An Introduction To Minority Cultures Of Yunnan

An Introduction To Minority Cultures Of Yunnan

With snow-covered plateaus and rainforests, high mountains and wide basins, 

the land of Yunnan gathers a half of the species of animals and plants in 

China and witnesses the history of 26 nationalities. The 25 ethnical groups

 belonging to Diqiang family, Baiyue family, Baipu family and Miaoyao family 

of the ancient times have contact with Han people friendly for generations.

 These nationalities live in compact community or live together with other 

 nationalities, giving birth to the brilliant ethnical culture of the southwest

 boundary of China. And the 15 ethnical groups exclusively owned by Yunnan

 contribute a lot to Yunnan’s position of “Kingdom of Ethnical Culture”.

Located at the joint point of Chinese Civilization, Indian Civilization 

and Southeast Asian Civilization, Yunnan is not only the most important

 node of the ethnical culture system network of Asia but also the most

 treasurable bank of human cultural heritage. The locality, marginality 

and conformity of the ethnical cultures give rise to the diversity of the

 current ethnical culture. As one of the origin place of rice culture and

 tea culture, Yunnan also created brilliant bronze culture. The Big Cuan 

and Small Cuan Steles make bold breakthroughs in calligraphy of Chinese 

 characters. Hani terraces have worked the wonder of transplanting the

 rice culture to the mountainous areas. Nanzhao Culture, Pattra Leave 

Culture and Dongba Culture well-known at home and abroad are created 

 here. The ethnical and folk literatures, myths, and epics make up a 

 significant pity of Han culture system. Even the traditional ethnical

 clothing, songs and dances, and architecture, with special features 

and flying their own colors, have become splendent components of 

Chinese Culture.

Festivals

There are numerous ethnical groups and ethnical festivals in Yunnan 

Province. The number of ethnical festivals reaches as many as 400. In

 some ethnical groups, besides the common and important festivals,

 different branches have different festivals as well. Some festivals

 are shared by many different festivals, but the time, means of celebration

 and legends may be different. For example, besides Yi, Bai, Naxi and Pumi

 also celebrate the Torch Festival. Besides Dai, Bulang and A’chang also 

celebrate the Water Splashing Festival. On the occasions of festivals, 

people will gather together in splendid attires of their ethnical group,

 singing, dancing and playing games. The young people will look for 

their expected lovers and carry on love affairs with each other. Each

 festival is a jamboree activity when the tourists can get a better 

understanding of the ethnical culture.

With nearly half of China’s ethnical groups in Yunnan, the festivals 

nearly concentrate the contents of traditional ethnical culture at all 

levels. Exhibiting the most typical in rather a short period, the 

festivals with their special features have become a living “Folklore 

Museum”. On the festivals, you can see the historical tradition, 

legends and myths, religion, social thoughts, ethical awareness, and

 aesthetical standards of the ethnical groups. The clothing, food and 

drink, songs and dances, recreational activities, and arts of the 

festivals are spectacular. Reflecting different living customs, production

 habits, ideas and thoughts, and social structures of the ethnical groups

 living in various backgrounds of history, geography and culture, the

 festivals can be rated as an encyclopedia of highly typical and highly

 iconic ethnical culture. Therefore, Yunnan is a best place for culture

 exchanges and cultural tourism. 

Costumes

Dubbed as “Museum of Ethnical Groups”, Yunnan is a multi-ethnical 

province. Before 1949 when the PRC was established, the ethnical 

minorities of Yunnan Province, existing in different stages of social 

development, composed a living history of social development. The

 beautiful costumes and adornments created by the various ethnical

 groups, with various styles and obvious feature, provide important 

relics for the studies of the development and mutual relations of 

the history and culture of the different ethnical groups. In addition,

 as fine and useful artifacts, the ethnical dresses and personal 

adornments are exotic flowers of China’s industrial arts.

The time-honored history, numerous ethnical groups, complex landform,

 and changeable vertical climate determine the diversity and brilliance,

 brightness and colorfulness of the ethnical dresses and personal 

adornments. As a carrier of ethnical culture, ethnical costume is an

 important category of ethnical relics, from which we can identify 

the different ethnical groups, understand the sex, age, occupation, 

and marital state of the wearers, and get to know the festivals, 

wedding and burial ceremonies, religious beliefs, and rituals and 

etiquettes of different ethnical group. To exaggerate, ethnical 

dresses and personal adornments are an encyclopedia of the 

 ethnical groups.

