In the sublime Xiaoliangshan Mountains of Yongning District of the Ninglang Yi Autonomous County is inlaid a shimmering pearl - the Lugu Lake. It is the native place of the "Females' Kingdom" composed of the Mosuo people, a branch of the Naxi nationality. In Mosuo language"Lugu" means "falling into the water"( "hu" means lake in Chinese). Hence the name of the lake. 

    Lugu Lake is located between Ninglang County in Yunnan and Yanyuan County in Sichuan. It is the highest elevation in Yunnan Province. People call it “The tears of the Goddess”. Among Yunnan's lakes, it stands only second to Fuxian Lake in terms of depth of water. The water of the lake is generally clean and green, with different shades of color: turquoise blue, sapphire blue, white-gray, simply beyond one's imagination. On the lake are the “pig-trough boats" (“zhucaochuan") specific to the place. Teeming in the lake are fine-scaled fish, carps, and other species. The lake waters flow eastwards to the Yalong River and finally into the surging Jingshajiang River. 

    Lugu Lake is surrounded by high and verdant mountains that are snowbound for over 3 months every year. Since the lake is rather deep, a definite regulating influence is exerted on the temperature of the lake shores. Therefore the surrounding mountains abound in forest resources which afford an exquisite beauty, much fresh air, and charming scenery. At present, it is one of the places in China which is least damaged by human efforts and best preserved in its natural features. 

    The lakeshore is inhabited by Mosuo people who have peculiar customs. Up to now they still keep remnants of a matriarchal society. Men and women are not united by wedlock, each living at the mother's home respectively. Thus the place is called“A Quaint Realm of Matriarchy'" The male and female youth of the Mosuo people, having fostered mutual love in the long period of productive labor and social activities, begin to reciprocate“tokens". The male party, in accordance with its economic conditions, presents the female party with gold or silver ornaments, jade bracelets, beads and silk threads, etc. The “tokens" returned by the female party are generally some personal accessories that the other party likes. 

    Scholars have come to the conclusion that the Mosuo matriarchal culture has, to a certain extent, solved major problems troubling today's modern society, such as social positions of both sexes, deterioration of relationships, family feuds, the maltreatment and loneliness suffered by old people, and last but not least the harmony between mankind and nature. 

Photo Resource: Internet

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