Culture

The numerous minority groups in Yunnan have created lasting and splendid ethnic cultures due to their diligence and wisdom over centuries. Among these cultures, as acknowledged in the history of cultures in Yunnan, three major ones are the highlights, namely the Ancient Dian Culture, the Cuan Culture, and the Nanzhao-Dali Culture; the Ancient Dian Culture, centered around the Dianchi Lake from the Pre-Qin Period (221-207 B.C) to the Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D), epitomizes the culmination of the bronze age civilization in Yunnan; the Cuan Culture, which rose slightly later in the valley of the Panjiang River, embodies the cultural development of this province in the middle ancient times; the Nanzhao-Dali Culture, which formed and fully developed around Er’hai Lake, strikingly characterizes the local ethnic cultures in Yunnan. After the Yuan and Ming dynasties, with the constant inflow of Han people to Yunnan, the Han people gradually dominated the province and the Han culture became the dominating culture of the province co-existing with the colorful indigenous ethnic cultures.

The above-mentioned three major indigenous cultures in Yunnan, as well as another three local ethnic cultures: Pattra-Leaf Culture(Dai), Dongba Culture(Naxi), and Bimo Culture(Yi) will be introduced.

1. The Ancient Dian Culture

The highly advanced Ancient Dian Culture fostered the area around Dianchi Lake into an early political, economic and cultural center of Yunnan, thus exerting its influence to the vast minority area in Southwest China and developing the society, economy and culture of this area.

The Ancient Dian Culture refers to that created by the Dian tribe during the years from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-475 B.C) through the Warring States Period (476-221 B.C) to the mid Eastern Han Dynasty (25 B.C-220 A.D). In 279 B.C, Zhuang Jue(庄觉) and his more than 20,000 soldiers were obliged to settle down in Dianchi Lake of Yunnan, and “did in Rome as Romans did”; then Zhuang set up the Dian Kingdom, a slavery state, and proclaimed himself king. Zhuang’s descendant Changqiang sent his officials to help the envoys of Emperor Wudi (156-87 B.C) in the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C-24 A.D) to explore the “Shu-Yuan-Du Road” -the Southern Silk Road (Shu refers to Sichuan, Yuan refers to Yunnan and Du refers to Ancient India). After Changqiang surrendered him and his army to the Han Dynasty, he was appointed by Emperor Wudi as the king of Dian Kingdom and granted a golden seal.

In fact, the economy and culture in the Dianchi area were already much developed long before Zhuang Jue came to Yunnan; according to Records of the Historian, “By the 300-li Dianchi Lake lies a vast fertile flatland stretching for thousands of li “where the indigenous people” live in communes and practice farming”. After Zhuang settled down in Yunnan, his men married native women and a brilliant bronze culture of the Ancient Dian thus grew out of the Chu Culture and the local ethnic cultures in Southwest China.

Yet the records about the Ancient Dian Kingdom are far from complete though some are found in Records of the Historian and a few other historical works; thus little was known about it for centuries. In the late 20th century when three important archaeological discoveries were made in Yunnan, many priceless historical relics including bronze wares and lacquer wares were unearthed and the long buried Ancient Dian Kingdom was exposed. In addition to the “Seal of the Dian King” unearthed at the Shizhai Mountain in Jinning which has proved the real existence of the Ancient Dian Kingdom, those unearthed at the Lijia Mountain, Jiangchuan and in Yangputou Township of Guandu District in Kunming have been paid attention at home and abroad for their fineness, variety and scale, and have been recognized as important discoveries in 1992 and 1999 in China; these three discoveries constitute the “tripod” of the archaeological excavations that serves to prove the existence of the Ancient Dian Kingdom.

Both historical records and archaeological finds have revealed that the Ancient Dian Kingdom existed roughly between the Warring States Period and the mid Eastern Han Dynasty. With the present Jincheng Township of Jinning County as its capital, the kingdom extended to Qujing and Luxi in the east, to Lufeng and An’ning in the west, to Zhaotong in the north and to Xinping, Yuanjiang and Gejiu in the south; with the Dian being its majority, the kingdom included such nationalities as the Kunming, the Sou, and the Han. Further, this area had the most advanced economic production in Yunnan at that time, and based on farming, it had also developed husbandry, fishery and hunting; it was also fairly advanced in such industries as mining, textile and pottery.

