Mosuo "Yimi" Culture and Its Transformation: A Survey of Luoshui Village, Yunnan
This article examines the "Yimi" (祖母房, "grandmother's room") culture of the Mosuo people, based on fieldwork conducted in 2016–2017 in Luoshui Village, Ninglang County, Yunnan Province. The Yimi, the core structural and spiritual space of Mosuo houses, is central to Mosuo cultural values and symbolizes household and lineage prosperity, distinct from the broader concept of "Yidu" (household/lineage). The study describes Luoshui's Mosuo demographics, matrilineal family structure, and the persistence of "walking marriage." It details the Yimi's architectural layout—an inner and outer "回"-shaped structure containing male and female pillars, hearth, grandmother's bed, and entry doors—and its traditional functions as daily living space, storage, cooking, and ritual site. The article then analyzes how tourism development has transformed the Yimi: many households now maintain separate "tourist" Yimi rooms alongside traditional family ones, altering their architectural form, social function, and ritual symbolism.
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