Lugu Lake, half of the lake is in Sichuan, half in Yunnan.
Half of the Mosuo women on Lugu Lake belong to their husbands, and the remaining half belong to their lovers.
The women on Lugu Lake
As the "last matriarchal society" in the world, the Mosuo people have always had the custom of "walking marriage", in which the man is usually called "A zhu" and the woman is called "Asha".
On the dark and windy night of the moon, the handsome Mosuo men took advantage of the night to quietly come to the beautiful women's room in the middle of the day and gently knocked on the firewood door of their beloved "Asha".
After the girl's aunt heard the knock on the door, if the girl had already given instructions, the aunt would patiently check the secret code of the love that had been agreed outside the door. Once the code is corrected, A-Ma will immediately open the door, hold the oil lamp, and bring "A-Note" to "A-Xia's" room.
The boudoir of "Asha" has a particularly nice name, called "Flower Building", at this time the "Asha" girl in the Flower Building is already dressed up, she will put on her most beautiful clothes, paint the most moving makeup, and greet her sweetheart.
Lugu Lake girl in full costume
After sending her daughter's "A Note" into the flower building, the kind Aunt will be greatly relieved, and then she will also hurriedly put on her beautiful makeup and wait for her "A Note" to arrive...
If there is a knock at the door, but the aunt did not get the daughter's previous instructions, naturally will not open the door, then this late night visit and feel better about himself "A Zhu", will only leave in the dark. Of course, there are also "A note" that eats the closed door soup and has to climb the wall to see the girl, if the girl is moved to open the window to let him enter the room, if the girl has been locking the window, the final result is unknown.
Each Mosuo woman has a transcendent position in the group, they are not only the head of their respective families, but also have almost unlimited freedom in the marriage custom of "Azhu Axia", and the Mosuo women on Lugu Lake are the uncompromising masters of this territory.
The Mosuo custom of "walking marriage"
The master of the territory is a Mosuo woman, and above all the Mosuo women, there is a great chief who rules over all the tribesmen, and this leader is also a woman.
Under the policy of tusi restraint implemented by successive Central Plains Dynasties, there is no doubt that the female leaders of all generations are the true glory kings of this land, and they have ruled all the women and men in this land for thousands of years, killing and seizing power!
The protagonist of this real history that I want to tell today is the epic legend of the last Lady of the Palm Seal of Lugu Lake Zuosho Toast, the last queen of the Mosuo people, and the generation of world-class beauties "This Erzhima".
First, she was originally just an ordinary Sichuan girl
Lugu Lake, also known as "ZuosuoHai", covers a total area of about 50 square kilometers, spanning the border between Sichuan and Yunnan, with the eastern side in the territory of present-day Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan, and the western side under the jurisdiction of Lijiang, Yunnan.
The Mosuo people living on the shores of Lugu Lake are recorded in Chinese classics, as early as the Western Han Dynasty's "Records of History" and the Eastern Han Dynasty's "Book of Han", called "Yak Qiang".
At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty officially established the "Zuoso Toast Thousand Households" in Lugu Lake, and after the Ming and Qing dynasties, the toast heads of the area were all recognized by the central government at that time.
In the twenty-ninth year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor issued a holy decree and a bronze seal, which was engraved in Mongolian with the seven characters of "Seal of a Thousand Households of zuosuo", and thereafter, regardless of men and women, those who held this great seal really handled the power of the Mosuo people for the entire Zuosuo toast.
The reason why I want to talk about the history of the Mosuo people above is to give you a deeper understanding of the experience of the last Mosuo queen below, knowing that no matter the size of the dynasty, whether in the bustling Forbidden City or in the remote Toast Mansion, power and love have always been the eternal themes of the nobility.
Toast nobles during the Republic of China period
In 1909, on the eve of the Xinhai Revolution, a healthy baby boy was born in Zuosuo Tusi Mansion on the shore of Lugu Lake, and it was no accident that this baby boy would inherit the territory of his ancestors, a total of 48 villages and towns and 36 "gang heads", becoming the "toast head" in the land of Lugu Lake.