When talking about the Ancient Dian Culture, we refer to two historical periods, namely the first lasting from the Spring and Autumn Period to the late Warring States Period and the second from the late  Warring States Period to the mid Eastern Han Dynasty. Since the Ancient Dian Kingdom did not yet develop a language of its own, its own culture and those before it were all represented by the Bronze Culture.

The Bronze Culture during the first period is symbolized by the bronze drum unearthed in the Wanjia Flatland of the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture and the bronze coffin unearthed in Dabona of Xiangyun County. The bronze drum, made more than 600 years before Christ (i.e. in the Spring and Autumn Period) is a plain traditional vessel between cauldron and drum generally acknowledged to be the oldest of its kind in the world; weighing 257 kg, the bonze coffin excavated at Dabona is the largest bronze ware in Yunnan.

The period from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty marked the culmination of the bronze culture in Yunnan, of which the bronze objects unearthed both at the Shizhai Mountain of Jinning and the Lijia Mountain of Jiangchuanare the most typical; these bronze wares include such objects as military weapons, farming tools, post-railing house models, bronze pillars, and bronze reed pipes. Among the objects unearthed at Shizhai Mountain, the most valuable are shell containers in the form of drum and barrel; as many as 17 bronze drums were unearthed at this mountain, the largest number of bronze drums ever unearthed at a single site in China. The varied patterns cast on the surface of the vessels represent such social events as production, sacrifice offering, battle and tribute paying, and thus most vividly reveal social features of the slavery system in the Ancient Dian Kingdom; the lid of a vessel is as small as 20 to 30 cm in diameter, but cast on it were more than 100 human figures, and all vividly characterized; Among the bronze wares unearthed at the Lijia Mountain, the most priceless is the “Cow and Tiger Bronze Table”; it is the best quality product in the bronze realm of the Ancient Dian Culture. Also it is noteworthy that the high quality of the bronze ware excavated at the Shizhai and Lijia mountains had much to do with the then popular “lost-wax” casting technique; the ratio of copper and tin in the bronze ware was scientific.

2. The Cuan Culture

The Cuan Culture played a vital role in the evolutionary history of cultures in Yunnan by serving as a link between the Ancient Dian Culture and the Nanzhao-Dali Culture.

The Cuan Culture is a cover term for the local cultures that persisted in Yunnan for more than 500 years from the Three Kingdoms (220-280A.D) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D). It covers the whole area of Nanzhong (including province of modern Yunnan, Southwest Sichuan and West Guizhou) with Weixian County (presently Qujing) as its center.

Just as the Cuan people were a mixture, so the Cuan Culture was a composite of many elements. Indeed, it is generally accepted among scholars that the Cuan Culture should include a part of the Han Culture, a part of the indigenous culture, and combination of the two. The indigenous element of the Cuan Culture is chiefly embodied by the tadpole language (also known as the “right” language or the Bimo language), an invention of the Wu’man Sheik of the Eastern Cuan in which wizards of the Wu’mans wrote a large number of books on astronomy, geography, almanacs, Confucian works, medicine, literature and genealogy. The integration of the Han and the indigenous cultures has been manifested mainly in the “ethnic assimilation” of the distinguished Han families when there existed a combined worship of “host ghosts” of ancestors by different races, tribes, and villages, of primitive clan totems (such as tiger, ox, serpent, fire, rice), and varied primitive religious cults and folk customs.

History of the Cuan Culture

During the early Shu Han Dynasty, distinguished families from the upper class Han emigrants and ethnic commanders or chieftains of the local minorities took advantage of the internal troubles of the Shu Han government and launched rebellions against it. After Zhu Geliang suppressed the rebellions, Nanzhong gradually restored its unity and stability. In the third year of the Jianxing Period (225 A.D) when the seat of the local government was moved to Weixian County (now Qujing), the county became the political, economic and cultural center of the Nanzhong area. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty when wars broke out in the Central Plains, these defeated upper class families recovered and developed; of these the Cuan family became the most powerful. In the 5th year of the Xiankang Period (339 A.D), Cuan Chen managed to dominate Nanzhong; after that, the Cuan family ruled over this area for 409 years until the 7th year of the Tianbao Period (748 A.D) of the Tang Dynasty when the Western Cuan was terminated by Nanzhao.

