A sacred pillar of the Jinuo village.Photo: Ni Dandan/GT
Literally meaning "south of the clouds," Yunnan boasts a lush landscape and enjoys an enviably high number of sunny days. With mountain ranges covering more than 80 percent of its area, the region is also home to 25 ethnic minority groupings, whose hospitality and simple way of living is another big attraction for visitors.
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Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southern Yunnan enjoys a warm climate all year round, and offers the perfect retreat from a chilly Shanghai.
The area is famous for its tropical forest nature reserve and was once known as Mengbanaxi, meaning a "miraculous and pleasant utopia."
And deep within this forest live the Jinuo people, largely unknown to the outside world until 1979 when they became the country's last officially recognized ethnic minority.
Ancient dealings
There are conflicting versions of how the Jinuo people were first discovered but official records note that as early as the 1950s the government had organized an investigative team to make contact. The tribes people told the team that their ancestors had dealt with traders on the Ancient Tea Horse Road as long back as the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
With a total population of just over 20,000, all of the Jinuo people today live in Xishuangbanna. And a Jinuo village, some 30 kilometers from the center of Xishuangbanna, was opened to visitors in the mid 2000s.
Today, Pu'er tea and tourism are the two major sources of income for Jinuo people.
An interesting custom is their seemingly harsh treatment of newborn babies. A bucket of cold water is thrown over every newborn child in the full knowledge that some may not survive the shock. "We believe in survival of the fittest," Li Ming, a Jinuo native, told the Global Times.
And childbirth is no easy matter for the mother either.
"A woman has to deliver her baby outside on the terrace of her house. If it rains, it's even better because this will then wash the child and mother clean."
The Jinuo people also don't sever the umbilical cord but allow it to disintegrate naturally. The mother then has to sleep outside the home for 15 days after the birth.
The Jinuo also have an unusual puberty rite which marks a boy's transition to manhood. This transition is said to be complete when a male is capable of killing a domesticated bull with a sharpened bamboo stick.
"This is very important. He has one chance every year to do this. And until he accomplishes it, he cannot even date a girl, let alone get married," said Li.
Women's calling
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Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture is home to more than 300,000 Dai ethnic people, accounting for more than 30 percent of the prefecture's total population. Gender roles in these communities lie in sharp contrast to the Jinuo Group in that Dai women enjoy a much higher social status.
In Dai culture, women make their own decisions and it is the newlywed man who moves in with the family of his wife.
Almost all Dai people follow Hinayana, a sect of Buddhism and families send their sons to local temples in order to learn to read, write and chant scriptures. Some of these boys later become monks, but most return to secular life. Women, although they have the final say in many matters, are not allowed to learn Dai written characters.
Dai people usually marry around the age of 18. "We registered our marriage when our eldest boy was 3," Yu, a 30-year-old Dai woman, told the Global Times. "Usually we begin dating in junior high school. When I graduated from high school at 18, my boyfriend had completed three years of labor for my family. So I had to quit school and get married to him."
These three years of labor are an essential process for a Dai man who wants to marry. And the labor usually involves farming the fields and tapping off rubber. Rubber trees are a major source of income for Dai people with an average tree generating up to 1.5 yuan ($0.24) of rubber on a daily basis.
"Dai people welcome Han people to join our families. More than 30 years ago, the zhiqing, or educated youth were sent here, and they taught us a lot. Without them, we couldn't lead the life we do today," Yu said.
Patriarchal role
"Women in the Dai family are responsible for making money mainly through tapping off rubber. The men only need to take care of the household chores and look after the children," said Yu.
Many Dai women go off into the mountains to tap off rubber as early as 2 o'clock in the morning, which is the best time for extracting fluid from the trees. This means they usually sleep during the day.
As far as local cuisine and drinks are concerned, don't miss out on barbecue tilapia (a type of tropical fish) and the great variety of tropical and unique fruits the area boasts such as the Sakyamuni fruit and passion fruit.