The Mosuo people, who still maintain the tradition of matriarchal society, have always been headed by women, so why can the baby boy here hold the official position of "toast head"?
Because outside of Lugu Lake, it has not been women who have controlled everything for thousands of years, but men.
In the imperial courts of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the gang was often the heavens, and the rule set for the Mosuo people was the "primogeniture inheritance system" that prevailed under the whole world, and it was stipulated that the Mosuo people should inherit the position of "Toast Head" as a male.
But the Mosuo people have always been a matriarchal society in which women run everything, and in this case, the two sides have made adaptations and compromises.
Lugu Lake, like a fairyland on earth
The official position of "ToastMaster" is still to be implemented in accordance with the "Primogeniture System" set by the Central Dynasty, and when the Heir of Toast grows up and marries his wife, the Great Seal can be handed over to the "Palm Seal Lady" who is served by the Toast's wife, and the "Palm Seal Lady" actually manages everything in the entire ethnic group.
In this way, it not only abided by the rules of the Central Dynasty, but also took care of the actual situation of the Mosuo people, which can be described as the best of both worlds.
This system has been passed down for hundreds of years, and the baby boy mentioned above who was born on the eve of the Xinhai Revolution was the last Tusi La (la) Baochen of Lugu Lake.
In 1943, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was coming to an end, La Baochen was just 35 years old. In the spring of that year, he rushed from Lugu Lake to Ya'an, Sichuan, to visit Liu Wenhui, then chairman of xikang province of the National Government.
Liu Wenhui, commander of the 24th Army of the Republic of China, leader of the Sichuan Army, general of the Army of the Nationalist Government, was in charge of Xikang Province composed of Ya'an, Ganzi, Liangshan, Panzhihua, Qamdo, Nyingchi and other places for ten years, and was known as the "King of Xikang". As the head of the toast under his rule, La Baochen's visit to Liu Wenhui in the New Year was the meaning of the title.
Liu Wenhui
But he didn't know that this seemingly ordinary New Year's greeting would change the fate of himself, the entire Mosuo people, and another ordinary Han girl!
At this year's Xikang Province New Year Group Meeting, a group of female students from Ya'an Mingde Girls' High School performed a very wonderful program on the stage, one of whom was a 16-year-old girl named Xiao Shuming, who was even more bright and beautiful, so that when she performed on stage, La Baochen under the stage frequently glanced at her and her soul was not guarded.
And all this was secretly watched by General Liu Wenhui on the side.
Xiao Shuming was originally a Chengdu girl, born in 1927 in Wenmiao Street in Chengdu City, this place name may not be familiar to everyone, it doesn't matter, just need to know that there are more than 2,000 years of history, Sima Xiangru, Guo Moruo and so on have read here Shishi Middle School is here.
At the age of 12, Xiao Shuming moved to Ya'an with his father, who was an officer in the 24th Army, and studied at the Mingde Girls' High School in Yucheng District, Ya'an, which was founded by the Christian Baptist Church.
The day after the group meeting, Liu Wenhui held a family banquet at home, and only Xiao Shuming's parents were invited to attend.
After Xiao Shuming's parents returned, the next day they took Xiao Shuming to Liu Wenhui's official residence, at this time La Baochen was also there, under the auspices of Liu Wenhui, the two held a brief wedding that night, Xiao Shuming, as a girl who had just turned 16, had not even returned to her soul, so she was so ignorantly married to La Baochen, the 19-year-old Lugu Lake Toastmaster.
The last Tusi Labaochen of the Left House
Because the wedding was too hasty, the Xiao family did not prepare a dowry for a while, Liu Wenhui said that it was no harm, and on the spot he recognized Xiao Shuming as a dry daughter, and directly drew out 100 guns and 50 boxes of ammunition from the armory as Xiao Shuming's "dowry".
