Nakhi people
The Naxi (Chinese纳西族, Pinyin Nàxīzú ) are a nation in the southwest of the People 's Republic of China. They live in the southeastern foothills of the Himalayas. The center of the Naxi culture is the city of Lijiang, the old town has also been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The Naxi are one of the 55 ethnic minorities officially recognized by the Chinese government. Here also the root of the Mosuo (also: Moso ) officially considered part of the Naxi. However, especially culturally, the two ethnic groups differ in part greatly. While the focus of much speculation Mosuo were for their matrilineal elements and their relationships visit, there are at the Naxi rather their writing and their Dongba ritual experts. At the census in 2010 a total of 326 295 Naxi were counted.
History
The exact history of the Naxi lost in the dark. Thus, it is believed, among other things, that they will eventually, perhaps only in the 10th century migrated from the west or northwest. Different and non-uniform names for the Chinese ethnic groups who lived on the edge of their realm, complicate the reconstruction. So it is theoretically possible that the features mentioned in the Han Dynasty Maoniu Yi or the Moxie Yi Tang Dynasty were their ancestors. The distribution area was also closer to the Nanzhao and Dali States than on actual Chinese territory, it was under those probably temporary. The area was referred to the 20th century as inaccessible and rebellious.
Since the Naxi were a tribal society, they organized into clans or tribes who possessed a strong sense of independence to the outside. A counter-movement began between the 10th and 13th centuries, as nomadism, etc. lost their influence in favor of other ways of life, agricultural cultivation, trade. Also did probably single, more powerful tribes forth, among whom slavery seems to have been widespread.
At the time of the Yuan Dynasty, Lijiang was first officially declared a Chinese Prefecture. While this influence is probably negligible yet, the policy of the Ming Dynasty was relevant: In order to enforce their claim to remote, rebellious, non-Chinese ethnic areas, they supported local rulers who were the Ming turn tribute. Thus, they pursued a policy of non-interference in local traditions. In the field of Naxi funded and legitimate rulers of China were the clan of Mu
Only in the 18th century (1723 /24), this policy was abandoned by the Qing and replaced by the attempt to introduce the official system. Mandarin were sent from the court to manage the area. The Mu - rulers were dethroned and abolished many local traditions as incompatible with Confucianism and China's ruling morality.
Even in the 20th century, the Naxi were strongly influenced by the outside world. In the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) Lijiang was an important base on the supply route of the Guomindang allies. On a specially built airport launched the Flying Tigers. 1949 Lijiang was influenced part of the People 's Republic of China, whose actions also smaller ethnic groups strong.
Perhaps the most significant modern influence is the opening of Lijiang to tourism. While in the 1990s only a few backpackers were to be found, in recent years, in particular the new Chinese mass tourism has maintained rapid incident. Whether this only promotes folklore, serves the independent maintenance of the Naxi or their culture undermines remains controversial and remains to be seen. For 2000, about 2.8 million tourists are counted.
Culture
While the Naxi culture and language ( Tibeto-Burman languages of the counting ) in the western area of distribution ( the ancient capital of Baisha and the new Lijiang ) is rather uniform, the exact phylogenetic relationships and similarities with the spread in the eastern part groups are controversial. These points of contention include in particular the Mosuo, which are the focus of many ( more transfiguring than enlightening ) discourses.
The traditional clothing of the Naxi women are " frog eyes - robes ," blue dresses with two on the shoulder sewn white colorful circles. Since the predominant color is blue, the use of the Mao cap could get today. Skins are often used. The men wear traditional dress almost no more.
In the West, almost unknown is the association of the Naxi in China with the love suicide. This is attributed to the establishment of mediation See the Chinese model from the 18th century.
The Naxi were outside China known by the Austro-American botanist Joseph Rock, who lived for 24 years in Yunnan during the 1920s to the 1940s, and by Peter Goullart, a Russian doctor, who traveled during the same time Yunnan.
Another well-known personality in the area is Dr. Ho, who earned his fame by the descriptions of Bruce Chatwin.
Religion
The religion of the Naxi is the starting point of much speculation. Here, concepts of diffusionism, original, naturverbundenem animism and shamanism are used, but these are particularly problematic in the Naxi, as they are historically not visible until they came in contact with China in Nanzhao, Dali, Tibet and Han Chinese areas.
The complexity of religious traditions is reflected in the (albeit too clichéd ) Verdict: 100 ceremonies, rites 1000, 2000 Gods and 10000 texts.
First are the temple area of the Vajrayana to mention in particular the Kagyupa. Bon, one in its formation influenced by the structure of the Vajrayana renativistische religion of Tibet, is also to be found. Furthermore, some women are active as " llübu " and perform particular divinatory and exorcism rituals. In the area of family, marriage and burials Chinese influences have been very strong.
Known abroad are particularly Dongba. These religious ritual experts are classified in some texts as shamans, sometimes also referred to as arrived in the 17th century displaced Bön priests. In fact, let some similarities to Bon find. The assignment problems and the strong changes especially in the 20th century make an accurate reconstruction impossible.
The Dongba initiated many important ceremonies. A revival by the Dongba Research Institute and again performed festivities (though often under the sign of tourism) has begun in recent years.
Dongba used an abundance of writings for the long recitations, songs and in the conduct of their ceremonies.
Font
The Dongba script is a tradition after back to the 13th century. You actually seem to be by no means over. The Dongba script was only used by the Dongba as a reminder or template in their rituals. It consists of about 1400 characters, of which 90 % represent real pictograms. Thus it possesses the highest proportion of pictograms in all still written scriptures and is often explained in general terms to the hieroglyphic script. She is despite her sometimes naive appearance of highly complex and very difficult to learn. Especially older texts are more likely to represent reminders that need to be supplemented from the head.
Once there was almost no more literate, the Dongba Research Institute was founded. There and in some other university institutions has now begun to edit the huge traditional scriptures corpus.
Another writing of the Naxi was the Geba, which consisted of simplified characters of the Dongba script and borrowed from, modified Chinese characters and newly invented characters.
Distribution areas of the Naxi at the county level (2000)
At the census in the year 2000 308.839 Naxi were counted in all of China. However, in its main distribution area, the circle Lijiang they represent only about 20 % of the population. For the distribution areas only values greater than 0.10 % were considered.
* Note: The Autonomous District Lijiang Naxi (丽江 纳西族 自治县) was dissolved on 26 December 2002. In the largest part of its area of Yulong Naxi Autonomous District (玉龙 纳西族 自治县) was established on the same day.
Note **: The county of Lijiang (丽江 地区) was dissolved on 26 December 2002. On the same day was founded on the same area, the prefecture-level city of Lijiang (丽江 市).