Lesson 3 THE NAXI PEOPLE AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE

The Han people make up the majority of the people living in China. Apart from the Han people, there live 55 minorities in this vast country. The Naxi people are one of them.
A lot of Naxi people can be found in Lijiang, a remote area in Yunnan Province. They are about 310,000 in number, and they make up about 40 percent of the population of Lijiang.
Lijiang is about 600 kilometers northwest of Kunming, the capital of Yunnnan. Lijiang is a mysterious, untraveled land. It is surrounded by very high mountains, and its climate is mild all year round. It seems that the Naxis living there have been able to keep up their own traditions for over 800 years.

It is said that the Naxis’ ancestors were Tibetan nomads. Today, most Naxis are engaged in agriculture. They grow rice, corn, wheat, potatoes, beans, and cotton.
You would be surprised to see that the lifestyle of the Naxis is very similar to that of the Japanese people. They eat natto, udon, soba, wasabi, and konnyaku. On happy occasions, they eat red rice like sekihan, and for ceremonies, they make rice cakes like mochi.
The Naxis seem to live in the same way as they lived 400 years ago. They make use of melting snow from the mountains for their water – line system. Without using a water pump, they bring the water right to the door of each house in town. They don’t destroy nature but make the best use of it. You would be impressed to see how they live in harmony with nature.

Another fascinating thing about the Naxis is their writing system. It uses symbols in the form of pictures. Created about 1,000 years ago, the system is called the Tompa hieroglyphs. It is the only system of hieroglyphs in the world that is still in use.
The Naxis believe in the Tompa religion. Its scriptures are written in the Tompa hieroglyphs.
The scriptures were a series of more than 20,000 books. But now only 5,000 of them remain in the Lijiang Library. In them are tales, poems, proverbs, fortunetelling, and so on. They show how the Naxis lived in old times. The scriptures serve as an encyclopedia for the Naxis, and, even today, they can read them.
Thanks to the Tompa hieroglyphs, the Naxis have been able to keep up their traditions. However, the number of Tompa priests who can write the hieroglyphs is decreasing.

The Tompa hieroglyphs have been influenced over the centuries by different people’s writing systems, but they never lost their originality. On the contrary, the Tompa priests have made some letters of other peoples into their own.
Modernization is coming even to such a remote place as Lijiang. It seems that fewer and fewer young people are willing to take over the Naxi traditions. Now these 1,000 year-old hieroglyphs are facing a crisis. In 1997, Lijiang was selected to be a World Heritage cultural site. Hopefully, more young people will now take an interest in the hieroglyphs.
It is said that our handwriting shows our character. You’ll find the Tompa hieroglyphs to be very gentle, warm, and quite humorous. The Naxis will remain warm and gentle in their lifestyle as long as they stick to the Tompa hieroglyphs.