The ethnical costumes of Yunnan Province are just like a hundred

 flowers in full bloom, with different shapes, gestures and elegances.

 While some are simple and unadorned, the others are colorful and

 well-adorned. To adapt to the subtropical climate, the women of Dai

 wear close fitting blouses and tight skirts with bright colors.

 Molded by Cangshan Mountain and Er’hai Lake, the women of Bai turn

 the snow-covered peaks of Cangshan Mountain, green waves of Er’hai 

 Lake, and the blooming camellias to their costumes. The white blouses, 

 red sleeveless jackets, trousers with harmonious contrast of colors,

 reflect their beauty and health. Yi women, inspired by the bright-colored

 flowers in the hills, let the various flowers bloom on their costumes.

 The lasses also wear cockscomb hats with embroidery, which add special 

elegance to their beauty. While Jingpo men wear blue clothes and trousers 

with long knives at the waist to show their brave bearing, Jingpo women

 wear costumes with many hanging silver bulbs. The silver bulbs, just

 like the stars setting off the moon in the sky, reflect their beauties.

 The dresses and adornments made manually and elaborately not only 

reflect the splendent ethnical culture, but also give people artistic 

inspirations.

Architectures

Reflecting the harmony between man and nature, the different social

 patterns and family structures, and the cultural types, cultural 

differences, aesthetical minds, religious beliefs and the ethnical 

groups’ absorption of alien cultures, the ethnical architectures of 

Yunnan are characterized by diversity, richness, origin and exclusiveness.

 As a symbol of the wisdom and creativity of the various ethnical groups

 of Yunnan Province, the ethnical architectures are historical and cultural

 heritages of great significance.

During the long course of development, the ethnical groups have created special

 ethnical cultures. The folk dwelling houses and architectures are an

 important component reflecting the aesthetical standards, social thoughts 

and local features of the ethnical groups.

The dwelling houses of Naxi and Bai in Northwest Yunnan have kept the 

charms of the traditional Chinese architecture. Adopting earth-wood or 

brick (stone)-wood structure and with white walls and grey tiles, the

 houses are just the same beautiful and elegant as the local mountain

 and rivers. Mosuo people living by Lugu Lake live in wooden houses.

 The walls are built by piling round logs and wood planks are used as

 tiles. Dai, Jingpo, Wa, De’ang, Jinuo and Lahu peoples live in 

wooden houses built with bamboos, trees and grasses. Simple but elegant, 

the houses give us a feeling of beauty.

The diverse dwelling houses are results of the ethnical groups’ wisdom

 to adapt to the natural environment and exhibit their culture and customs.

 They are developed from the two ways of dwelling: living on trees and 

living in caves. Living on trees, man can avoid attacks of the fierce

 beasts. This way of dwelling gradually develops into the bamboo houses

 of Dai, and Bulang in South Yunnan. The bamboo houses are usually built

 in two floors. Man lives on the second floor and the domestic animals

 live on the first floor. The houses are ventilating, suitable for the 

tropical and subtropical climate conditions. The shapes of the bamboo

 houses are varied as well. WhileDai’s are beautiful and possessing 

natural grace, Wa’s are natural and simple, Jinuo’s and Lahu’s are

 similar to the dwelling structure of Han, Hani’s are called Mushroom 

Houses because they are in the shape of mushrooms. Sun-dried mud bricks 

and cogon grasses are used to build the walls and roofs of the walls of 

mushroom houses respectively. In addition, the watch houses of Tibetan

and stone houses of Buyi also bear distinctive features. The stone houses

 and earth houses of Bai, Yi, Naxi and Tibetan in the west of Yunnan are

 developed from the dwelling caves. Besides providing shelters, the houses

 are very firm as well.

Besides the natural environment, religions impose influences to different

 degrees on the architecture patterns of the ethnical areas. For example,

 in Bai areas, the building pattern of “three houses and one screen wall” 

is adopted, that is, one residential courtyard usually consists of three 

houses and one screen wall facing the gate of the principal house. The

 principal house is the residence of the head of the family. The houses

 on both sides are residences for the children. Meanwhile, the principal

 house is higher than the houses on its sides, representing the respect 

for seniority. The screen walls can reflect light and keep out the wind 

and there are paintings on the screen walls. The paintings are always 

religion story pictures. People hope the religion paintings to exorcise

 evil spirits out of the houses.

