1. The Yi in History
1. Reconstructing Yi History from Yi Records
Wu Gu
As a scholar who was born into a Yifamily and who has devoted himself heart and soul to the study of Yi history and culture for several decades, I have developed some knowledge of the comprehensive embodiments of Yi traditional culture, which we can call Yihistorical records, and which include not only written documents but many other kinds of materials that can be used to document the history of this society. This essay represents some of what I have learned.
YI HISTORICAL RECORDS ARE THE COMPREHENSIVE EMBODIMENT OF YI TRADITIONAL CULTURE
Because the Yi have a long history and remote origins, they have amassed a considerable cultural store. Already in the pre-Imperial period this attracted attention from outside scholars: the earliest relatively systematic account occurs in the “Record of the Southwestern Aborigines” (Xinan Yiliezhuan) chapter of Sima Qian's Shiji. Ever since that time, accounts of Yi history and culture, perhaps owing to the influence of Confucian thinking, have taken this as a model.
In the last hundred years, owing to the rise of ethnology a new group of scholars have undertaken field research in Yi areas in order to gather new material for the study of Yi history and culture. In their field researches they found that many records still existed in Yi areas, which prompted an effort among learned scholars in China and abroad to collect, collate, translate, and research these sources. Gradually there emerged a systematic, planned effort to open the world of Yi historical records. Later, because of the influences of the anti-Japanese war, this particular effort was halted, but during that war, because Yi areas were turned into the great rear area of the
After victory in the anti-Japanese war, many of these cultural workers remained in the Yi areas and threw themselves into the revolutionary struggle. In promoting cultural activities in the base areas, they collected materials at the sources; and in the process of deepening their research and collation of materials, they also published several translations and arranged for musical and dance performances, thereby deepening their own knowledge of Yi culture. In the first years after Liberation, many of these cultural workers took up leading positions, and under their leadership and encouragement many Yi works were translated and published, such as Meige, Axi Xianji, Ashima, and Mother's Girl. Yi songs and dances from the “song and dance records,” such as “Hearth Dance,” “Axi Jumps over the Moon,” “Sani Serenade,” “The Big Song and Dance Show,” and others took the stage and were presented to the world. But in the process of publication of these works and the move to present them on outside stages, certain portions that embodied characteristics of “primitive culture” were—because of limited knowledge about them—looked upon as feudal superstitions and unhealthy factors and discarded, weakening the historical and cultural content of oral records and song and dance records. At the same time, through the encouragement of several well-known scholars, Yi historical texts such as Records of the South western Barbarians, Collected Cuan Carved Texts, and The Origins of the Universe were published in translation.
However, due to the fact that the Yi are relatively spread out, and that there are many branches and diverse dialects, combined with the fact that the Yi have always been rather xenophobic, there developed an attitude that there was a difference between insiders and outsiders. As a result, despite a hundred years of effort, the actual process of opening up access to Yihistorical records was very slow and the results meager. The accumulated cultural embodiments of thousands of years could not be developed systematically and transformed into historical documents; the massive amounts of Yi historical records remained as they had been, transmitted from generation to generation in scattered and remote villages.
During the January 1980 “National Conference on Yi Language Work” in Beijing, a group of Yi scholars put forth the opinion that “in order to promote the contribution of Yi culture to human civilization, it is necessary to organize a group of research teams to carry out a systematic, relatively comprehensive effort at saving, collating, translating, and publishing Yi historical records.” This opinion was enthusiastically received from the start by Chinese and foreign scholars and Yipeople generally, and it received the support of governments. As a result, organizations for the collation and research of
CLASSIFICATION OF YI HISTORICAL RECORDS
Yi historical records can be divided into the following types:
Primary material records. Because Yi are scattered about, with many branches and diverse dialects, and because Yi writing has for the most part remained in the hands of bimo (priests) and a few other specialists, among the common people, signs using primary materials have been the principal means of communication and recording of events. I term these primary material records, and of these the following sorts can still be found:
Carved wooden symbols. In traditional Yi households, carved ancestral tablets are the object of worship. They can be made either of wood or green bamboo, and woven goods or hair can be added to the basic human figure to indicate a male or female spirit. In the homes of bimo or shamans, there are also human figurines carved out of ritual implements that represent their spiritual masters.
Carved board symbols. Few of these symbols, called sipei, remain. They are made out of arectangular wooden board, and on the exposed face are carved male and female human figures, domestic animals, slaves, tools, and other things; they are hung over the beds of older people to symbolize the continuity of the household.
Symbols in clothing and jewelry. In traditional Yi clothing and jewelry, one's own status in the system of stratification, as well as one's local
― 24 ―group, are expressed in the differences in tailoring and embroidery. In women's clothing, differences in color, pattern, and manner of wear express differences in marital, kinship, and parity status. Even more strikingly, in some groups the designs on clothing express “maps of a thousand migrations,” and from these we can read the history of the development of that group.Musical and dance symbols. Music and dances that accompany ritual activity have their ritual and historiographic purposes. This means that instrumentation, melody, dance steps, and hand gestures feature patterns expressing metaphorically the stories of the creation myths. Still found in areas where Yi people are relatively concentrated are the “Hearth Dance,” “Coordinated Songs,” “Axi Jumps over the Moon,” and “Sani Serenade”; these songs, along with their rather strict rules for performing them, have been transmitted over the generations to today, and they illustrate the hunting, agricultural, reproductive, and migration activity of the ancestors of the Yi through their history. This means that those who participate learn the history of cultural development. But since these performances have moved to the stage there has been a lot of alteration, and it is difficult to differentiate the genuine from the spurious.
Records in metal and stone. In areas inhabited by the Yi and their ancestors, archaeologists have discovered a large number of metal, stone, and pottery artifacts that function symbolically like writing. This legacy is particularly rich.
Pottery containing symbols. In the Sichuan-Yunnan border area, a large number of Neolithic pottery vessels have been unearthed. In the early 1980s, during the process of excavating the remains of Kunming Man, archaeologists uncovered three pottery shards with symbols that had characteristics of writing. According to dating procedures, these come from about 10,000 b.p., and they certainly have a connection with traditional Yi writing. Later on, in the process of excavating remains from the Chunqiu (771—481 b.c.e.) and Zhanguo (480—221 b.c.e.) periods at Caohai in Weining (Guizhou), another group of pottery pieces with incised symbols was found (now stored in the Guizhou Provincial Museum), and people have also matched these up with traditional Yi writing. In the classical Yi text Hnewo (Creation)teyy (Book) (see Wu Jingzhong, chapter 2 in this volume), it is recorded that the ancestors of the Yi, after the division of the six clans, lived at a place called Zzyzzypuvu (in Nuosu). Following the description in the book, this is probably around Caohai in Weining.
[1] Editor's note: Various scholars locate this place in Weining in Guizhou, or in Zhaotong or Huize in Yunnan. The precise location is still a matter of contention. Thanks go to Bamo Qubumo, Bamo Ayi, Qumo Tiexi, and Ma Erzi for their clarification of this matter.
