Matrilineal Mosuo Villages
Location: Lugu Lake, Yunnan, China
Mission Statement
The China Exploration and Research Society has been involved with culture conservation for over two decades. Initially this was achieved through the documentation of indigenous cultures unique to China's minority nationalities, many of which were in the process of disintegration, assimilation, or simply eclipsing in modern times. This gradually moved into cultural projects, at times involving entire local communities in the preservation of both material and intellectual culture. CERS goal in Lugu lake is to document and preserve the integrity and unique character of the Mosuo ethnic minority. They have documented and exhibited their traditional rituals, artifacts, clothes, ethnic music and every day customs and redirected the funds generated from this back into the community.
Background Information
The Mosuo villages are situated on the small islands and three peninsulas scattered around lake Lugu 200 kilometres from Lijiang center. The lake lies on the border between Ninglang county in Yunnan province and Yanyuan county in Sichuan province, China. The Mosuo people are a matrilineal society thus kinship descent goes through the females. Furthermore, women have comparatively more decision-making and domestic power than in common patriarchal gender roles in the rest of the China. Mosuo people are well known for their custom of axia relationships and Mosuo style of marriage called tisese or “walking marriage” where a son works and eats with his mother during the day but sleeps at his wife’s house (her mother’s), where his children live permanently.
In practise these relationships models are common but not unanimous and unfortunately the Mosuo women have been overly sexualised, a gendered matriarchal identity cast upon them, largely by the print media and Chinese tourists. The result has been a wave of tourists, many seeking a promiscuous Mosuo woman. The older generations are worried about how this eroticised conception of their community, people leaving their jobs to work as tour guides and the youths’ ever increasing consumption of modernity will affect their traditional way of life.
Activities of Organisation
Since 1981, Wong How Man has made many visits to Lugu lake, home of the Moso people. Beginning in 1993, CERS conducted organized research on two select villages around the lake and as a result successfully helped to disseminate information about these two villages. Wong, as Advisor and Selection Committee Member during the United Nations 50th Anniversary celebrations in 1994, helped list the villages as Model Communities. Between 1994 and 1997 The CERS focused on Lige Village which is located on a small peninsula jutting into lake Lugu. They carried out a major clean-up campaign, which promoted respect for the natural environment around the lake. In addition to this, the team has established a home-based exhibit of old artifacts of the Mosuo people. In an attempt to keep a record of some cultural activities which are in danger of fading away, several cultural rites have been documented on film. The funds generated from these projects have contributed to the construction of a school, providing much needed education to the younger generations and those to come.
Consensus Community Perspective
The project that CERS undertook in Lugulake was a particularly challenging one. Tourism and dissemination of Mosuo culture was already a reality for the Mosuo people but more often than not this was a distorted version catered solely for tourists’ consumption. In an attempt to revive traditions and record those that are naturally disappearing, CERS used methods of preservation of invaluable cultural artifacts and created an exhibition. The team has successfully combined two core values that The Himalayan consensus advocates; cultural preservation and environmentally conscious behaviour. Furthermore, this income generating opportunity facilitates community growth and steers tourism in a positive direction. This allows tourists to interact with and support the Mosuo culture’s beauty, minus the negative connotations.
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