More than 20 ethnical groups living in Yunnan since ancient time have

 their own primeval religions that produce great effects on their

 architectures. The ethnical dwellings are in fact artifacts of religions.

 Furthermore, the ethnical minorities’ admiration of ancestry and nature

 are also expressed in totem poles, arts of adornment, and the god trees 

and altars. The sculpture of dragon, snake, tiger and lions are widely

 used in ethnical architectures. For example, the tiger head on the ridge

 of Bai’s houses, the relief sculpture of eagle wings and claws in Yi’s 

dwellings, and the wooden bird adornments in Wa’s dwellings are not only 

a manifestation of decoration art but also gods admired by the ethnical

 minorities, representing their beliefs.

The ethnical architectures of Yunnan bear much significance other than 

dwellings. They are created by the times, reflecting the productivity,

 scientific level, social system, ideologies, culture and arts of an 

ethnical group or an area. It is safe to say that folk dwelling are 

“culture of space” and “container of culture”.

Cultural Resources

Yunnan Province is abundant in resources and cultural resources are

 the most important resources. The time-honored history gives rise to

 the rich historical cultural resources and the many ethnical groups

 living together give birth to the colorful ethnical culture resources.

 Among the non-material cultural heritage list announced by the state

 for the first time, Yunnan ranks first for its 34 heritages. In 2004,

 the Ministry of Culture selected Yunnan as one of the three national-level

 comprehensive plot areas of non-material cultural heritage preservation.

Currently, the numbers of non-material cultural heritages of provincial 

level, prefecture level and county level of Yunnan Province reach 147,

 3,000 and 8,000 respectively. There are over 100,000 volumes of

 literatures and ancient books written in ethnical characters, over 

40,000 ancient books passed down orally. Till now, over 30,000 volumes 

of ancient books are protected and over 600 volumes have been translated

 and published.

Dongba Culture, Pattra Leave Culture, Beima Culture and Bimo Culture are

 well-protected and inherited. The Site of Silver Shuttle and Shell in

 Dali, Dinosaur Fossil in Yuanmou and Ancient Dian Culture in Yuxi are 

excavated and studied. Many cities, towns and villages of historical and

 cultural significance such as Heijing Townhsip of Lufeng County, Nagu

 Township in Huize, Guanglu Township in Yao’an, the County Seat of Tonghai,

 Zhongshan Auditorium of Fuyuan, and Shiyang Temple of Dayao, and the 

relics and buildings in the cities, towns and villages are well preserved

 and restored.

With 25 ethnical minorities, Yunnan is the “Land of Songs and Dances” 

and “the Sea of Dances” well-known in China. According to incomplete 

statistics, there are 1,095 kinds of dances and 6,718 series of dancing 

skills in Yunnan. There are pageant celebrations of dances every month 

and there are sites for dance in every village. As an indispensable part

 of the people’s lives, the dances, reflecting either the solemn 

sacrifices or the productivity and life, show various and extraordinary 

splendor. In the long course of development, rather firm dancing forms 

and characteristics appeared. According to different functions, the 

ethnical songs and dances of Yunnan can be divided into the three 

categories of sacrifice, hunting and totem worship.

Religions

As a special culture, the religious culture of Yunnan Province is rooted

 in the course of social and historical development of various ethnical

 groups of Yunnan Province. Reflecting the world in certain illusory and

inverted ways, people turn the power of the world into supernatural power

 such as ancestry and gods, and believe in and worship the gods. The beliefs

 and worshipping control the living styles of the ethnical groups and 

standardize the behavior of the people, imposing great influences on the

 productivity and life of the people. Living in a comparatively closed 

environment, the local ethnical minorities have kept many of the primeval

 religions of Yunnan.

In some relatively backward ethnical minorities, the contents of primeval 

religions are kept in their religious consciousness to certain degree. But

 the traditional religious culture still plays active roles in many aspects

. For example, in the traditional ideas of the ethnical minorities, animals,

 plants, mountains, rivers, and land all have souls or are controlled by gods

 and ghosts, so utilization of them should be reasonable in number and time. 

 That is helpful to the protection of ecological environment. In primitive 

society period when food supply was very limited, it is of great significance 

to stick to absolute egalitarianism in food distribution. The ethical norm is,

 in a sense, supported by the religious ideas and activities. In other fields,

 religion also plays an important role in maintaining the ethical and moral

 norms. In the course of development of the ethnical groups of Yunnan Province, 

primeval religions have played active roles in promoting the unification of 

the clans, tribes, and ethnical groups.