According to this text, the― 25 ―ancestors of the Yihad been involved at that time in wars against people called So or Sa.[2] These terms are probably cognate to the modern Nuosu shuo, which is a general term for outsiders, slaves, or Han.
According to the site report, in the same layer were also found the remains of a large number of warriors killed in battle, along with accompanying artifacts. Therefore, we should be able to extrapolate that those symbols and Yiwriting have a common origin; there is already considerable scholarship on the comparison of Banpo pottery symbols with Yi writing. In sum, symbols on pottery are historical remnants that can be studied in comparison to many kinds of writing, a field that has far-reaching significance for the study of the development of ancient civilizations.Cliff records. Many paintings using pigments of iron or animal blood have been found in many places in steep mountains and deep valleys where the ancient Aimao used to live. Investigation reveals that these tell the stories of certain historical occurrences, which can thus be translated and “read.” In 1984, researchers found at Xunjiansi in Mile County a Yi language couplet painted with the same pigments on two ends of a cliff. By the Nanzhao period, this kind of cliff document had developed into large-scale stone carving, such as the cliff sculptures at Shibao Shan in Jianquan and at Posiwahe in Zhaojue. Such cliff documents have long been treasures for research into early human civilization.
Tile and brick documents. During the excavations in the core area of the Nanzhao kingdom—Weibao Shan—a large number of brick and tile carvings were found. In addition to totemic images, there were a lot of talismans carved with Yiscript. Talismans like these have also been found in stone grottoes at Jianquan, and they survive in great numbers in the foundation of atower in Dayao County known as the Stone Chime Tower.
Metal and stone documents in Yiscript. Yiancestors, organized into tribes and moving from camp to camp, recorded their history by carving many stone stelae and casting many vessels, leaving behind a large quantity of Yi-language metal and stone inscriptions, along with a few bronze mirrors. Metal and stone documents such as these have lasted a long time because of their durable materials and are now valuable sources for research into Yi history.
Oral records. Because the Yiaredispersed in different groups and speak different dialects, if we compare their oral records with those of other peoples, we can say that they are voluminous and detailed, distinctive and praiseworthy, and have long been an important source of culture history. Because study of oral records was developed rather early, oral history has
― 26 ―already become a specialized field, and it will not be treated in more detail here.Books. Because we can trace the origin of Yi writing back ten thousand years, and because it has been used in documents for two or three thousand years, it is no exaggeration to claim, as the old saying goes, that these sources are “plentiful as a sea of smoke, sweating the ox and bending the beams.” According to historical sources, tusi, or local rulers, in various Yi areas carried out large-scale editing projects and established rather large collections of Yi-language books at today's Bijie, Jianshui, Wuding, and Xichang. Later on, because of the gaitu guiliu (replacement of tusi by appointed bureaucrats), Yi-language books were scattered in private collections. Yi books now preserved in Yi areas and around the world probably number over ten thousand titles.
Through analysis and comparison of Yi-language books, we can see that—even though currently preserved Yibooks have a common origin—because they have not yet undergone comprehensive standardization, they display significant differences in different areas, with the three most important styles surviving in Wumeng, Liangshan, and Ailao. According to their content and use, they can be divided into two major categories: religious and ritual books and books for popular use.
Research into Yi books in recent years has produced a large number of monographs, and “those who know wisdom will find wisdom; those who know humaneness will find humaneness,” as they say. But the most important reality is that because Yi books are so widespread, the work of collation and cataloguing is a long way from being completed. In addition, because the great majority of Yi texts are inseparable from ritual activities of bimo, if we try to separate the collation of the texts from their significance for ritual activity,we will never be able to understand their content in depth. For this reason, it is critically important in our work with Yi books to salvage their ritual meaning. Only when we have collected both a large number of books and various kinds of data on ritual can we undertake relatively scientific analysis of traditional Yi books.
Records embodied in material culture. The phenomena of material culture—developed and transmitted across the generations by each people in the process of carrying out cultural activities such as devising dress, food, housing, and transport—carry with them embodied documentary value. This kind of record is better developed than other kinds, because these activities are a response to the needs of the market. But because records of such activities have not heretofore been included in the sphere of scientific research, and because development of the activities themselves has recently been hurried by commercial considerations, there have developed both false and poor quality goods. If the tradition is lost, the results will be unthinkable. For this reason, some preliminary research into historical
― 27 ―records embodied in Yi material culture has been carried out in recent years. The analysis below reveals the pearls hiding in this mud.Residential architecture. Yi peoples developed permanent, fixed housing very early in their history. In the early periods, the majority of people lived up against mountains beside waterways, and so developed the log-cabin style. Later, because of military considerations, the watchtower house built out of cut stone appeared. In their migrations, some branches moved to hot, humid climates, and in order to protect themselves against rain and mitigate the effects of heat, they invented the earthen insulated house, which is characteristic of a few counties, using mud mixed with straw in the walls and roofs of wood-frame houses. During the Nanzhao period, many styles were adopted from neighboring peoples. But the watchtower house remained the primary building style; sites for offerings to ancestral spirits are still built in this style. Watchtower houses were built during the height of the tusi system, right up to the imposing official residence built for Long Yun, governor of Yunnan in the 1930s.
Clothing styles. Because the Yithroughout history comprised a tribal confederation, the culture of each tribe has come down to us as the culture of a“branch” of the Yi. In addition, vestiges of “caste thinking,” resulting from the long-lived slave society, caused Yi clothing culture to differentiate through color, cut, and pattern not only the branch but also the social stratum, marital status, and profession of the wearer.
Foodways. Because the ancestors of the Yi practiced agriculture very long ago, combining rice cultivation with domestic animal husbandry, they developed a culinary culture suited to this lifestyle.
They made alcoholic beverages primarily from grains, using the surplus grain from careful cultivation. Because different grains were grown in different areas, each area developed its own liquors, such as buckwheat liquor, wheat liquor, corn liquor, and rice wine, as well as alcoholic beverages fermented or distilled from a mixture of different grains. From the integration of alcoholic beverages into rites of propitiation for ancestral spirits came the development of drinking vessels as sacred objects, and the hereditary profession of manufacture of these objects. Liquor, drinking vessels, and the drinking songs that developed out of the ancestral ritual libations of different areas coalesced into the so-called alcohol culture typical of the Yi.
One group of Yi ancestors, who migrated to the southern part of Yunnan, began cultivating tea rather early, and a series of distinctive ritual practices of tea drinking developed to please the spirits and to please the practitioners themselves. Examples include the “Weishan eight steps tea,” which has survived to the present as a typical example of the tea culture of the Yi.
― 28 ―Out of the custom of serving the meat of domestic chickens, pigs, cattle, and sheep to entertain guests and worship ancestors, there gradually developed a set of culinary practices. According to tradition, the ancestors of the Yi in their days of glory developed the “eight steps liquor” to welcome guests. They developed too the “jumping of dishes,” a way of serving dishes with dance steps; qiancai, singing about the origin of the food while dividing it among the guests; the “liquor libation,” in which up to 124 dishes were served in a “feast of whole sheep”; and an ordinary feast in which “eight bowls” of pork, mutton, and beef were served to guests. After the banquet, guests were entertained by the “eight steps tea,” a display of dancing and singing. This whole tradition of feasting styles was known as the “three-eight” style of banqueting guests, and formed a distinctive culinary culture.
