Dongba Culture and an Overview of Its Research
This article by Guo Dalie introduces Dongba culture, the ancient culture of the Naxi people (historically called "Moxie"), who have long inhabited the border areas of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Tibet. According to the 1982 census, the Naxi population numbered 245,154, with Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County as their main settlement. Dongba culture, formed no later than the Tang-Song period, is preserved and transmitted through Dongba religion—a primitive polytheistic faith believing in animism, with over 2,400 deities recorded in Dongba scriptures. Despite having a founding deity (Dingba Shiluo), the religion lacks a supreme god, temples, or formal organization. Dongba practitioners were mostly laborers of low social status, not full-time clergy, performing rituals for compensation while primarily farming. Before 1949, about 1,000 Dongba existed; only around 180 remain today. The article also notes regional and dialectal variations in Dongba religion across different Naxi subgroups and areas.
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