Introduction to Naxi people, Dongba tradition and Lijiang region

 

based on “ Icon and Tranformation: (Re)Imaginings in Dongba Art ” by Charles F. McKhann, Sheehan Gallery Press, Walla Walla, 2003

The 纳西族 Nàxi zú are a Tibeto-Burman people, one of 55 少数民族 shaoshù mínzú minority nationalities officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

They number about 280.000, about the same as the Navaho Nation in the U.S., and live in the mountains of southwest China, mainly in northwestern portion of the province of 云南 Yúnnán, but also in neighboring parts of 四川 Sìchuan and Tibet.

About two-thirds of Naxi actually living in the Gucheng district (丽江古城出 Li Jiang Gu Cheng Qu) and in autonomous country of Yulong (玉龙纳西族自治县 Yulong Nàxizu Zi Zhi Xian), which together constitute the Autonomous Region of Lijiang ( 丽江纳西族自治县 Lijiang Nàxizu Zi Zhi Zian ), the cultural hub of the Naxi people.

Once a relatively remote node on the China-Tibet trade route, Lijiang has in recent years become a major tourist destination for both domestic Chinese and international travelers.

The Naxi homeland is dominated by two geographical features: mountains and rivers.

The highest mountains 哈巴山 Haba Shan and 玉龙雪山 Yu Long Xueshan (the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) are both glaciated peaks in the 18.000 foot range that tower over the surrounding landscape.

Between them runs the powerful 金沙江 Jinshajiang - Golden Sand River, which also takes the better known name of 长江 Cháng Jiang (Long River) or 扬子江 Yángzi Jiang; the region is also transected by the 湄公河 Méigonghé (better known with Vietnamite name Mekong), 怒江 Nù Jiang (the Burmese Salween), and 雅砻江 Ya lóng jiang (the Tibetan ཉག་ཆུ་ nyag chu).

“ Big mountains ” and “ big water ” are themes that dominate traditional and contemporary Naxi life, religion, arts and literature.

The cultural history of the Lijiang region is complex.

Since the Tang Dinasty (618 – 906), political forces from China, Tibet and the once powerful Nanzhao Kingdom, once centered just south of Lijiang, in modern day 大理 Dàli, have all tried to control the region and its peoples.

After Kublai Khan conquered the area in 1253, the Mongols established the institution of native chiefs, called Tusi, whereby powerful local families were given hereditary titles, armies and riches, in return for their formal submission to the Chinese court.

For almost 500 years (1253 – 1723), the Lijiang area was ruled by a lineage of Naxi native chiefs with the clan-name Mu: at the height of their power, the Mu chiefs' authority extended far north and west into Tibet and Sichuan.

But the policy of indirect rule was a double-edged sword: as often as native chiefs showed an obedient face to the Chinese court, they also sought alliances with neighboring chiefs.

Marriage and trade were two of the main means of forging alliances.

Daughters of the Mu chiefs were married into neighboring chiefly lineages (including Tibetan noble lineages), and vice-versa.

Lijiang was also a key stop on what later became known as the 茶马古道 chá ma gu dào – the Ancient Tea and Horse [caravans] road, between lowland southwest China and Tibet.

Even after the native chieftaincy was dismantled in 1723 and Lijiang was fully absorbed by the Chinese state, it continued to have strong ties to Lhasa, and to political powers to the south.

The upshot of all this coming and going was what today we would call a significant degree of multiculturalism in Lijiang society.

Religion is an aspect of Naxi culture in which the influence of different cultures is particularly apparent.

The Mu chiefs were great patrons of Tibetan Buddhism, and they founded several monasteries in the Lijiang Area.

Form the Chinese they also adopted Taoist practices and temples, along with a host of ideas and practices that we would generally identify as Confucian (including the worship of ancestors through ancestral tablets, Han-style graveyards, and in some cases lineage halls).

One of the most fascinating visual representations of this cultural fusion is the frescoes at Baisha Village, just north of Lijiang proper and ancestral home of the former Mu chiefly lineage.

Originally there were five small temples in Baisha, identified with the phases/elements of Taoist classification.

In the largest one is a set of frescoes (recently restored) painted by Naxi, Han and Tibetan artists that reflect differences in their religious and artistic traditions.

This same eclecticism is evident in what today called the Dongba religion.

Dongba is actually a title given to one type of indigenous ritual specialist in Naxi society.

Dongba term is usually translated to “shaman”, but here is translated as “priest” in order to distinguish Dongbas from other main type of Naxi ritual specialist, the Sainii - shamans and other Lijiang regional kind of shamans.

In a general sense the Dongba's knowledge is learned and involves the mastery of ritual texts and practices, whereas Sanii are, properly speaking, chosen by the gods.

From an outsider perspective, the latter implies an innative gift, whereas the former involves acquired knowledge and skill.

As with the various Tibetan ritual practitioners we usually and erroneously gloss as lamas, however, the differences are not clear cut.

The status of a Dongba is often passed through particular patrilineages (implying birthright), whereas some Sanii appears as such only later in life, sometimes in the aftermath of a serious illness.

Because of the strong suppression of all religion in China during the 1950 – 70s, both Dongba and Sanii practices have nearly died out.

Today there are only a handful of Dongbas left who were trained prior to the Communist Revolution (1949); there has been some resurgence in recent years of Dongba practices and an interest among younger people in learning the art.

The numbers are very small, however, and it seems unlikely that the Dongba religion will ever regain its pre-revolution status. In recent years people have extended the use of the term Dongba and speak about meanings as:

  • 东巴宗教 Dongba zong jiào - Dongba religion
  • 东巴文化 Dongba wén huà – Dongba culture
  • 东巴艺术 Dongba yì shù – Dongba art
  • 东巴文字 Dongba wén zì – Dongba pictographic [writing system]

What is meant by each of these terms is a constellation of practices and forms that are associated with, or derived from, the ritual activities of Dongbas.

In ex., in addition to traditional use of Dongba pictographs there's a creative use of them, as contemporary Dongba artists sometimes also draw on themes contained in the ritual texts and in Naxi mythology, while others use the pictographs to portray more mundane, secular themes, as Zhang Yunling for example, best known for his playful representations of everyday village life.