The Yi thus constituted, developed, and transmitted from generation to generation a rich and varied culture consisting of the categories described above.
RECONSTITUTING THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF YI CULTURE THROUGH YI HISTORICAL RECORDS
In the last few decades, it has been the constant hope of historians to prepare a history that would straighten out the origin of the Yi. But because all of the historical records and interview materials used have their own particular characteristics, all the results announced so far have become the focus of disputatious debates. In extreme cases, published statements have led to ethnic hostility and the phenomenon of “discuss Yi history and blanch with fear.”
I hope that several decades of editing and researching Yi historical records will eventually enable us to reconstitute the historical development of Yi culture and add a new voice to the disputations over Yi history. Here I will use a general summary of the newly edited History of Ancient Yi Culture (Zhang Fu 1999) as a source for some basic information.
The Origins of the Yi
Research on a large number of Yi poems about the creation of the world shows that the majority of the original Yi were probably descendants of ancient humans of the Sichuan-Yunnan border area who gradually developed and expanded their numbers over the course of about a million years; about ten thousand years ago they entered the period of formation of the Yi as a group. During this period, there arose the simplest of primitive human cultures. The early ancestors of the Yi had an animistic outlook, and thought that all life originated in water. Water was created by snowmelt; as it flowed
About ten thousand years ago, Yi people began to invent a form of writing (the signs, which can be read in Yi, found on pottery from about ten thousand years ago during the process of excavating the remains of “Kunming People” at Jinbao Shan in 1980, are an example).
The ancestors of the Yi at about this time mostly lived in riverine or lacustrine lowlands, called bazi in Chinese, and subsisted primarily by rice cultivation supplemented by fishing and hunting, making theirs the earliest agricultural civilization.
The highly involuted topography of the Sichuan-Yunnan area was created by pressure from the collision of the Indian subcontinent, which also exposed many deposits of precious minerals. Their presence resulted in the world's earliest bronze metallurgical activity (in ancient Yi written documents there are records of bronze-smithing; in the Yi classical text Yypuquopu, it is recorded that when the six ancestral branches of the Yi divided, their ceremony of division was conducted at a sacred place known as Bronze Cave). The development of bronze-age culture was one aspect of the primitive culture of this period.
Spurred on by the material and mental cultural advances related above, the ancestors of the Yi gradually evolved into a tribal society. They evolved productive activities that fit ecologically with the particular environment of the bazi, and evolved into separate tribal cultures with particular characteristics (the multiplicity of the current branches of the Yi probably has something to do with this).
Division and Migration
The ancestors of the Yi, in the process of continually improving their means of livelihood, also developed the idea that relatives could marry each other after a certain number of generations (i.e., some groups permitted marriage only after three generations, some only after six, and some only after nine) and thus improved their reproductive capacity.When the population growth outstripped the capacity of the bazi, they began the pattern of dividing into branches and migrating.
A rather complete set of records of the process of division into branches has come down to us, and it contains characteristics of the lineage system typical of the early stages of slave society. For example, it states, “The elder is the lord; the younger is the slave,” and “The issue of stratum endogamy is a lord; the issue of exogamy is a slave.” Younger brothers who did not wish to be slaves could carry out certain rituals, establish themselves as a xing (surname group), move elsewhere, pioneer the area, and establish, according to the traditions of the lineage system, a new hereditary domain. Gradually, over generations, there emerged a “culture of migration,” which included the creation of “migration epics,” a rich and valuable source of historical documentation.
According to numerous Yi historical records, about five or six thousand years ago among the ancestors of the Yi there was a hero, called Zhygge Alur in the Nuosu language, who completed the military conquest of alarge number of tribes and established a tribal confederation, giving himself the royal title (in Yi) of emu, which can be translated as emperor. (According to the account in the historical book Yypuquopu, the symbol of the emu later evolved into the hairstyle of the nobility. It is probably connected with the hairstyles of certain peoples of the Dian culture.) About four thousand years ago, because of destruction caused by floods, the ancestors of the Yi carried out the largest-ever ceremony of tribal division at a place in northeastern Yunnan called either Lenyibo or Lonibo in Yunnan and Guizhou Yi-language books, and Nzyhxolynyiebo in Nuosu.
[3] Editor's note: Again, there is much scholarly speculation about the exact location of this place, but it is generally agreed that it must have been in the area surrounding the current city of Zhaotong, now divided among the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan.
This began the “division of the six branches”—which so greatly influenced the later history of the Yi—and brought about the further enrichment and development of the migratory practices of the Yi.Their migratory activities certainly influenced the cultural relations of the ancestors of the Yi. The particular topography of the Sichuan-Yunnan region and the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau determined the direction of migration along the watersheds of the “six rivers.” This gave these people the possibility of moving eastward along the Upper Yangtze into the area of Ba and Chu (eastern Sichuan and Hubei), moving southward along the Mekong River into Southeast Asia, moving westward across the peaks of the six-river region into the Indian subcontinent and even into Europe, and moving northward upstream into the northwest of China and the north China area. This gave rise to a large-scale cultural interchange of the ancestors of the Yi and, unavoidably, to much mixing of ancestral strains.
Thus, the Yi are a mixed group of diverse origins, one that began with the ancient humans of the Sichuan-Yunnan area; incorporated descendants from Chinese, Mon-Khmer, Aryan, and Mongolian groups; and culminated
The Flourishing of Yi Culture during Nanzhao
Nanzhao (c. 734—902) was the most brilliant period in the development of the ancestors of the Yi, when they developed a polity based on a combination of historical developments—which they recorded in the Classic of Rul ing a Country and Pacifying a Territory—and experiences learned from Han areas. The Classic, a very important text, is lost to posterity, but from a large number of other surviving texts we can reconstitute its essence: the emu was said not only to manage the affairs of the world in concert with the heavenly gods but also to manage the affairs of all the Yi tribes of the time. At that time, Yi tribes were organized as associations of five social statuses—rulers, ministers, priests, artisans, and common people. As recorded in the Classic,“The ruler makes the overall plans; the minister makes concrete decisions; the priest supervises the rituals; the artisan manages indoor labor; and the people cultivate the fields.” Each tribe's administrative territory was demarcated by anywhere from a few to a few tens of boundary rivers. A central administrative area was directly governed by the ruler, minister, and priest, and this area, along with its boundary rivers, was assigned to a mase, or marshal, who held overall military command. Under the mase were several mayi, and the mayi in turn commanded yidu, or battle commanders. The yidu were the lowest level of officialdom, leading military expeditions against other polities under the command of the mayi, capturing prisoners to be used as slaves, and taking direct charge of the labor activities of commoners and slaves in their own areas. From the Classic, it is not difficult to see that this was a set of institutions that served the stratified slave society of the time and had allowed the Yi slave society to continue for several thousand years.
