The Bai Beyond the Cangshan Mountains

The most visible Bai cultural achievements, in terms of art. architecture, music and festivals, are in the Dali area. The Bai are Yunnan's second largest ethnic minority, though, and besides the Erhai vicinity they occupy most of the lands to the north and west of Cangshan in western Dali Prefecture. They also reside in large areas of Lanping and Lushui Counties in Nujiang Prefecture and in small communities in Lijiang and Ninglang Counties. They are a conservative people who have blended much of the Han way into their own, but have steadfastly held on to specifically Bai customs and traits.

Such cultural traits may vary slightly from one Bai area to another, but the similarities are greater than the differences. Bai houses may be brick instead of stone, but their shape and decorations are recognisably of the same style. The head-gear changes from one sub-group to another, but the basic components of the women's costume are usually the same-side-fastened, solid-colour vest over a long-sleeved blouse, apron and trousers. Only on the fringes of Bai territory are there any major differences. The Lemu Bai women of southern Nujiang Prefecture, for example, wear an outfit inspired by that of their Lisu and Nu neighbours, featuring a beaded cap and necklaces of discs cut from shells.

Similarly, in the northern part of Jianchuan County, bordering Lijiang, the women wear the Naxi-style black and white sheepskin cape. The bonnet, though, tall and in several layers, would never be worn by a Naxi woman. Jianchuan itself is a bit larger than Eryuan, its houses and layout closer in style to Lijiang. The fine park on its western side houses the attractive, three-story Jingfeng Pavilion. Except for the main street, most of the town is the traditional style. A few kilometres east is Jianhu, Sword Lake, a small, quiet body of water that sparkles with romance on the full moon of the 8th lunar month. On this evening, called Lovers' Rendezvous, the unmarried youth go boating in the lake, singing love songs and sending candles floating to their lovers.

Jianchuan Bai hold a couple other unique festivals that reinforce their affection for children. On the 8th day of the 2nd moon they stage the Festival of Enhancing Children's Appetites. This originated with a popular revolt against another custom long ago. This was the day operas were staged at the Temple of the God of Letters. The rich folks wielded whips to keep the children in line. One year the parents refused to let their children attend. Instead, as today, they prepared special food for them and dispatched them for a picnic in the woods. In the other, held the 15th day of the 1st month, they honour a child-bride who drowned herself to..protest her forced marriage. Bai girls parade behind a portrait of the girl, a reminder not to mistreat daughters.

West of Jianchuan the Bai occupy the valleys all the way to Lanping, 130 km away. Lanping itself is a small, regularly laid out city in the lap of the mountains. The downtown streets are lined with shade trees, though most of the buildings are run-of-the-mill cement boxes. The Pumi minority lives in the hills of the north, the Bai in the central and eastern parts. Fancy Bai houses, with Dali-inspired architectural motifs, stand at the northern edge of Lanping, with a large Bai village just beyond. Only the older generation of women seem to favour the Bai costume, which consequently means the dark colours like black, brown and blue predominate.

In one respect the Nama Bai of Lanping, as they call themselves, differ from other Bai communities. Here they hold festivals that emphasise the worth of their oxen. On the 18th day of the 6th lunar month the local Bai make sacrifices to the water gods and honour their oxen by kneeling for rites before stone sculptures of the beasts and not eating any meat that day. In the 9th lunar month they sacrifice a bull to send its spirit to Heaven, re-enacting a myth of theirs that narrates how a black dragon caused floods until a yak defeated the dragon and saved the people. They wanted to make the yak their king. The animal declined the honour but accepted the food liberally bestowed by the grateful Bai. Then other oxen from Heaven came to join the feast, which angered the gods. They visited a plague upon the people until they sacrificed one of the truant bulls to send its spirit back to Heaven

Another major concentration of traditional Bai culture is in Heqing County. The county seat is actually closer to Lijiang (43 km) than Dali (145 km northeast). Heqing town lies on a long plain. The northern end is backed by steep hills and is inhabited by Naxi. Near the Lijiang airport and south the villages are all Bai, rather close to one another and it's difficult to determine where the boundary marks off the fields of one village from those of its neighbour. Housing reflects the Dali style in the facades, entry gates and arabesques below the corners of the roofs. The primary material, though, is mud-brick and Heqing County Bai houses usually have high, thick, windowless back walls. And in the middle of the roof they mount a small sculpture of a lion. Often red banners with white Chinese characters on them hang on the front parts of the house. Small trees and potted flowers stand in the courtyard.

Heqing until recently was one of the cities in the northwest which retained nearly all of its traditional layout and architecture. But in the late 90's it began demolishing its central section around the big, three-tiered brick tower that dominated the old skyline. The tower itself was left intact and as most of the northern quarter is largely residential that may be spared a while. Yet in the business section south and west of the tower large new buildings, in the classic Bai style, were under construction, including an imposing temple in the northeast quarter. For religious-minded Bai, though, the favourite temple is Zhaoxin Monastery, a few kilometres southwest of the city.

Sunday is market day in Heqing, when Bai from the villages dotting the plain come to sell their produce. Besides grain, fruit and vegetables this will include all shapes of baskets and trays made of split bamboo, rain capes of palm bark fibre, copper and brass pots, and aprons, grey Mao caps and brims for the Heqing Bai headgear. Some Yi from the other side of the mountains from the east will also attend, as well as Bai from further south towards Songgui, whose women wear round black berets with jewels fixed to the brim.

Songgui, 34 km south, past rolling hills with villages set on the slopes, holds its own open market on Saturdays. It also stages a Horse and Mule Fair the 22nd day of the 7th month, in honour of the Ming General Mu Ying's final defeat of the Mongol forces in Yunnan. Heqing Bai bring in the New Year with a ceremony called Whipping the Vernal Ox. Borne by 24 men representing each of the annual solar terms, escorted by 48 others, the clay ox sculpture is enshrined in a special tent. When the leader gives the signal the men attack and destroy the clay ox. The pieces are strewn on the fields to ensure a good harvest.

The last of the previous year's crops the Bai save for a rite at Wufengshan on 21 March, the Spring Equinox Exhibition. Six months later, on the winter solstice, they stage Birds' Day in honour of the goddess Linping. She transformed her sons into 24 birds, which taught the Bai the 24 solar terms and how to plant rice. This day the Bai feed birds with buckwheat grains.

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