Wei Jie

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    WITH the release of best-selling “Leaving the Kingdom of Daughters” by singer-turned writer Yang Erche Namu in 1997, the beautiful but little known Lugu Lake by the writer’s hometown and the mysterious Mosuo people came to public spotlight. The book generated great interest in and fantasies about the Mosuo matriarchal society and their unique tradition of “walking marriage.”

    Travelers over the years swamped to Luoshui Village in Ninglang County, which is about 220 kilometers from Lijiang in Yunnan Province, hoping to learn more about Yang’s “kingdom of daughters.”

    In fact, the Lugu Lake is accessible from both Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. It is located in the southeast boundary of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, bordering the southwest of Sichuan Province and the northeast of Yunnan Province.

    After flying to Chengdu, we took a night train to Xichang City in Sichuan, from where it was another eight-hour bus journey over mountains and mountains before we arrived in Lugu Lake Township. It took one more half-an-hour bus ride to Lige Village/Lige Peninsula, one of the spots that offers the best views of the lake.

    The Lugu Lake is about 2,700 meters above sea level and covers an area of about 59 square kilometers. It is like a beautiful pearl shining among the hills of the plateau.

    The Lige Peninsula extends from the village into the middle of the lake, cutting the lake into a heart shape if viewed from a high spot. And this has become the iconic postcard view of the Lugu Lake, seen printed on many publications on the lake.

    Lige Village, usually popular among independent travelers, becomes fairly quiet during the winter season. Today, many lodgings in the Lige Peninsula are run by non-Mosuo people. They came to visit, fell in love with its serenity and stayed. The lodging we stayed in is run by a man from Beijing, who came to Lige many years ago and never left. He now has red cheeks as do most Mosuo people and other mountain people. These outsiders bring in modern facilities, which greatly reduced the hardships of local people’s lives, meanwhile also posing a potential threat to the preservation of their traditional culture.

    “This is like a double-edged sword,” said Zhaxi, a Mosuo man who runs a local cuisine restaurant in Lige Village. “No one wants to live in hardship. So it is about balance. How to balance modernity and tradition? How to manage outside influences?”

    A very strong man, Zhaxi is a local “celebrity” who is known among his fellow people and travelers for his history of having had about 200 “walking marriage” relationships.

    Unlike many other societies, there is no traditional marriage in Mosuo culture. Tradition has it that after a boy, called Ah-ge, and a girl, called Ah-xia, turn 13, they were allowed to practice a “walking marriage.”

    “Nowadays, they have to wait until they turn 18,” said La Huamin, a docent at a Mosuo museum in Lugu Lake Township. La refuted a widely circulated rumor that Mosuo children never know who their fathers were.

    She said Mosuo people are as serious about a romantic relationship as people in any other society. “We practice a new ‘walking marriage’ only after we ended a previous one.”

    According to the docent, these bonds are based on “mutual affection.” An Ah-xia will tap an Ah-ge three times in his palm to show her affection at a campfire party. In return, the Ah-ge will also tap three times in the Ah-xia’s hand. The mutual tapping signals an affection between the two and Ah-xia’s permission to the man to visit her after dark. The Ah-ge will go to visit the Ah-xia in her room by climbing over the window after the Ah-xia’s family members go to bed.

    An Ah-ge usually brings three items with him to the meeting with an Ah-xia: A hook to help him climb into the room through window; a pinecone to silence the dog and a bouquet to hang outside the Ah-xia’s room, stating that she has got a company. The Ah-ge has to leave the Ah-xia’s room very early in the morning to avoid being seen by the Ah-xia’s family members, which is regarded as unlucky for the relationship. The couple will continue to see each other only at night.

    An Ah-xia will formally introduce her Ah-ge to her family after their relationship becomes long-term. This time, an Ah-ge doesn’t climb over the window but walks through the door into the room of the Ah-xia’s grandmother, who is usually the head of a family. Nevertheless, the Ah-ge doesn’t live with his Ah-xia’s family or vice versa. Mosuo men and women will continue to live with and be responsible for their respective families. Hence, it is called a “walking marriage.”

    The Ah-xia has the final say in whether to raise a child with an Ah-ge, and a Mosuo child usually grows up with her maternal family. “Today, about two-thirds of the Mosuo people still practice ‘walking marriage,’ while the rest adopt the legal procedure to tie the knot,” said the docent.

    As Buddhists, the Mosuo people make a devout annual circumambulation of the lake’s shore in a clockwise direction, called parikrama, on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. They walk around the 56 km lake, covering the numerous temples and stupas around the lake’s shore. We opted for another way to circle around the lake — by bike. It took us a whole day to cover a number of Mosuo villages which are more primitive and less touristic.

    Further down the road before arriving at Lugu Lake Township, the tranquil Goddess Bay lies in a valley. The bay offers one of the best sunset views in the region. Water is clearer in the Goddess Bay where there are fewer tourists.

    In almost all the villages by the lake, a few colored pig-trough boats, unique to the Mosuo people, can be seen dotting the lake bank and their owners relaxing in the sun while waiting for businesses. A traditional pig-trough boat is carved out of a single tree trunk and has room for no more than three people. The pig-trough boats used to be the only transport back when there were no roads in the area, and could also be used to feed pigs.

    Nowadays, the pig-trough boats commonly seen on the lake are much bigger than the traditional ones. One big boat is made with five trunks, rather than one single trunk. “They [the bigger boats] are safer when rowing on the lake, and hold more people,” said an Ah-ge, who makes a living by rowing the pig-trough boats for tourists in Luoshui Village, about 15 kilometers from Lige Peninsula.

    The Lugu Lake is good to visit all year round. It is said that there is no scorching heat in the summer and no freezing cold in the winter. However, please note that the rainy season in the region starts from May and last until August.

    How to get there:

    Option 1: Fly to Xichang via Chengdu in Sichuan Province (there is no direct flight from Shenzhen to Xichang), take a bus from Xichang to Lugu Lake Township, and from there you can take a bus to whichever village you want to visit around the lake.

    Option 2: Fly to Lijiang via Kunming in Yunnan Province, take a bus from Lijiang to Lige Village with a stop at Luoshui Village. Most group tours are based in Luoshui.

    Admission: 80 yuan per person.