The Yi of the Nanzhao period, because of interactions with neighboring countries, left behind a rich cultural legacy: they gradually developed the architectural, culinary, and sartorial practices described in detail above, as well as music, choreography, and other aspects of high culture.
Music and dance had already reached high levels, owing to the early development of ritual activities and their consequent ritual dances, as well as continuous dance activities for the pleasure of the gods and the participants. Add to this the interaction with neighboring countries, which brought in outside music and dance, and the music and dance of the Yistood out among neighboring ethnic groups and formed an example for others to emulate.
We can thus see that during the development of the Nanzhao, Yi culture not only maintained the traditions of its past but also absorbed much from abroad, becoming a comprehensive culture. Had it been able to continue
Cultural Divergence after the Fall of Dali
The replacement of the Nanzhao and Dali (902—1253) regimes, the collapse of the thirty-seven districts, the scattering of a unified ethnic group, the rise of the different ethnic groups of the Yi language family together comprised the most important change in the southwestern area during this time, and it has an intrinsic connection with Yi historical culture.
Extending throughout the history of the development of the Yi was the continuous thread of descent relations, which gave rise to the primitive practice of ancestral worship and was expressed in ancestral genealogies. People could not escape the limitations of the mountainous topography of the Sichuan-Yunnan region or the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau during their longterm migrations, and so they continued to migrate back and forth along rivers and beside lakes and thus developed cultural commonalities based on the concentration in the bazi, or plains areas. The vertical environmental variety of the high mountains and deep valleys meant that these people had to adapt to different ecological circumstances in the different areas in which they settled, and this gave rise to the changeable nature of their cultures. As a result of historical developments and the accumulation of cultural features, groups gradually developed an independent existence based on tribal culture, which led to collapse of the historical tribal confederation. As soon as the Nanzhao and Dali confederations felt the power of the great armies of Qubilai, they collapsed and the union of the thirty-seven tribes wilted like an ephemeral flower. The divergence of the different ethnic groups of the Yi family was historically inevitable.
As a result, Yiculture developed as multiple streams from the same source, and the division of one ethnic group into a large number of ethnic groups (or branches) spawned multifarious ethnic cultures.
According to evidence found in Yi documents, certain practices evolved: Participation in sacrifices is a fundamental duty of all group members. (Yilanguage books detailing sacrifices to the ancestral spirits are among the most important ritual articles transmitted in bimo households.) Ancestral genealogy must be studied by all adults, and nearness or distance of kinship relationships based on descent is a means for determining relationships between people. The recitation of Scriptures for Showing the Way during sacrifices to the ancestors leads members of the group to know the routes taken by previous generations during their migrations.
Like the archival materials and historical records mentioned above, most
There are several particular characteristics in stories about the origin of the race. For example, the descriptions of the origin story, in which “water gave birth to the myriad creatures, and the dragon nourished the first ancestors,” that appear in the original stories of all of the regional cultures attest to the specific characteristics of “totems” as symbols of clans.
All sorts of characteristics of architecture, food, and dress have been divergent from area to area.
Methods of public praise, along with music and dance, which originally carried specific cultural characteristics, have also had considerable interchange, intermixing, and mutual absorption with other groups, and have developed large-scale differences.
Medicine and pharmacology depend even more on materials occurring naturally in different environments, and undergo selection, so the local nature of Yi medications is particularly apparent. Nevertheless, the intertwining of spirits and medicaments as two kinds of solutions to health problems is a common characteristic of medical documents. So the document Scripture for Exorcising Spirits and Expelling Ghosts is still in use in many Yi villages.
[4] A translation and commentary on a Nuosu version from Zhaojue has recently been published: see Taipei Ricci Institute 1998.
Agriculture, rice growing, and animal husbandry are traditional subsistence practices of the Yi, and success in these governs the ability of Yi populations to flourish or even survive. The need to “divine the day and fix the time for cultivation” is universal among rice-growing and other agricultural cultures all over the world, and the Yi are no exception. For this reason, astronomical texts and the calendar are important Yi historical documents, but because of differences in latitude and elevation encountered in the course of migrations, many different versions of these documents have been developed to suit particular circumstances. The Scripture for Exorcising Spirits and Expelling Ghosts, as well as the Almanacs for Divining the Auspicious and Inauspicious, which guide those who seek divine assistance in countering the inevitable natural disasters and human depredations, testify to the continued relevance of inherited astronomical and calendrical knowledge.
We thus can see that the Yuan and early Ming comprise the period of the maturity of Yi culture, as well as the time when existing Yi historical records received their lasting form.
Pressure from the Outside and the Making of Modern Yi Cultures
Starting in the Ming and Qing periods, central dynasties, implementing their policies of securing the borders and stabilizing the frontiers, constantly sent troops and dispatched military expeditions into ethnic areas. In the vast Yi areas on the distant southwestern frontiers, people were driven from their original areas of occupation into the high mountains and ancient forests. In the wake of the frontier consolidation undertaken by civil and military colonies, and the shock of having native officials replaced with appointed officials, the Yi also experienced the double shocks of the assimilation policy of Han-centered central political authorities and the alienation policy that preserved ethnic cultures and local power. This was a baptism of blood and fire for Yi culture, and a trial of existence or annihilation for ethnic historical documents.
The history of the Yi, which began ten thousand years ago, has been a process of development, maturity, and flourishing; and the cultural documents that have come from it also have a history in which they have changed and then finally assumed a fixed form. As a result, Yi historical documents have taken on a living strength that transcends time and place.
In sum, Yi historical records, the comprehensive carriers of the Yi culture through the long period since its origin, are a rare treasure of human culture because they re-create a ten-thousand-year ethnic history. Studying them can lead us to a greater understanding of ourselves as humans.
2. Nzymo as Seen in Some Yi Classical Books
Wu Jingzhong
Nzymop is a Nuosu-language name for a member of a ruling stratum, a name that has long been used in Yi history, and which means “one who wields power.”
[1] In the romanized form of standard Nuosu orthography, tones are indicated by an iconic “musical scale” graph, with “t” indicating a high tone, “x” a midrising tone, no graph a midlevel tone, and “p” a low falling tone. The standard romanization here is thus nzymop. To prevent unaccustomed English-language readers from interpreting the “p” graph as a bilabial stop, we omit the tone marks in this book.
Nzy and Nzymo are equivalent terms. The suffix -mo occurs in many nominal forms, often indicating large size, high rank, or seniority, and sometimes opposed to -sse, meaning small or junior. Thus bimo is a priest, bisse a disciple; gemo a senior artisan; another gemo is a large wardrobe, while a gesse is a small chest of drawers.
The Yihad a caste society for much of their history; during this time people were divided into several strata with different social positions, and the nzymo was the highest stratum in this society.Because the nzymo held this illustrious position for a long period, they had great influence on every aspect of Yi history. As a result of their close relations with the feudal dynasties throughout history, the study of the nzymo is an important aspect of the study of Yi history.