Then Liu Wenhui said to La Baochen at the wedding banquet: "Baochen, you live in the provincial city, the return date is imminent, there are still many things to do, there is no need to pave the way, but the promise of love is still needed, this is also your custom of Lugu Lake." ”
Liu Wenhui said this, paused, then turned his eyes, looked solemnly at La Baochen, and said seemingly lightly but without question: "Did you bring that big seal?" In the future, Shuming will be your palm seal lady, this seal will be managed by her, she has excellent grades in school, the pen is very OK, in the future, whether the government or the military department, and Lugu Lake's clerical exchanges, I here will determine that she to perform her work. ”
Liu Wenhui's words are not much, but the amount of information in each sentence is extremely rich, and history, inadvertently, gently chose Xiao Shuming, a Sichuan girl who was just 16 years old.
Xiao Shuming, the "Princess Wencheng" selected by the Republic of China government, was obviously unclear at this time the true intention of Liu Wenhui, the chairman of Xikang Province. Two days ago, she was just an ordinary female student at Mingde Girls' High School, and she came into contact with Xu Zhimo," who was "the most gentle with her head bowed, just like the shyness of a water lotus flower that does not win the cool breeze", and today she has become "King Zhaojun of the Republic of China", and will leave her childhood hometown and take on the heavy responsibility of history with her husband to the distant Lugu Lake.
The magnificent style of female students in the Republic of China, one of the pictures is Lin Huiyin
And Toast LaBaochen, he may also be dazed at this time, he just looked at her in the crowd like an ordinary man in the audience, and as a result, two days later the girl became his wife. Moreover, this new lady did not know that in fact, he had been married many years ago, and the great seal that could command the Mosuo people was precisely controlled by the big lady of the family at this time!
It is foreseeable that once Xiao Shuming returns with him, a dispute to seize the seal that will determine the fate of the Mosuo people will undoubtedly be staged in the Tusi Mansion!
Second, the shadow of the sword and light in the Toast House - from the naïve ignorant girl to the Mosuo queen who commands the crowd
On the Ancient Tea Horse Road connecting Sichuan and Yunnan, a crisp and pleasant horse bell sounded again.
Walking on this thousand-year-old road, Xiao Shuming has both the novelty and shyness of the newlywed, and a little bit of the tragedy of "Zhaojun out of the plug". On this trip, in addition to her deep nostalgia for her hometown, she also brought 50 sets of textbooks for grades one to three, as well as a double phoenix pedal organ that is indispensable for teaching music.
The Yi horse gang on the Tea Horse Trail
At this time, Xiao Shuming already had a new Mosuo name, called this Erzhima, facing a handsome and rich husband, she was generally very happy in her new marriage.
However, the affairs of the world are always not subject to the will of the people, and the team of returnees comes to Kangding, and the changes are steep.
On this day, La Baochen went out to run errands, and Xiao Shuming was packing clothes at the Wang family pot village where she was staying, and suddenly she saw that the clothes that La Baochen had purchased in Chengdu had 5 pairs of children's shoes.
Out of the unique sensitive intuition of women, Xiao Shuming immediately felt that there was another hidden feeling in it. Although the night was getting deeper, she did not sleep at all, until La Baochen returned to the pot village after finishing his business, she immediately asked La Baochen about the origin of these 5 pairs of shoes.
Seeing that the matter could no longer be concealed, La Baochen hurriedly prostrated himself and almost half-knelt down to tell Xiao Shuming the truth that he had a wife in his family.
The Kangding River runs through the city from The City of Kangding
Hearing the news that this was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day for a woman, Xiao Shuming was heartbroken, but what could she do, at this time she had roughly understood Liu Wenhui's intention to marry her to La Baochen, as a weak woman, she was simply unable to resist the National Government's policy of governing remote areas, and in the end she could only accept the fate of being only a second room.
