The Na-khi is one of China’s 55 minorities. The Na-khi Ethnic Group is also called Naxi. According to the 2010 nationwide census, the population of Na-khi is about 308,000. They mainly inhabit the northwestern Yunnan Province and the Southwestern Sichuan Province, such as Lijiang Prefecture and Liangshan Yi’s Autonomous Prefecture. The Na-khi people speak their own language which belongs to the Sino-Tibetan Family of Languages. Their ancestors created a hieroglyphic writing system called the "Dongba" script. Joseph F. Rock depicts the Na-khi society in one of his works, the Ancient Na-khi Kingdom of South-west China 1947.
The History of Na-khi
Historians hold that the Na-khi originated from one of the ancient Qiang tribes who migrated southwards around 3,000 years ago. Those migrants and the aborigines in the southwestern Sichuan and the northwestern Yunnan intermarried and formed the Na-khi Ethnic Group. In the Han Dynasty(202 B.C.-220 A.D.), the ancestry of Na-khi was called the Maoniu Qiang. Maoniu means yak in English. Those people grazed yaks in the southwestern China highland. They established the Ancient White-Wolf State. In the year of 74, the king of the White-Wolf paid tribute to the Han Empire. However, the White-Wolf was conquered by Tibetans during the Tang Dynasty(618-907). Some of the Ancient White-Wolf people were assimilated into Tibetans, some formed the modern Naxi Ethnic Group and the Mosuo Group.
The Na-khi’s Folk Customs
Most of Na-khi people are followers of the Dongba Religion. Dongba means wizard in English. It is a kind of animism. It originated from Tibetan Bon Religion. Some of the Na-khi people also practise Lamaism, Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism.
The locals cultivate mainly rice, core(maize), potato and vegetables. Pork is their favourite meat. Specialties popular among the natives are the cured pork, the steamed duck with caterpillar fungus, the beef stew, the steamed chicken with mushroom and the “baba” pancake.
The costume of men looks similar to that of the Han. The Na-khi women dress themselves in a different way. They usually wear a long coat, a sleeveless jacket, a pleated apron and a pair of trousers. The women living in Linglang County also have a shirt and a pleated skirt on. They all like to wear gold or silver jewellery, especially earrings and bracelets.
The festivals that the Na-khi people celebrate are the Spring Festival, the Sacrifice Rite to the Heavenly God, the Torch Festival and others. The Na-khi’s Torch Festival has a different origin from that of the Yi Ethnic Group. A long time ago, the god sent one of his warriors to the earth and gave him an order to burn the homeland of the Na-khi, because the god envied the people leading a very happy life. When the warrior arrived, he saw that the people each were kind-hearted and honest. The warrior did not have the heart to destroy their homeland. He told the people that they had to light many flaming torches on the 24th day of the 6th month so that the god would be convinced that their villages would have been burnt. Since then, the Na-khi people have celebrated the Torch Festival for centuries.
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Author: Tina Luo
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