China's feudal dynasties, beginning with the Yuan, practiced the tusi system among many minority peoples in the northwestern and southwestern areas of the country (see Herman 1997). They enfeoffed existing leaders of these minority peoples as local rulers, giving them titles such as tusi and tumu. The nzymo of the Nuosu in Liangshan were also deputed with the titles tusi and tumu. Consequently, nzymo were mostly referred to as Yi tusi. After the rulers of the Yuan dynasty began enfeoffing the nzymo as tusi and tumu, the Ming and Qing continued the Yuan system. Even though the policy of gaitu
There are many in China's scholarly circles who have researched the tusi system, including quite a few who have studied the tusi system among the Yi. But the bulk of the data for this research has come from Han-language history books or from field investigations. Comparatively few scholars have directly consulted Yi-language classical books for such studies. For this essay, which begins my exploration of the history of the nzymo, I have used material on them recorded in several Nuosu-language books that have come down to us from Liangshan.
Han-language sources are reasonably clear in recording the position of the nzymo from the Yuan dynasty on, but their understanding of them before that time is superficial at best. Yi classical sources are different: they are not arranged according to the successive historical dynasties of China, but rather according to the history of their own people. Because of this, they have relatively rich records of the nzymo in the period before the Yuan, so we can use Yi-language classical books to supplement or strengthen our understanding in places where Han-language sources are incomplete.
We can date the events recorded in Yi historical books to particular Chinese dynasties by using the abundant data found in the father-son linked genealogies of Yi clans, counting thirty years per generation as a standard. By this method, we can not only determine in which historical dynasty a particular nzymo mentioned in Yi historical sources lived, but we can also assign a tentative historical progression to the events found in such sources.
TEXTS USED IN THIS ESSAY
In compiling this essay, I have used four Yi-language texts in particular: Hnewo teyy, Vonre, Hxoyi Ddiggur, and Gamo Anyo.
Hnewo teyy can be roughly translated as The Book of Origins, and it is the most famous Nuosu-language text to come out of Liangshan. It was probably first written down in the Ming period but is clearly based on much older, orally transmitted traditions. It recounts the origin of heaven and earth, as well as the origin and early migrations of the Yi people, along with descriptions of life and society during earlier periods.
[2] There are at least four modern editions available: Jjissy 1980 and Qubi Shimei n.d. are in standardized Nuosu, and SFAS 1960 and Feng 1986 are in Chinese translation.
Vonre can be translated as The Snow Clan. It too appears to be a collection of orally transmitted stories that was compiled in written form sometime during the Ming. It describes the origin of humanity, as well as life in earlier times and the genealogies and migration histories of many Yi clans (Leng 1983).
Hxoyi Ddiggur takes its name from its principal character, a retainer of the famous nzymo Miajy. In the course of recounting the exploits of its hero, the book gives detailed descriptions of life in his time, which was probably sometime during the Tang period. Several versions of the story were recorded at various times during the Ming and Qing periods at different places in Liangshan (Ggelu 1986).
Gamo Anyo also takes its name from its principal character, in this case a beautiful woman who probably lived in Ming times. The tragic story of the heroine has been sung by bards for several hundred years all over Liangshan; recently, modern scholars have collected and collated this material to form the present book.
THE ORIGINS OF THE NZYMO
With regard to the time and origin of the nzymo, there are many questions that remain to this day. We can explore them through Yi-language histories and Nuosu genealogies.
According to Nuosu genealogies, nzy originated twenty-five generations after the Yibecame patrilineal, at the time of Vobbuddebbu. The period covering from the time of Vobbuddebbu to that of the original ancestors of the Liangshan Nuosu, Gguhxo and Qoni, encompasses about ten generations, or about three hundred years. And the period from Gguhxo and Qoni to the present encompasses about seventy generations. If one generation averages thirtyyears, we find that the nzy appeared about twenty-four hundred years ago. Naturally, this is not a precise date, but we can see that they originated quite long ago.
It is difficult today to discover the original circumstances under which the nzy first appeared, but we can gain a glimpse from the tradition of the origin of the Lynge nzymo of Liangshan. Many years before, according to this tradition, among the ancestors of the Lynge nzymo there were seven brothers. Among the seven, who would be nzymo? Their old mother thought of a way to decide.
At that time, all of Liangshan was dense forest, with many wild animals that often disrupted people's lives. Near where the Lynge lived there was a fierce beast who frequently caused trouble, even to the point of stealing corpses from the cremation ground. Because of this, the old mother suggested to her sons that they eliminate this beast in order to prevent it from stealing her corpse after she died. Whoever distinguished himself as a hero
The preceding tale demonstrates that the nzy originated in the struggle between humans and nature. The conditions for becoming nzy are, first, courage and a positive contribution; second, respect for the elderly. From this it is apparent that the elders, represented by the mother, played an important role in deciding who became nzy. This example is not necessarily the first example of the origin of a Yi nzymo, but it demonstrates that at that time nzy were chosen according to definite standards.
EARLY NZYMO AS RECORDED IN THE HNEWO TEYY AND OTHER TEXTS
What was it like for the early nzymo? Yi classical books, as represented by this excerpt from the Hnewo teyy, offer some hints:
Leading people and horses from his own command, they moved around for a long time on the two banks of the Jinsha River, looking for an ideal place to settle. Their route went from Miti to Galumobbo [now Leibo], then to Guzyjjiggur [now Xiongba], and then along the Lagu Mountains: Sakulurjjo—Mohxoladda [Mabian]—Jiejyyydda [Ebian]—Jjieggurgalo [Ganluo]—Pohxoladda [Puxiong]—Xinziladda [Yuexi]—Xiddoladda [Xide]—Aqybilu [Hongmo in Mianning]—Nieyylyjjo [Anningchang in Xichang]—Labbuorro [Xichang]—Mutedoli [Daxing Chang]—Salandipo [Lanba, Zhaojue]—Syngaladda [Sikai, Zhaojue]—Hxuoggurjojjo [Zhaojue]—Limuzhuhxi [Zhuhe]—Yyyishuonuo [Huangmaokeng]—Rawalomo—Tejjoladda—Nyungelolo. Afterward he exhorted his descendants to continue the effort, and they finally settled at Zzyzzypuvu.
This description of migration is the history of several generations of people continually searching for an ideal dwelling place. The story reflects the difficulty of such a search in the face of natural adversity and social confusion in Liangshan. Migration under the leadership of the nzy was continuous because many places did not meet the nzy's ideal.
First there were the poor natural conditions. For example, in Miti “there were trees on the mountains, and no water in the valleys.” In Guzyjjiggur the climate was cold: “The land was cold as a mud pillar, the wind blew through the branches like a flute; . . . the grass stalks were like swords.” Ganluo was a place where the wild animals lurked: “A place where wild game sharpened their teeth.” Yyyishuonuo was a place where “the long grass that grew was poison grass; when Yi people touched it they were poisoned; when Han people touched it they, too, were poisoned, and would die from poisoning in a day.”
