At 17:40 on February 14, 2021, the old village of Wengding Village in Lincang City, Yunnan Province, known as "China's last primitive tribe", unfortunately encountered a fire, and although the open fire was completely extinguished that night, the millennium tribe was destroyed in a "torch", which was extremely heart-wrenching.
Onding old village before the fire
Weng Ding Old Village is located on the banks of the Lancang River, surrounded by clouds and fog all year round. Ondin, in the Wa language, also has the meaning of clouds and mist, the spirit of the mountain white cloud lake. With a history of more than 4,000 years, Onding Laozhai is the most complete Wa village in China and the last living body of Chinese tribal culture. It retains the original Wa residential architectural style and original customs and customs, and the gates, piles, song fields, wooden drum houses, bull piles, etc., all exude a strong original tribal atmosphere.
Like onding Laozhai, in Kyushu, China, there are still some "primitive" tribes, some of them even less than a thousand people, but they have a unique language, clothing and way of life, after several migrations, in a relatively fixed area, the cultural customs of the ancestors have been passed down from generation to generation. Let us approach these "ancient and mysterious" groups and "open the door of protection with the eye of discovery".
Surrounded by greenery, The Village of Baisha Miao
Baisha Miao Village: A mysterious tribe that worships trees
Baisha MiaoZhai is located in Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou, 7.5 kilometers away from Congjiang County. The Baisha people maintain an ancient and mysterious way of life and can be called the "living fossil" of the Miao culture.
You can also see the tradition of men carrying muskets and knives with them. Baisha's sickle shaving, strange and spectacular gun firing, iron cannon welcome ceremony, magical tree burial customs, and the pluralistic worship of trees, the unique culture of "unity of man and tree" are all impressive.
Baisha Miaozhai is also known as "China's Last Gunner Tribe"
Baisha claims to be a branch of the ancient Xuanyu tribe, and after the defeat of the Central Plains of The Dragon You, the ancestors of Baisha came to The Great Mountains of Guizhou several times to baisha (the Miao language means lush with lush vegetation), and lived by hunting and farming for generations.
The People of Baisha regarded the tree as a deity, and when a person died and was buried in the earth, there was no grave or tombstone, but only a small tree was planted on the grave of the deceased to show that life had been continued by the tree god. The tree of life has been evergreen ever since, sheltering future generations of health. Today, at the head of the village in Baisha, it is difficult to see a grave and a tombstone.
The old people of Baisha Village often say that it was the vast forest that protected the ancestors of Baisha in the past, and it was the trees that allowed the Baisha people to survive and reproduce. Therefore, since ancient times, the Baisha people have respected and protected trees, and their ancestors have formulated extremely strict rules for the village, and if they cut down a tree indiscriminately, they will be punished with "three hundred and two", that is, 120 kilograms of pork, 120 kilograms of rice, and 120 kilograms of wine, for the whole village to eat, in order to set an example.
Spring and autumn are reincarnated, and the years pass. The Baisha people have worshipped trees and used them as gods for generations, and today the village is still surrounded by ancient trees.
Aoluguya: The Last Reindeer Tribe
The last reindeer tribe in China, the Aoluguya
In the primeval forest at the northwestern foot of the Daxing'an Mountains and on the right bank of the Ergun River, there is a little-known ethnic minority tribe, the Aoluguya, also known as the Reindeer Evenk, meaning a place where poplar forests flourish. In the middle of the 17th century, the Reindeer Evenk migrated from the Baikal basin to the dense forests of the Daxing'an Mountains to hunt and raise reindeer for a living.
Winters are long and cold, with minimum temperatures of minus 50 degrees Celsius, and in a special natural environment, the Reindeer Evenk people rely on herding reindeer and traditional hunting to live a self-sufficient mountain forest life, eating animal meat and wearing animal skins, forming their unique national culture and way of life.
Women of Aoluguya (Photo: Wang Wei)
They are known as the "Deer Tribe" and "China's Last Hunting Tribe", and they are also the only people in China that have preserved the "reindeer culture" so far. Today, there are only more than 30 reindeer Evenk people in the last generation of pure blood, only more than 600 reindeer who have lived for generations, and a very small number of reindeer Evenk people still retain a more primitive and natural production lifestyle.
Chagan Lake winter fishing site
The Chagannur: The last fishing and hunting tribe in northern China
Chagan Lake, mongolian for "Chagannur", meaning white and holy lake, is located in the territory of the former Golros Mongol Autonomous County in the northwest of Jilin Province, with a vast area of 500 square kilometers. In the Liao Dynasty about 1,000 years ago, there were records of "chiseling ice for fish". Local fishermen continue the traditional way of fishing for thousands of years and are known as "the last fishing and hunting tribe in northern China".
Winter fishing ceremony at Chagan Lake
In winter, the lake surface will be completely frozen, and the people living on the lake will carry out winter fishing in the dry lake during this coldest season. Fishermen ride horse-drawn carriages to the glacial lake, first to reduce pollution and second, to alarm as few fish as possible. The original fishing method of the Horse-Drawn Winch Trawler, the single-net catch continues to set new Guinness World Records. The impact on the ecology of the lake is small, ensuring the endless survival of fish.