The ancestors of the Cuan family were originally from the Central Plains region called Cuan and hence got the name for their clan. Then they migrated southward to Yunnan and developed into a very distinguished family whose members held high positions. Cuan Longyan (385-446 A.D); for example, received various titles from the government in the Central Plains such as “General Longxiang, Field Officer of Protecting Minorities, Governor of Ningzhou Prefecture, and Marquis of Qiongdu County”. The Cuan family reigned at a time when the Central Plains were undergoing turmoil and thus unable to attend affairs in the southern frontiers; the Cuan family members were, therefore, actual rulers of Yunnan who were historically known as “generals in public but emperors in secret”, though they still acknowledged the Central Plains as the orthodox government.

After Cuan Chen and his descendants successively became rulers of Nanzhong, the surname “Cuan” was adopted as a general term for all the races in the territory governed by this family, and a new national community-the Cuans gradually came into being; it was composed mainly of the Han emigrants and the Dian, although other races were also included. During the reign of the Cuan family, the Cuan people developed farming as their major economic activity and husbandry as a minor, and their territory was divided into two sections around Weixian County, namely the section west of the county was called the Western Section (Western Cuan) and the section east of the county was the Eastern Section (the Eastern Cuan). Directly administered by the Cuans, the Western Section was economically and culturally better developed than the Eastern. Ethnically, the Western and the Eastern Cuans constituted the Baiman and the Wuman who later became the ancestors of the Bai and the Yi.

3. The Nanzhao-Dali Culture

Before the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907 A.D), the Er’hai Lake area was economically less developed than the Dianchi Lake area and the eastern parts of Yunnan. During the Tang and Song dynasties (960-1279 A.D), local cultures developed successively around Er’hai Lake in the kingdoms of Nanzhao (748-902) and Dali (937-1253) over a period of more than 500 years, another culmination in the cultural history of Yunnan. 

Between the 7th and 8th centuries, the Mengshe Kingdom and other five kingdoms as well as the Xi’ erhe Ethnic Group formed in the vicinity of Er’hai Lake. All inhabitants in these kingdoms ethnically belonged to the Wuman (ancestors of the Yi) and, due to its location in the south of the kingdoms, the Mengshe Kingdom was historically known as the Kingdom of Nanzhao (Southern tribe, Zhao refers to tribe). In order to deal with the Tibetan regime, the Tang government attempted to support the rising Mengshe Kingdom in the southwestern frontier and even helped it to annex the other five kingdoms and the Xi’erhe Group. During the Kaiyuan Period (712-742) of Emperor Xuanzong, Piluoge, King or chieftain of the Mengshe Kingdom gradually unified the districts surrounding Erhai Lake and in the 26th year of that period (738 A.D), he was crowned by Emperor Xuanzong as King of Yunnan with a royal title “Guiyi”, indicating that the Nanzhao Kingdom was finally established; the following year witnessed the shift of the capital of the kingdom to Taihe (a town south of Dali), and the political center of Yunnan at that time was accordingly shifted from Qujing to Dali. The territory of the kingdom, approximately one and a half times larger than that of the present Yunnan Province, included the whole province of Yunnan, West Guizhou, Southwest Sichuan, and even parts of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. It was ruled by 13 kings with Xinuluo as its first king and lasted for 250 years until its termination in the year 902 A.D.

After the termination of Nanzhao came three transit dynasties, namely the Great Changhe Kingdom, the Great Tianxing Kingdom, and the Great Yining Kingdom, which together lasted for merely 36 years; during this period, the power of the noble Baiman kept rising steadily. From 937 A.D when the Kingdom of Dali was founded by Duan Siping, a Baiman aristocrat, to 1253 A.D when it was exterminated by Kublai Khan, the Dali Kingdom lasted for 316 years under successive reigns of 22 kings with a territory almost as large as that of the Kingdom of Nanzhao. Therefore, the kingdoms of Nanzhao and Dali existed at almost the same time as the Tang and Song dynasties did in the Central China.