In some places, local customs were peculiar, and the nzy did not want to
[3] Editor's note: Nuosu often use pairs of animals to distinguish themselves from Han. Water buffalo (who live in the lowlands only) are Han; oxen (who can thrive in the highlands) are Nuosu. Similarly, goats (who have beards) are Han, while sheep (who have no beards) are Nuosu.
The Han wrap their heads in cloth turbans; Han women wear narrow trousers.”In some places, the social environment was dangerous. In Galumobbo (Leibo), “sons of the nzymo were imprisoned.” In Xinziladda (Yuexi), “the male eagle is eaten by the frog and pollutes nine ranges of mountains;
[4] The numbers 9, 90, 900, etc. are used in many Yi sources to indicate a large number. They should not be taken literally. For uses of 9 and its multiples in a different context, see Qubi and Ma, chapter 6 in this volume.
the crow drinks human blood and pollutes nine villages; the white dog gnaws human bones and pollutes nine households; the raven swallows the ashes of the cremation ground and pollutes nine patches of forest.” In Jjotumuggu (today's Haogu), “evil spirits gather, and you have to watch your head all day long.” In Hxoggurjjojo, “there are a painted saddle and bridle on the brown horse—if the lord is strong the lord rides; if the slaves are strong the slaves ride; there is no division between high and low.” And in Nimuzhuhxe there are an intolerable number of guests: “The guests gather like clouds; if the hosts' wooden serving dishes are enough, still there are not enough spoons: if you can offer hot food and drink, you still can't offer hot soup.”At that time, the nzymo also paid great attention to the family's ability to select marriage partners. The nzy chose only from among the leading families of any clan or tribe. Yi classical books record the situation of intermarriage among the six zu.
[5] Editor's note: The six zu, or ancestors, occur in classical Yi texts from many parts of the southwest; many scholars believe that these six legendary ancestors, who are said to have founded the various Yi peoples of today, were actually six tribes that dispersed from a common point of origin, usually thought to be somewhere in Yunnan.
When members of the Vonre clan were seeking affines, the Ggeqo clan came to marry; when Hxuohe were looking for affines, Ggenbo came to marry; when Bbuhmu were looking for affines, Shynra came to marry. This demonstrates that leaders of various clans came to arrange marriages. The Vonre also says, “When Legge had passed one generation, Vositi came to marry; when Legge had passed two generations, Voddibo came to marry; when Legge had passed three generations, Voddile came to marry; when the fourth generation was reached, Votinyi came to marry,” and so forth.Another point that deserves our attention is that at this time nzymo were particularly concerned with trying to expand the population. This is not difficult to understand. And population increase was connected with the ritual activity called nimu,
[6] Editor's note: The syllable rendered mu in the Romanized orthography is in fact pronounced as a syllabic m, with no accompanying vowel. Nimu is thus pronounced nim.
which means ancestor worship (see Bamo 1994). In the Vonre there is a story of the flourishing of the human population because of nimu:“The two eldest sons, Vo and Nra, lived at Chochulaie, and Vo and Nra did nimu together, and between them they had nine sons, whose descendants flourished all over the world.” It also says that “Siti did six nimu,” and he too had nine sons. The Ashuo clan also had six sons as a result of ancestor worship, and also began to be prominent at this time. In sum, people at that time thought the flourishing of the human population was closely connected with the performance of religious rituals.NZYMO AS SEEN IN THE VONRE AND OTHER CLASSICAL TEXTS
About thirty generations after Gguhxo, there was a period of great flourishing of Yi culture, and at this time many famous nzymo, such as Heatu, appeared.
According to genealogies, from Heatu (also called Ahe Atu) to the present there have been about forty-five generations; if we figure thirtyyears per generation, Heatu probably lived about thirteen hundred years ago, during the Tang period. He was born in a place called Yyyyhxeke, and Yi-language books refer to the period following his birth as the time of Heatu. In the texts we find many references to his mark on history.
According to Yi-language history books, Heatu belongs to the line of Gguhxo: “After leaving Yyyyhxeke, Gguhxo performed ancestral sacrifices, and his clan divided into branches: one was Helinge, who lived on Lepu Mountain; one was Hessely, who lived at Vovyddirro; one was Herromi, who lived at Mahnibbovu; one was Herrovy, who lived at Ddipuhxeke; one was Helenge, who lived at Lengeshoshy; one was Heavy, who lived at Avyjjurrro; one was Heatu. In the time of Heatu, they moved away from Cheyuyu to live at Yyyyhxeke.” This shows that Heatu belonged to a branch of Gguhxo's line.
Heatu's mother was called Ddijysasse. The Vonre says, “In the time of Heahxo, at the place called Kilinreggo they established marriage relations with the Dijyshuote clan; the bride was called Ddijysasse; she was the mother of Heatu.”
At the time of nzymo Ahe Atu, there were also Mo Ahe Avy and Bi Ahe Aggo. A mo was a mediator of disputes, and a bi was responsible for sacrifices to the dead. Because of this, the time of Heatu is also referred to as the time of the three worthies. The situation of the nzymo at this time is as follows: In subsistence pursuits, hunting had an important place. According to the Vonre,
The text Hxoyi Ddiggur records the story of the hunting hero Hxoyi Ddiggur. According to the book, he was a thirty-sixth-generation descendant of Gguhxo. If Gguhxo lived twenty-one hundred years ago, then Hxoyi Ddiggur lived about twelve hundred years ago, and this makes him a contemporary of Ahe Atu. One of Hxoyi Ddiggur's claims to fame was that he became a close companion and an accomplished hunter as a follower of Nzy Miajy and Miajy's family. He also hunted with dogs. It is said that he took along three packs of dogs when he hunted. On the first day, he bagged only a few rabbits. Because Ddiggur did not eat rabbit meat or rabbit soup, he divided the meat among his dogs, so the dogs were particularly obedient; on a later day he bagged a beaver, and on another day a muntjac (small deer); both times he gave the meat to his dogs in order to train them. Later, in a cedar forest, he bagged three small river deer. Ddiggur tanned the three deer hides and gave them to three old people, who used them as bags to carry roasted flour and eggs. He also bagged three musk deer and gave the musk to nine boys. The boys, carrying the musk, went to nine different places. Thus they brought the smell of musk to nine places and also carried Ddiggur's fame to nine places. At the same time, Ddiggur had not forgotten the labor of his hunting dogs: he took out the innards of the river deer and gave them to the dogs, making the dogs even more obedient.
Later, Ddiggur bagged a doe. This day, Ddiggur was even happier, and he jumped for joy on the way home; the worth of the doe was even greater. For one thing, the antlers were long and had nine points. For another, the doe's meat was plentiful: there were nine layers on the legs. Because of this, Nzy Miajy's family was also happy. All this bounty was the result of Ddiggur's abilities. Nzy Miajy himself got up to welcome him, and he got out liquor for him to drink. The venison was cooked in nine large pots, and nine villages all received shares of the meat. People in the nine villages all ate the meat and felt very satisfied.
