More than 500 years of lacquerware, more than 100 years of ham... What other cultural treasures does the Yi have?

Yi Autonomous Prefecture

Sichuan / Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture

The Yi people, one of the oldest ethnic groups in China, have a long history, colorful ethnic customs and profound cultural heritage.

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, located in the southwest of Sichuan Province, is the largest yi concentration in the country, where the Yi population accounts for nearly half of the total population, reaching millions of people.

Adhering to the worship of nature and primitiveness, they have precipitated unique folk customs and customs over thousands of years, and have inherited and developed to this day. This makes me very yearning.

My name is Julian and I'm from France. In this issue of "Closer Looking at China", I will walk with me into Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture to see what kind of life the Yi people are living in this mysterious land, what kind of development situation their national culture is facing, and how it is protected and inherited.

Yi lacquerware: the persistence of 17 generations, "passing inside" must also be "passed on outside"

Ji Wu Wu is also the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage of the Yi lacquerware decoration technique. This skill was passed down from his father to his son, and it has been passed down in the family for 17 generations and has a history of more than 500 years.

From the age of 8, when he began to learn the craft with his father, to the present, the 69-year-old Ji Wu Wuhe has been dealing with the lacquerware of this room for more than 60 years.

He not only set up his own workshop, retaining the original style while innovating lacquerware products, but also recruited many apprentices from other provinces to engage in lectures and art transfer activities, exchange lacquerware skills, and do his best to carry forward the Yi lacquerware.

However, Ji Wu Wu told me that in the previous traditional society, this family skill actually had the rule of "passing on the inside and not the outside, passing on the children and not passing on the daughters".

So what did you think later?

In the 1980s, when I first passed on my skills, the whole family had an opinion of me. Later, I slowly did ideological work for them, and I said that our country and the whole world have reformed and opened up, why can't we, the Yi lacquerware, be passed on?

I also feel that many cultures are both local and global.

Don't look at it as just a small vessel, there's a lot of room for it. In the Yi culture, the black, yellow and red patterns on the lacquerware represent the land, beauty and flame respectively.

Today, Kiwu's own works are sold to more than 30 countries, and he is often invited to Japan, the United States and other countries to participate in various cultural exchange activities. Many foreign friends expressed their love for Yi lacquerware to him. Ji Wuwu also believes that as the Chinese government attaches more importance to intangible cultural heritage year by year, this traditional craft will surely become better and better.

Mianning ham: a century-old technique to pickle the taste of the Yi people

I heard that ham is one of the most characteristic foods in Mianning County, so I must try it.

As a Frenchman, I grew up eating ham, not only French, Spanish, Italian... People in many European countries eat ham with different tastes. I know that in many southern parts of China, people also make ham. But the ham here, with its excellent meat, balanced taste and long aftertaste, is the best ham I've ever had!

Lu Youfu, the owner of the ham shop, has been making Mianning ham for six years, and he told me that the ham making skills of Mianning have been passed down for a hundred years, but even in the local area, there are not many people who still insist on making ham using the ancient method.

Lu Youfu made ham in an earthen house. He insisted on using earthen houses instead of brick houses, because the earthen houses were warm in winter and cool in summer, and when they cooled back, they would dew, which was more conducive to the fermentation of ham.

Lu Youfu also encountered difficulties when he first made ham. Because the essentials were not mastered, the 80 hams pickled were damaged by a third. At that time, he could not even afford to buy a whole pack of diapers for his children. And now, after years of selling ham, he has moved into a new house with his wife and children.

Listening to me say that ham is very delicious, I want to buy it back and give it to my father to taste, Lu Youfu gave me a piece without saying a word. This made me feel the enthusiasm and friendliness of Chinese, which is the gene inherited in Chinese culture. Lu Youfu said that Mianning ham is so delicious, he should insist on using traditional methods to make it, so that the Yi ham can go out of China and the world.

I was impressed by this trip to Liangshan. It is no longer the poverty and isolation that people used to think, on the contrary, the locals are hospitable and the children are full of vitality, vitality and knowledge. The culture of the Yi people is rich and distinctive, and many people are helping to pass it on. I love dealing with people here and hope to revisit Daliangshan soon.

Editor: Xinyi Chen

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