Religion Culture in Nanzhao-Dali Culture

Buddhism was introduced to Yunnan under the reign of King Xinuluo and culminated under the reign of the10th king Quan Fengyou when monasteries and temples were built across the kingdom: 800 major ones and 3,000 minor ones. The Buddhism practiced in Nanzhao belonged to the esoteric Tantric School, characterized by worship for Avalokitesvara (Guanyin or Goddess of Mercy), the Great Black Deva (Da Hei Tian Shen) and the Guardian King of the North. Buddhist worship thrived so well during the  Kingdom of Dali that the whole country had became a land of Buddhas, and nine out of the 22 kings became Buddhists monks; innumerable monasteries and stupas were built, Avalokitesvara and Armitabha were worshiped in almost every household; this popularity of Buddhism had, no doubt, exerted a profound influence on the cultures of Nanzhao and Dali and some scholars, on account of this, have even declared that the cultures of Nanzhao and Dali are, by their very nature, Buddhist cultures.

From the immense buildings of pagodas, stupas, grottoes, and paintings left by the kingdoms of Nanzhao and Dali, the pervading influences of Buddhism on every aspect of the social life in that age is clear. The most vivid and convincing expression can be found in the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali, Butuoluo (Yuantong) Temple, West and East Pagodas in Kunming, Buddhist Scripture Pillar at the Dizang Monastery (nowadays Kunming City Museum), White Pagoda in Dayao, the Pagoda on the Shuimu Mountain in Xiangyun, the Grottoes on the Shizhong Mountain in Jianchuan, the Grottoes in the Fahua Monastery in An’ning, the Scroll of Nanzhao Resurgence, and the Scroll by Zhang Shengwen.

On the Weibao Mountain in Weishan County, the birthplace of the Nanzhao Kingdom, stands the Mountain God Temple where Xinuluo, the local mountain god, has been enshrined. Legend goes that Xinuluo was enlightened by Supreme Master Lao and therefore became the local mountain god, revered only to Taoism in Yunnan; this stands for a transitional combination of Taoism with the primitive religions of the Wu’man before the newly introduced Buddhism became popular in Yunnan, and contains factors such as ancestor and hero admiration. Even to this day, the worship of local gods is a common practice among the Yi. The worship of “patron gods”, a special religious belief that sprang up in the closing decades of the Dali Kingdom, is a collective worship of certain idols performed in the village unit. Put plainly, a “patron god” is a guardian of the local area or village in various forms; for instance, it can be an animal or plant such as a monkey, an ox, or an ancient tree; or it can be a historical figure such as Zheng Hui, Li Mi or even legendary figures such as Du Chaoxuan, and Duan Chicheng; it can further be a moral wife, a dutiful son or a skillful craftsman. This patron god worship has to do with nature worship, but it also involves such primitive concepts as the worship of ancestors and heroes; thus by nature it reflects a weakening adoration of esoteric Devas in Yunnan as a result of worshiping a patron god or “god for the local community” .This practice of patron god adoration is still very popular among the Bai people today.

4. The Pattra-Leaf Culture

The Pattra-Leaf Culture is a symbolic term referring indirectly to Dai Culture. Pattra is a kind of woody palmate plant growing in tropical and subtropical areas. The Dai use pattra leaves as a medium of written language and thus endow this natural substance with a particular touch of culture.

Since almost all Dai people were Buddhist, the essence of the Pattra-Leaf Culture was mainly preserved in Buddhist scriptures written in the Dai language. It is said that sutras preserved in the Buddhist circle of Xishuangbanna amount to more than 84, 000 fascicules, all bulky and voluminous; these sutras fall into four major categories, namely Sinayapitaka (21,000 volumes), Vinayapitaka (21,000 volumes), and Adhighatmapitaka (42,000 volumes) and the annotative and interpretive classics of these sutras. These sutras not only serve a vital function in retaining the 0riginal features of Southern Buddhist classics, but also are so much adored by the Dai in Xishuangbanna that it still exerts influence on their Buddhist services, daily activities and customs. In fact it has been held as a religious norm observed even by laymen. In addition to Buddhist scriptures, there are annotative works by generations of eminent Dai monks and scholars. These works involve astronomy, almanacs, history, medicine, language, literature, sports and customs, covering so many fields that they could be regarded as a Dai encyclopedia; though not included in the authentic Buddhist sutras, they have been kept in the Buddhist monasteries and passed down in the form of classics.