In the 1990s, someone interviewed her and wanted to ask her if she had ever loved her husband, La Baochen, but Xiao Shuming understood, and before the interviewer asked for an exit, he smiled frankly: "To tell the truth, at the beginning I was afraid of him and let him be at his mercy... But later, he always willingly became his prisoner. ”
In a special era, there is always a special love, which is the fate of Xiao Shuming, and ultimately the fate of La Baochen.
No matter how long the journey was, there was always a day of arrival, and soon after, Xiao Shuming followed La Baochen to Lugu Lake.
After all, the second room had no status, and she waited outside the Toast House for three days before being allowed to enter the door by the Grand Lady Lalachu. Born in the Nobles of Mosuo, Lala has a noble blood and a large seal on the palm of his hand, and has always held the highest power of the Mosuo people.
But she never expected that her husband La Baochen only went to Ya'an to pay respects for the New Year according to the custom, but finally brought back a concubine, and this lady was not an ordinary concubine, behind her, standing was Liu Wenhui, the chairman of Xikang Province, and his nearly 100,000 troops.
The 24th Army of the National Revolutionary Army under Liu Wenhui
A real palace fight drama, a touch of fire.
Xiao Shuming has now fully understood the intention of the National Government to marry her here, whether from the perspective of her family and the world, or from the perspective of her own love, she must compete with the Grand Lady Lalachu, before leaving, Liu Wenhui repeatedly warned her, so that she should never forget that she is the dry daughter of the chairman of Xikang Province.
There is no doubt that Xiao Shuming's life was extremely difficult at the beginning, it was the Republic of China period, even if the second room in the big cities of Beiping and Shanghai had no status, not to mention that it still retained a strong feudal tradition of Lugu Lake TusiFu. Although she has the support of the Xikang provincial government behind her back and will not be physically abused, it is normal for the big lady to wear small shoes, make her eyes white and even scold her.
During this difficult time, Xiao Shuming abandoned the attitude of a big lady in the past, but learned to actively integrate into the society of the Mosuo people. She began to learn how to ride a horse from a mule, and then learned how to shoot on horseback, and only half a year later, there was a handsome and beautiful female knight on the shore of Lugu Lake who often rode a horse and fired a shell gun in her hand.
Xiao Shuming, who is more than seventy years old, can still cross the horse and carry a gun
Xiao Shuming is extremely talented in shooting, there are many wild ducks on the shore of Lugu Lake, Xiao Shuming's marksmanship is practiced to the back, and he can open the bow left and right, as long as he sees the wild duck, no matter whether it is flying in the sky or swimming in the water, she almost does not need to aim, as long as she raises her hand to shoot, it must be a hand up and down the duck.
Although Xiao Shuming actively integrated into the society of the Mosuo people, under the strict defense of the Grand Lady Lachu, she still had not seen what the legendary Great Seal looked like. Although La Baochen is the titular heir of toast, he does not have much power in the matriarchal society of Mosuo, and in essence, he is more of a mascot for the Mosuo people to communicate with the outside world, and the help he can give to Xiao Shuming is really limited.
Xiao Shuming, while enduring the white eyes and ridicule of the Grand Madame every day, secretly sent Liu Wenhui's personal bodyguard arranged for her to report to Ya'an, mosuo great seal, she must get it in her hand. Soon the Xikang provincial government sent an order, ordering the "Kangbian Yiwu Commander" La Baochen to bring his wife Xiao Shuming, and Ke Ri rushed to the Xichang camp to report on the work, and Liu Wenhui's tone in the telegram was extremely strong.
Xikang Provincial Government during the Republic of China
This bronze seal issued by Kangxi, the person with the seal has been the undisputed leader of the Mosuo ethnic group since ancient times, and mastering this great seal is equivalent to mastering all the powers within the Mosuo, including taxation, military dispatch, and sentencing.
