Lijiang Story
Lijiang is located in the north western of Yunnan Province. It was listed by UNESCO as a "world cultural heritage" city in December 4, 1997. Lijiang is also a city with a long history, beautiful scenery and is also the area inhabited by minority.
Gender
Before the Mongols conquered Lijiang in 1253, Lijiang Naxi was in the matriarchal society. After the influence of Mu, who once was the administrator of Lijiang, many families accepted the patriarchal system of Han nationality gradually. Chinese administrator’s with Han nationality replaced the Mu's rule afterwards, much Han Chinese values pouring into the old city. The Naxi women not only lost the control of a family, but also contradicted because of their pursuit of love and sexual freedom by Confucian system; more and more girls chose to die for love. While Naxi young people born after seventies are looking for the free spirits from the western countries just as the mainland people.
Religious belief
Naxi people have ever believed in Buddhism, Lamaism, Taoism in history. But they do not believe in some religion different with some nationalities which are deeply influenced by their religious belief. It is difficult to find very devout believers even in the old people in Lijiang nowadays. Naxi Dongba religion is a primitive religion of ancient, but it is more for the wealthy elite than civilian religion.
Language
The Naxi spoken language is the primary language in Lijiang and the Naxi community. In Old Town, the dialect of Yunnan Han (also known as Yunnan Language) is the most widely used. But the Naxi families still use the Naxi spoken language with their family members. Lijiang's young generation can speak Chinese and Mandarin, many youth can speak very fluent English who are engaged in tourism industry. Some of the older generation have educated by the western church school, so it is common to see the old men talking freely with foreigners in English in the Old Town.
Written words
The Naxi pictographs are more than 2200. The word presents a good, a thing or a meaning strongly. It does not pursue for beauty like pictures, hieroglyphs simply draw the contour to express.
Gender
Before the Mongols conquered Lijiang in 1253, Lijiang Naxi was in the matriarchal society. After the influence of Mu, who once was the administrator of Lijiang, many families accepted the patriarchal system of Han nationality gradually. Chinese administrator’s with Han nationality replaced the Mu's rule afterwards, much Han Chinese values pouring into the old city. The Naxi women not only lost the control of a family, but also contradicted because of their pursuit of love and sexual freedom by Confucian system; more and more girls chose to die for love. While Naxi young people born after seventies are looking for the free spirits from the western countries just as the mainland people.
Religious belief
Naxi people have ever believed in Buddhism, Lamaism, Taoism in history. But they do not believe in some religion different with some nationalities which are deeply influenced by their religious belief. It is difficult to find very devout believers even in the old people in Lijiang nowadays. Naxi Dongba religion is a primitive religion of ancient, but it is more for the wealthy elite than civilian religion.
Language
The Naxi spoken language is the primary language in Lijiang and the Naxi community. In Old Town, the dialect of Yunnan Han (also known as Yunnan Language) is the most widely used. But the Naxi families still use the Naxi spoken language with their family members. Lijiang's young generation can speak Chinese and Mandarin, many youth can speak very fluent English who are engaged in tourism industry. Some of the older generation have educated by the western church school, so it is common to see the old men talking freely with foreigners in English in the Old Town.
Written words
The Naxi pictographs are more than 2200. The word presents a good, a thing or a meaning strongly. It does not pursue for beauty like pictures, hieroglyphs simply draw the contour to express.
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