuan, there still exist remnants of the Mosuo matrilineal family structure, which was vigorously but unsuccessfully eradicated during the Communist era.
As the heads of the family, a woman leaves her inheritance to her descendants either from the mother, or through her sisters and their offspring.
In Nakhi society, women do most of the household and farm work, and while they keep to the kitchen when guests are present, they are essential to the household and are therefore influential in family decisions.
A few Nakhi men carry on the ancient Chinese tradition of hunting with falcons. This practice is rarely found in other parts of China today.
History
The Nakhi, like Mosuo, are believed to be the descendants of the nomadic proto-Qiang.Frequently harassed by neighboring tribes, the proto-Nakhi then moved southward to the banks of the Nujiang River and the Jinsha River and then to the Along River in the present-day province of Sichuan in western China. After being pushed south by other conquering tribes, the Nashi settled in the very fertile Baisha and Lijiang areas by the year 3 CE.
Nakhi histories describe a split into three groups while their ancestors were still in Baisha. The ones who remained are known as the Nashi, those in Dali are known as Bai, and those living around the Lugu Lake are called the Mosuo. Today, this description of the origins of the Bai and Mosuo is strenuously contested.
Historians have decided that between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, agricultural production in Lijiang replaced livestock breeding as the main occupation of the people. The production of agricultural, handicraft, mineral, and livestock products led to considerable prosperity, and during this period a number of slave-owning groups in Ninglang, Lijiang, and Weixi counties developed into a feudal caste of lords. Tibetan Buddhism took hold in the Lijiang region following visits from the Karmapas from the fourteenth century onwards.
In 1278, the Yuan dynasty established the Lijiang Prefecture, which represented the imperial court in Yunnan. A chieftain, Mude, was made the hereditary chieftain of Lijiang Prefecture, exercising control over the Nakhi people and other ethnic groups during the Ming dynasty. The hereditary chieftains from the Mu family collected taxes and tribute, which then went to the Ming court in the form of silver and grains. The Ming relied on the Mu family as the mainstay for the control of the people of various ethnic groups in northwestern Yunnan Province.
In 1723, during the Qing dynasty, hereditary local chieftains in the Lijiang area were replaced by court officials, and the Mu chieftains were included in this group retaining position as local administrators.
The ancient Nakhi town of Lijiang is now a major tourist destination. In the old town, the Nakhi rent buildings to Han merchants who run shops catering to tourists.
In 2005, Kuang Jianren, a famous Chinese film script writer produced "Snow Bracelet", a film based on the life of Nakhi ethnic minorities in Yunnan.