The Great Seal was usually controlled by the Grand Lady Lachu, and in this way ruled over the entire Mosuo clan, and only when La Baochen was far away from doing business, he would temporarily entrust the Great Seal to him for safekeeping. After La Baochen finished his work, he must return the Great Seal as soon as possible.
This time, with the telegram order of the Xikang Provincial Government, the Great Seal was also handed over to La Baochen as usual, and La Baochen knew that the matter of handing over the Great Seal to Xiao Shuming could not be postponed any longer, and the Xikang Provincial Government was already extremely dissatisfied, and if the provincial government dispatched a large army, the flames of war would surely be ignited on the shore of Lugu Lake.
Therefore, La Baochen did not hesitate and handed over the Great Seal to Xiao Shuming. Xiao Shuming finally got this seal after all kinds of obstacles, for a time her heart was full of mixed feelings, her fate can be said to be closely related to this seal on her hand, it is precisely because of it that she is far married here, this big seal of the party, is her fate.
The new Mrs. Mosuo palm print tied the big seal to her belt with a soft silk, and next to the seal, there were two "twenty rings", at this time, Xiao Shuming, what was tightly tied around her waist was not anything else, it was the "quan and gun" with extremely profound significance!
"Twenty shots" barge gun true appearance
Xiao Shuming and La Baochen then arrived in Xichang smoothly, and when Liu Wenhui was about to return, Liu Wenhui called Xiao Shuming to the office and held a secret conversation for two hours.
Since then, someone has asked her many times about the content of the secret conversation, and she has been tight-lipped until the 1990s, when she has reached the end of her life, and she has revealed a hint of her mouth.
She told interviewers at the time that Liu Wenhui first asked La Baochen how he treated her, and then apologized to her, saying that he could not stop her and made her sacrifice. Then she told Xiao Shuming that her mother had passed away, and her father went to Chengdu and married another room.
Finally, Liu Wenhui stressed to her that Lugu Lake and its surroundings are a chaotic world, where there are many forces and wars are uncertain, so she should grasp La Baochen with one hand and the big seal in her hand in the other to stabilize the local situation and serve the overall situation of the anti-Japanese military and political affairs on the front line.
A generation of Mosuo queens ascended to the throne.
Third, the Queen of Mosuo who grew up in blood and fire
Xiao Shuming and La Baochen did not know that they were about to encounter a cruel battle to seize the seal on their way back from Xichang to Lugu Lake.
Lugu Lake left so Toast Yamen
Yak Mountain, which is the only place for Xichang to return to Lugu Lake, is a dangerous terrain with strange rocks, which is the only choice for ambush brigades.
For the safety of the return trip, Xiao Shuming and La Baochen often rushed at night and rested during the day, and on this day the two of them and the guards rushed to the road overnight, and when they reached the dangerous Yak Mountain, the sky was already faint, everyone was tired, and they were preparing to rest for a while, when the sound of fried beans suddenly sounded on the front pass.
Bullet after bullet "banged" on the muddy ground in front of Xiao Shuming and La Baochen, and everyone saw that the other side was intensively fired, so they had to fight and retreat.
The personal bodyguard sent by Liu Wenhui to Xiao Shuming was Liu Wenhui's confidant, who had extremely rich combat experience, and now that the enemy was outnumbered, he quickly realized that the other side was prepared and that it was difficult for his side to win.
He quickly pointed out to Xiao Shuming a mountain road that protruded from the siege, and immediately decided: "This road over the mountain is the Acropolis, where there is a battalion of Commander Wu, and the battalion commander Yin Daying is my brother, you hurry to find him to rescue." ”
After saying that, he took off a black ribbon tied around his waist and handed it to Xiao Shuming, instructing her to use it as a souvenir to mobilize troops.
Xiao Shuming didn't say much, and with his bulletless gun skills, he opened his bow left and right to rush out of the encirclement and rushed towards the local garrison camp, while La Baochen led the guards to rely on the terrain of the mountain pass to stubbornly resist.