This book also discusses the fact that when Hxoyi Ddiggur went hunting, Nzy Miajy and his family all considered it very important: they were concerned
Another component of hunting, in addition to dogs, was bows and arrows. When animals were driven (by dogs) for Mokeddirry to shoot, “in his left hand, he held a copper bow, which was curved and morecurved; in his right hand he held his iron arrows, which were sharp and more sharp.” He ran into a man called Bylussechy. This man was probably rather poor, since he was carrying a wooden bow and bamboo arrows. Afterward, he ran into Nzy Miajy, who was carrying a bow and arrows of the finest kind: “In his left hand he held a silver bow, and in his right hand golden arrows.” Hxoyi Ddiggur had an array of hunting weapons: in addition to the bow and arrows, he had a knife, nets, and other implements.
Hxoyi Ddiggur also records that when Ddiggur went hunting, he ran into animals that he offered to spirits. After killing a river deer, he took out the deer's gallbladder and put it in the fork of a tree. Afterward, he inserted it in three directions—east, west, and north. This is clearly an offering to a spirit. It seems quite natural that people would have held this sort of belief at that time.
There is another aspect of subsistence in the time of Nzymo Ahe Atu that we should pay close attention to: tea. Nowadays, in the Nuosu core areas of Sichuan, the custom of drinking tea has disappeared. But historically Yi people were very fond of it, as noted in the Vonre. When the descendants of Heatu lived at a place called Shygulur, they ran into a large snake with yellow and black stripes. People took this to be a spirit of a cedar tree, and perhaps also a spirit who would protect people. When they gave it room to retreat, it did not retreat. Even when they took off their silver jewelry to plead with it to retreat, it did not retreat. Finally, when Bi Ahe Ago made an offering of tea, it left:
They went to a place above the village; above the village there were tea plants; they picked three trays of leaves.
They went to a place below the village; below the village there was water for brewing tea; they brewed three cups of tea.
One cup they placed before the fog; the fog retreated to the layers of clouds.
One cup they placed before the rain; the rain retreated to the mountains. One cup they placed before the snake; the snake retreated to the woods.
Today the custom of drinking tea remains in only a few Nuosu areas.
[7] In the Anning River valley and areas to the west, where Nuosu live mixed with Han, Prmi, and other ethnic groups, they drink different kinds of tea, including bitter tea reminiscent of local Han practice, and yak-butter tea with salt, where Tibetan-influenced people such as the Prmi live. It is clear that they did not bring the custom there but learned tea drinking from their neighbors.
But even in the places where people do not drink tea, traces still remain of customs that indicate respect for tea. For example, in some places, tea is offered to spirits during religious ceremonies. In some places, tea is given to affines during marriage ceremonies to show respect. In ordinary speech, Yi people still mention tea and rice together.In terms of politics, at this time the nzy already held power over the masses and had many special privileges. In several classical books there are records of nzy who had great power and authority. Ango Ngole, as recorded in the book Hxoyi Ddiggur, was a nzymo with great power. He even caused bimo who had been invited to perform ceremonies to be put to death, something rarely encountered in society at that time. He also cruelly killed the father of the subject of this book, Ddiggur. This family of nzymo lived at Jyssy in Ganluo. They were extremely rich and had political influence over a wide area. They also had a precious sword that could not be unsheathed, because it was said that as soon as it was unsheathed it would wound people. They had wolf dogs who could kill people, and a book that could manifest all sorts of spirits; any person's secret could be found out by means of that book. When Ango Ngole went out he was an awe-inspiring figure: “Riding a fine horse, he had nine thousand preceding him and nine hundred following; and another ninety in the clouds and mist.”
Also recorded is the story of Nzy Miajy, whose family resided at Zzyzzylajjie. He too was extremely rich: he had a magnificent dwelling; a glistening precious sword; a colt with a radiant voice; large herds of pigs, cattle, and sheep; a great pack of hunting dogs whose barking was thunderous; and so on.
The many Yi-language classical books that tell about Nzy Ahe Atu also mention Mo Ahe Avy and Bi Ahe Aggo as his helpers in governing. The records show that the three traveled everywhere in search of an ideal dwelling place, and that they sacrificed chickens and dogs in religious rituals in order to solidify the slaveholding system.
At that time, the nzymo of the Yialready kept slaves, or lurjji; this is recorded quite clearly in the texts. In Hxoyi Ddiggur, slaves and servants appear prominently among those who do the work to prepare for a hunt and among those
Yi-language texts also record that when Heatu was leading the people in their migrations, he continuously experienced conflicts with other branches of the Yi and with other peoples. These were sometimes quite violent; the Vonre records several instances of particularly large-scale battles. One occurred at a place called Yyyyhxeke, a conflict in which Heatu and his people conquered the Vo'ozzur people. In another they defeated the Legge Yi people. The text also mentions that they fought the Pu and the Ba peoples; they pursued and killed the Pu until they came to a place called Puqyyysi, where they chased the Pu to a place under a cliff. Important here is that every time there was a fight, Ahe Atu consulted his own followers at length before going into action. For example, in the battle with the Vo'ozzur, “these three worthies [Nzy Heatu, Mo Ahe Avy, and Bi Ahe Aggo], after consultation, sent out their fighters and rustled the cattle of the Vo'ozzur. They killed a thousand of the enemy, and they brought back hundreds of cattle.” During the consultations, they ate “cattle of consultation,” that is, an ox sacrificed for the consultations. When the Vonre mentions their fights with the Vo'ozzur, it also notes that only after earnest consultations do they attack. As a result of their battle, the Ahe clan achieve a complete victory, kill many of the enemy, and bring back much of the enemy's livestock as prizes.
The story of internal conflicts among the Yi told in the Hxoyi Ddiggur is even more detailed and interesting. The two clans of Ajy and Agge had been at odds for many years, and the situation had developed to the point where they were drawing arrows against each other. Finally, when Ddiggur, a member of the Ajy clan, returned to his original home to visit his sick mother, the Agge clan sent a scout to check out this affair. They proposed a scheme: the Ajy, led by Nzy Miajy, had a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses, but what the Agge were really after was one person: Hxoyi Ddiggur. Now, since Ddiggur was not at home, this was a great opportunity to attack; one stroke would guarantee victory. So the Agge launched a large-scale attack on the Ajy.
In the first stage of the fight, because the Ajy had made relatively good preparations and particularly since they had an enchanted bugle that could rouse the military spirits, they won the battle. But later on, in another battle, their bugle was captured and they lost the battle. After this, the Ajy could
As the Agge prepared to execute Miajy, they asked him if he had any final wishes. He said that as an nzy he was not afraid to die, but he had to die in a particular way. He wanted to leap to his death, and they consented. His motivation was, first, to demonstrate in front of the enemy that an nzy was not afraid to die; but second and more important, he hoped that while he was being chased, Ddiggur would come to rescue him. He delayed his final leap—he “leapt around below the slope three times, and leapt around above the slope three times, but still Ddiggur did not come.”
Hxoyi Ddiggur was extremely brave and very loyal to Nzy Miajy. Also, he was very organized, which gave him the ability to be a military leader. When he got back to Miajy's home, he resolved to come to his aid against the enemy and immediately organized Miajy's fighters for a counterattack against the Agge clan. In the end he defeated them.
There are several things in this counterattack by Ddiggur that deserve our attention. First, he convened a council of warriors called a momge. At the council, he talked about the duty to defeat the enemy on behalf of Nzy Miajy. He used the reasoning that “if you don't protect a crop, the whole field will be stolen; if you don't protect a family, the whole bunch will be made captive; if you don't protect a person [the ruler], the whole territory will be occupied.” And in preparation for this council he brewed liquor, which he invited all the participants to drink.
He also made military preparations, which included gathering armaments and provisions, and recruited fighters. With regard to recruiting, the text says: “He sent out ten young men to four places to recruit fighters. ...Before they went to recruit there were already nine thousand fighters; recruiting doubled the number.” This demonstrates that the men were enthusiastic about fighting.
The organization and armaments of the fighting force were also quite magnificent. In the ranks “there were officers and there were soldiers; they were divided into the main force and the scout squad, the spear-and-shield infantry and the archers. There was also a swordsmen's company following.” The dress of each force was different: “The spear infantry wore yellow capes; the archers wore white capes; the swordsmen wore red capes. To the eye it was a full field of yellow.”
When Ddiggur's army moved to attack the Agge troops, they presented a magnificent military spectacle. The text records that at every mountain, bridge, or pass, there were armies passing by; their “spear shafts were like cedar trees, their spear points were like stars; the wall of their shields was like a great cliff; their shin guards leapt like jumping fish; when they drew their swords, there was a great flash of light.”
When Ddiggur'sforces arrived at the territory of the Agge and began their
The text also records that among the observers of the battle was a woman called Leggemo Ala, who reflected on the reasons why Ddiggur's army won, comparing his army with the troops led by Ajy. In the text, it says that the comportment of Ddiggur's troops was regulated and disciplined without violation, but that “Ajy's troops were not concerned with courtesy or discipline, and no matter where they went, they asked people to give way.” They frightened people into saying, “If you don't make way for them, the spears will prod people and the swords will wound people; the fine horses will stampede people.” Because of this, the ordinary people were all afraid of them and did not give them aid. But Ddiggur's forces were different: they understood manners and courtesy, so no matter where they went, they had friends. This kind of a fighting force “would definitely win whenever they fought.”
In the time of Nzy Ahe Atu, there were many circumstances covered by religious ritual, as stated earlier. For example, when clans divided, the “crossing over” sacrifice had to be made to the ancestors; the Vonre says, “Crossing over must be done for the partition of the clan.” If a large-scale death occurred while the clan was moving from one place to another, then they had to have a bimo do a ritual to chase it away. When Nzy Miajy fought a battle, he mustered the troops and horses with a bugle whose sound could reach Heaven. There is also the case of Nzy Ahe Atu killing a chicken or dog in order to solidify the boundary between master and slave. All of these demonstrate the utility of religious ritual for social control by the nzymo.
NZYMO AS SEEN IN GAMO ANYO
This book is about the unfortunate occurrences in the life of a beautiful woman called Gamo Anyo. Her clan belonged to the descendants of Gguhxo. The clan home was in a place called Jiejyyyda (which is in present-day Ebian County). According to Yigenealogies, there were fifty-three generations from Gguhxo to Anyo, and thirty-one more generations from Anyo to the present day, meaning that Anyo lived about six hundred years before the present, in the early Ming period. The material in the text, in addition to telling Anyo's story, reflects conditions of that time.
According to the text, the status of the nzymo had developed greatly by then. All had titles from the Chinese imperial dynasties. One of the central
The book also speaks of the Lili nzymo, the Shama nzymo, and the Zyndi nzymo, all of whom were powerful, each ruling his own territory. In addition there was also one evil ruler called Nzy Apopo, who was feared by everybody.
At that time, the economy of the Nuosu under the rulership of the nzymo compares favorably with that of the present day. Hunting and fishing are things that the Nuosu could not entirely forsake, but these had already fallen to a distinctly secondary place. Agriculture and animal husbandry had become the most important economic activities. The people still used swidden methods in farming, but they concentrated on growing oats and bitter buckwheat on large farms. The Yi had also developed sericulture in the Jiejyyyda area by this time, and they could themselves weave beautiful silks. Sheepherding was even more important—the book specifically describes the beauty of a fat sheep: “A white domestic sheep, a sheep of the place called Yyyihxoshy, it eats the grasses of the high mountain pastures, it drinks the water of the Dadu River. The horns of the sheep are curved and curved again, its bleat sounds to faraway places, its loins are thick and sturdy. Its tail is fat and beautiful; when it goes to pasture it walks in front; when it comes back in, it walks in back. We shear the wool of the ram to make a white cape; Anyo is beautiful when she wears it.”
One particularly noteworthy point is that at this time the Yi were already trading with people in Han and Tibetan areas. The story tells of fine liquors bought from Chengdu, of large-grained, snow-white rice bought from Jiading, and of jewelry bought from Kangding.
In wartime the beautiful lady Anyo of the house of Nzymo Ngafu was captured, and there was a war with her captors. In addition to recording the use of daggers, arrows, and long spears by the brave and strong fighters of the Ngafu, the book mentions Nzymo Ngafu Muga using mounted cavalry. This is rare in Yi warfare. Even more extraordinary is the mention of both men's and women's fighting units. This is otherwise unknown.
There are also considerable records of religious activity. Among them are records of the Bimo Ashy Lazzi, famous in Liangshan Yi history. The clan of the Nzymo Apopo employed Ashy Lazzi to conduct rituals. But then Lazzi received news that Nzymo Apopo was plotting to kill him and capture his daughter.
CONCLUSION
The Nuosu-language historical sources described in this essay show that Nuosu historical writing is concerned primarily with politics, economy, marriage, religion, and warfare. If we compare the content of these sources with what has been published in other sources, the following points deserve to be emphasized:
Marriage. Nuosu have a long history of practicing stratum endogamy. In this way, Nuosu rulers have preserved their so-called purity of blood and noble status. This long-lasting system of status endogamy was already in place at the time of the two ancestors of two thousand years ago, Gguhxo and Qoni.
Hunting. The hunting economy had an important place in Yi society for a long time. Descriptions of hunting are recorded in several Nuosu historical books, and in some of them hunting is recorded in great detail. This is quite a different picture from that given in other contemporary accounts, which emphasize the early importance of pastoralism.
Warfare. That Yihave historically been a martial people is well known. This is richly expressed in several of the Nuosu historical books; many of the accounts are detailed and lively. This has great value for research into historical Nuosu warfare.
Religion. Religion has had an important place in Yi society from ancient times to the present. From Nuosu-language sources, we can see the development of Yi religion, as well as the changing attitudes of the nzymo stratum toward religion.
In conclusion, only by investigating nzymo through the use of Yi-language historical sources can we gain a comparatively complete, objective, and scientific view of the role of the nzymo throughout Yi history.