Buddhist sutras and other works engraved on pattra leaves are called pattra-leaf scriptures. A full-length pattra-leaf sutra may fill 10-20 fascicules, and the advantage of pattra-leaf classics is the possibility of being kept for several or even dozens of centuries since they are immune from insects, borers, weathering or decomposing.

The choice of pattra leaves for a medium in writing reflects Dai’s intelligence and resourcefulness. At the outset, the engraving of pattra leaves was limited to keeping Buddhist scriptures, but as society and culture develop, this means was extended to an increasing variety of political events, business transactions, legal affairs, artistic activities and so on. The Pattra-Leaf Culture cannot cover Dai culture in a broader sense of course, but is certainly the most striking part that has made an indelible contribution to the accumulation, dissemination and prosperity of this culture. As a treasure house for researches into the traditional Dai culture, the Pattra-Leaf Culture is not only a gem of the Dai culture but also an enchanting branch in the Chinese culture and world cultures.

5. The Dongba Culture

The Naxi is a minority with a long history and a brilliant culture. With a population of 300,000, this group mainly live in Yulong County, Lijiang City of Yunnan Province. It has become known worldwide for having kept its own ancient and unique Dongba Culture and thus claimed to be a small group that has created a grand culture. The Dongba Culture or the traditional Naxi Culture, derived its name from the Dongba scriptures preserved in the Dongba hieroglyphic language. Dongba scriptures are classics of the Dongba religion which, characterized as worship of ancestor and nature, was based on the Naxi primitive religion integrating cultural factors from the Han, the Tibetan and other nationalities.

The Dongba culture is a most inclusive term referring mainly to the language and scriptures; the Dongba language is actually composed of 1,400 hieroglyphic characters and symbols that are still used by researchers and artists of the culture. It is by now the only living hieroglyph in the world and is regarded as a precious cultural relic of mankind; on August 30, 2003, the Dongba classical literature was accepted as a written world heritage by UNESCO.

Initially created in the Tang Dynasty, the Dongba writing has a history of over 1,000 years; phonetically it is articulated in the Naxi vernacular as “Sijiu Lujiu” meaning to paint woods and stones just as they are seen. This pictographic language came to be called the Dongba language since it was employed to write down scriptures by Dongba of the religion; based on ideographic symbols, this language also takes in some phonographic loan characters and diacritics.

“Dongba scriptures”, as the name suggests, means scriptures written in the Dongba language. The existent Dongba scriptures add up to approximately 20,000 fascicules of more than 1,500 types, involving such fields as philosophy, history, religion, medicine, astronomy, folklore, literature and art. In addition to the abundant records about inviting gods and driving away ghosts, about praying for happiness and longevity and about warding off calamities and disasters, there are a 1arge number of ancient literary works of the Naxi people, such as fairy tales, narrative epics, proverbs and ballads. The most well known are the creation epic Genesis, the heroic epic War between White and Black, and the tragic epic Migration of Herdsmen, which are called the three major Naxi epics and acclaimed as the three pearls in Dongba literature. Dongba scriptures are, therefore, also nicknamed as encyclopedias of the Naxi ancient society.

Also included in the Dongba culture are its paintings, dances, and music as well as its religious rites and ritual implements. The paintings can further be classified into wood-slats, cardboards and cloth-rolls, with the last being the most renowned. Route Map of Gods, the most typical of the cloth-rolls, is held to be a treasure of ancient Naxi paintings; a huge painting of 14 meters by 0.3 meters, it describes scenes from Heaven, Earth and Hell. In this picture are more than 370 colorful images of the Buddha, devils, wild animals and human figures, all painted with bold strokes. Dongba dance, originating from the production and life of Naxi ancestors, reveals both the natural disposition and the original beauty of Naxi people; in the Cuomo Dance, a so-called textbook for dance, for example, 60 types of dance are recorded concerning worship of Buddhist gods; It is esteemed as one of China’s relatively ancient and complete atlases of dance and, most amazingly, its instructions are still workable to its music. The ceremonies of Dongba religion total more than 50 types, of which the major ones are worship of the Heaven, worship of ancestry, worship of wind, and prayer for longevity; so far, as many as 30 ritual implements for services of this religion have survived.