The winter fishing wonders of Chagan Lake have been included in China's national intangible cultural heritage. Ancient ritual sacrifices and devout shamanic dances add a lot of mystery and cultural heritage to the winter fishing of Chagan Lake, and the people who participate in the ceremony wear costumes to commemorate the harvest joy that has spread for thousands of years.
Kemu people and grass huts
Kemu people: a primitive tribe in the rainforest
In the nature reserve of Xishuangbanna, inhabited by the Kemu tribe. The locals also call them "bird people", people who live like birds. The Kemu people are a cross-border group, mainly distributed in Jiasa Town, Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna, and Shangyong, Mengman, Mengban and other places in Mengla County.
The Kemu people have their own language, and no writing has been handed down. When greeting each other, clap your hands on your mouths and make a "whoa, whoa" sound. When goodbye, slide your arm from the bottom to the outside of your wrist with your right hand.
The Kemu people use the totem of worship as a surname, each surname has its origin and legend, and the transmission method is also very peculiar, and the members of each clan are in awe of the animal and plant totem representing their ancestors. In the primeval forest where many rare plants are grown, the Kemu people live freely and happily, and the faces of men and women are relatively healthy and handsome.
Before the founding of New China, the Kemu people were still in the transition stage from the end of primitive society to a slave society, living a nomadic life, having little contact with the surrounding ethnic groups, and feeding on dryland crops such as wadi, corn, beans and potatoes. In 1956, the Kemu residential area was listed as a "direct transition zone", from a primitive society directly into a socialist society.
Today's Kemu people, in addition to maintaining their own unique living customs, also grow cash crops such as rubber, sugar cane, tea, sand kernels, and develop family farming.
The Festival of Fire sacrifice of the Ashi people
The Ashi people: a tribe that is related to fire and can sing and dance
The Axi people are a branch of the Yi people, calling themselves "Axie", and live in Mile, Qiubei and other places in Yunnan Province. The Ashi people revere fire and revere fire as a god. Legend has it that a long time ago, the ancient Tribe of Ashu had no fire and was often attacked by wild beasts. A ancestor named Mu Deng Sairu drilled wood for fire on the third day of the second month of the lunar calendar to get the fire. In order to commemorate the hero of the fire, the Ashi people held a grand festival of fire sacrifice on this day.
On the day of the Festival of Fire Festival, the people of Assi put on festive costumes, and young men and women who can sing and dance play the big three strings and sing and dance at the same time. Two prime-aged men lifted the elaborately woven "Fire God" and walked towards the "Sacred Tree" to perform a ritual of offering sacrifices to the "Sacred Tree". Under the "Sacred Tree", everyone drilled wood for fire, and after the sparks came out, the scene erupted into a warm cheer.
When the fire was moved to the brazier under the seat of the "Vulcan", the sound of gongs, drums and horns sounded violently, and people cheered and danced. People carry the "fire god" into every household in the village to send the new year's tinder. The Ashi people have good wishes for the Festival of Fire Sacrifice, which means that the filthy demons have been burned out, and the new year is smooth and rainy, and the life expectancy is prosperous.
The Axi people have preserved many mysterious cultural customs, among which the national song and dance "Axie Jumping Moon" and the creation epic "Axie Xianji" have been included in the national intangible cultural heritage list. "A Fine Jumping Moon" is popular in some Yi areas in Yunnan, the dance is enthusiastic and unrestrained, the atmosphere is hot, and it is a famous form of social entertainment for the Yi people.
The Hezhe people's exquisite fishskin clothes
The Hezhe: Amazing fishskin tribe
The Hezhe people are one of the less populated ethnic groups in China, living in the Heilongjiang, Ussuri and Songhua River basins, which is distant and mysterious to many people. "The Ussuri River is long and long, the blue river waters are waving, the Hezhe people spread a thousand nets, and the boats are full of fish in the river..." The poetic lyrics of "Ussuri Boat Song" make people have unlimited imagination of the Hezhe people.
This ancient people living along the river has long been fishing and hunting for a living, because it likes to eat fish meat, is good at tanning fish skins, likes fish skin clothing, is also known as the "fish skin tribe", and thus has the saying that "fish skin clothing wine worships the gods, and dogs pull sleighs to hezhe people".
The Hezhe people use fish skin clothing, building houses and shipbuilding, and in the long-term production and life, they have formed a unique "fish skin making technology", especially represented by the handicraft "fish skin clothing" with a history of thousands of years. In 2006, the fish skin making skills of the Hezhe people were selected as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
Fish skin relief painting of "Big Exhibition"
Fish skin clothing to go through the washing, peeling, drying, drying, cooking, shearing and stitching, shaping, modification and other steps, this series of complex and cumbersome craftsmanship is the unique skill of the Hezhe people. The fishskin painting, known as "paperless paper-cutting", with the continuous development of the times, has also developed relief and hand-embroidery techniques on the basis of the original two processes of engraving and cutting. The fishskin stickers express the expectations of the Hezhe people for life and their yearning for auspiciousness and peace.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Wanquan Text Editor: Yang Rong Caption Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Zi Xi
Source: Author: Liu Fangyuan, website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission