Dongba Culture

Dongba Culture refers to ancient Naxi culture, which is given the name because it has been passed down by "dongbas". The Dongba hieroglyphs, the Dongba Scriptures, and the Dongba painting, music and dance compose in the aggregate the Dongba culture. The Naxi people are an ancient civilised people. As early as over one thousand year ago, it brought into being a polytheist it primitive religion called the Dongba, which created the hieroglyphs and a whole system of the Dongba culture. The latter has been handed down to the present time and has become a precious cultural legacy of the Chinese people.

Dongba culture originated from the Primary Naxi Religion, and believes in the supernatural gods and their rule over the world. It is polytheism and incorporates Lamaism, Buddism and Daoism. Dongba shaman, which means "wise man", is a witch doctor, scholar, craftsman as well as an artist. The Dongba religion is of fetish. Ancestor and Nature Worshipping are the basic characteristics. The varied rituals, preserved among people through pictograph, scriptures and religious form, are the main carrier.

The hieroglyphs, or the Dongba script, consists of more than 3,000 words in addition to some 700 simplified hieroglyphs. The Dongba Scriptures are a voluminous and substantial Naxi encyclopedia. The more than 20,000 volumes of the book series contain ancient legends and tales, narrative epics, folk poems, proverbs and descriptions of the Naxi populace's life in olden times and its relationship with other peoples. It is therefore a precious source material for the study of the naxi people's religion, history, social development, life customs and language. Related to the Dongba primitive religion much influenced by the Bon Sect of the Tibetan Lamaism are the Dongba painting, Dongba music and dance. It is reported that a volume of dance notation called "Cuo Tang", which records the Dongba dance, is the only hieroglyphic choreography hitherto discovered in the world, and is held in high regard by the scholars of the world. The "Dongba Scroll Painting" are invaluable treasures in the ethnicgallery.

The exhibition of Dongba Art can be found in the Jade Fountain Park on the northern edge of town. It is centred in some buildings in the park that include the Moon Embracing Pavilion with its own bridge across the water, called the white marble Belt Bridge and the Ming Dynasty Five Phoenix Temple. Other elements of Cultural Art are the Baisha Murals and the Tangqia Paintings.