Many other countries have built their own collections of Dongba scriptures, for instance, the U.S.，the U.K., France, Japan, Germany, Italy and Austria. In the U.S. alone, the collection in the Library of Congress plus that in Harvard Library numbers over 4,000 volumes. In China, Dongba scriptures have been collected by the Library of Yulong County, the Library of Yunnan Province, China National Library, the Library of Central Nationalities University, and libraries in Taiwan. For better protection, research and development of the Dongba Culture, in 1984, the Naxi Dongba Cultural Museumwas founded at the Black Dragon Pool of Lijiang. The museum has more than 10,000 Dongba cultural relics and various other historical relics and offers the “Dongba Culture Exhibition”, thereby attracting more than 100,000 visitors each year; meanwhile, it also compiles and publishes Newsletter of Dongba Culture and has established the Lijiang Naxi Dongba Cultural School; for its outstanding work over the past years, this museum has been rated as one of the ten excellent prefectural and county museums in China, awarded the honor of “Advanced Cultural Unit in China”, and listed as one of the bases for patriotism education of the province.

6. The Bimo Culture

The Bimo Culture is also known as Yi Culture. According to a census taken in 1990, the number of the Yi living in Yunnan  (4.05 million)  is 60 percent of the total Yi population throughout China; this fact not only  renders Yunnan a province that has the largest distribution of Yi people  but also makes the Yi the most populous among all the minority groups in this province. Bimo Culture, therefore, plays a significant role in the ethnic cultures of Yunnan.

Bimo, the Chinese transliteration of the Yi equivalent meaning “ceremonial master”, is a host of sacrificial ceremonies in the Yi primitive religion. But due to differences among the local Yi dialects, this term has different versions when put into Chinese, such as Baima, Beimao, Beima, and Bimu. Bimos, or whichever you like, came into existence at the end of the primitive society when the Yi primitive religion emerged; they knew the Yi language well, acquainted themselves with the Yi history  and ceremonial customs, held sacrificial ceremonies, practiced divination, disseminated the Yi language, and even provided medical service for the common Yi people. In ancient times, Bimos were “divine personnel inseparable from the Yi chieftains even for a single moment”, but they were degraded to the common during the Ming and Qing dynasties when hereditary chieftains were replaced by government-appointed officials.

Bimos had, from the beginning to modem times, remained “ancient sages” who also served as historians, wizards and doctors. We can find in their roles they are somewhat superstitious in a sense, but the major part is ethnic knowledge and sciences instead of superstition. So there is every reason to claim that Bimos were folk intellectuals who preserved, inherited and disseminated the traditional Yi culture.

The term Bimo Culture can be understood in two levels. In a broad sense, it includes the language, culture, literature, philosophy, history, religion, folklore, ethics, astronomy, almanacs, medicine, farming and husbandry of the Yi; in astronomical almanac, for instance, the Yi Ten-Month Solar Calendar is renowned for being season-accurate, easy-to-be-remembered and time-tested. It fully shows the world an aspect of the brilliant ancient Chinese culture; while in a narrow sense, the term is confined only to the primitive sorcery and religious scriptures with the Bimos being its highlights. When a Bimo practices his sacrificial witch craft, he usually makes use of such ritual implements as a black robe, a sacred hat with eagle claws indicating their religious authority, a divine fan, and a bronze bell. The ceremonies he hold include divining, averting, swearing, warding-off, oath taking and offering divine verdicts. Bimo scriptures, although varied and voluminous, fall roughly into 4 categories, namely divination, explication, prayer and sacrifice.

Chuxiong in Yunnan is known for its Yi culture.

Tours Including Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

Yunnan Culture by Region