At dawn, Xiao Shuming finally arrived with reinforcements, at this time the chief of the personal bodyguard was already covered in blood and heroic sacrifice, and La Baochen himself was also seriously injured, but the bullet did not hit the key point and retrieved a life.
Under the onslaught of reinforcements, the enemy army collapsed at a touch, and the few people leading the team were several brothers-in-law of the Grand Lady Lalachu.
After this battle, Xiao Shuming completely sat firmly in the position of Lady Mosuo's palm seal, and the fire of the war finally forged Xiao Shuming's real gold.
The steep mountain pass of Xichang
After that, Xiao Shuming began to take over the affairs of Mosuo in an all-round way, and the first school in Lugu Lake was established by her, based on the 50 sets of textbooks she had brought with her.
She clearly knew the tianjian people who ruled each village, knew the preferences of the heads of the villages, and every three to five minutes she had to go to the Tusi Yamen Shengtang to settle the case, and every year she had to send taxes and silver according to the requirements of the provincial government, in addition, she also had to lead troops to maintain local law and order, and this female haojie with a unique beauty even quelled the bandit rebellion.
During her tenure as Lady Mosuo's palm seal, it should be said that Liu Wenhui gave her great support, and the tens of thousands of horses of the 24th Army in Xikang Province were her strongest backing.
Therefore, the affairs of the Mosuo people are decided by their words.
Xikang Province was abolished after liberation, and its history before liberation is actually very interesting, and the famous writer Ah Lai had a very detailed description in the book "Dust Settled" that won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, portraying the toast life in Sichuan Kang and Yunnan at that time.
In 1949, with the victory of the People's Liberation Army on the battlefields of the whole country, on December 9 of that year, Liu Wenhui, under the active efforts of the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, electrified the uprising, and Xikang Province was liberated without bloodshed. After that, Liu Wenhui was appointed vice chairman of the Southwest Military and Political Committee by the CPC Central Committee, and then appointed minister of the State Forestry Department, bowing to China's forestry development.
Xiao Shuming's husband, La Baochen, was appointed vice chairman of the CPPCC national committee of Yanyuan County, Sichuan Province, and later counselor of the Sichuan Provincial Ethnic Affairs Committee, because of his contribution to the peaceful liberation of the Zuosuo area, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he basically settled in Chengdu and died of illness in 1978.
Xiao Shuming herself was not so lucky, as the actual real controller of Zuo Suoji before liberation, her problem was not as easy to explain as La Baochen. In 1959, Xiao Shuming was designated as an "illegal landlord" and "historical counter-revolutionary" and sent to Xichang for labor re-education until his release in 1973.
In 1987, under the care of the party and the government, Xiao Shuming finally took off two hats such as "illegal landlord" and restored his identity, and then became a CPPCC member in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
Xiao Shuming in his later years
Since then, Xiao Shuming has been running for the poverty alleviation and development of Lugu Lake, in 2005, at the age of 78, she still traveled thousands of miles to Wenzhou to promote the tourism of Lugu Lake, although she had already handed over the Kangxi Great Seal, in the heart of this last-generation Mosuo Palm Seal Lady, the invisible great seal that undertook the construction of Lugu and the development of Lugu has probably remained in her heart forever.
On October 30, 2008, the last Mosuo queen in Chinese history died of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 81.
In the chaotic years of war before liberation, the fate of countless people was changed and affected, Liu Wenhui, Xiao Shuming, La Baochen, and Grand Lady Lachu, each of whom had their own destiny. Their power, war and love are intertwined to compose this magnificent Mosuo song.
Lugu Lake, also known as Zuosuo Sea, half of the Haizi is in Sichuan, half in Yunnan, and the Mosuo women on Lugu Lake are half in the sea, while the other half is in the flames.
Text/Dream awakening Jinguancheng