My latest artwork: Naxi Woman with Blue Shawl

Naxi Woman with Blue Shawl

Lashi village, China

Color Pencil ©2016 Melissa Enderle

For eighty-three years I have trod through the narrow lanes of my small village - first to my parents’ home, and then to my azhu's family farm. I loved living with my nai nai; now I get to enjoy the laughter of my grandchildren as they run through the family courtyard or play with the kittens. Even though my son says I don’t have to go to the market to sell vegetables, I quite like it, for it gives me something to do and a chance to chat with the other women. With a basket securely fastened to my cape, I slowly make my way to the tiny market, chatting with friends along the way.

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A Bit of the Naxi and Tibetan Elements

Upon entering the Zhiyun Temple, I felt transported back to Dharamsala, the Indian enclave for Tibetan refugees. Prayer wheels of varying sizes where rotated by devotees who looked more Tibetan than Chinese. Rainbow colors adorned the walls.

Santu, Naxi god of fighting and agriculture

 However, there were visual elements that differed from that of the Tibetan temples of Dharamsala. My guide explained that Zhiyun Temple, built in 1727, also includes elements of the Naxi, Bai, and Han people. Himself a member of the Naxi ethnic group, my guide told me that the sculpture above was Santu, the Naxi god of fighting and agriculture.

Cycle of Incarnation

This menacing looking figure displays the cycle of Incarnation. The commoners depicted in one section of the wheel wore the traditional clothing of the Bai people. The large lower section on hell-like suffering contained some rather gruesome illustrations. Full of symbolism, I did later recognize the same tiger skin displayed at the Mu Family temple in Lijiang.

Incense and smoke filled the air.

Murals filled the walls, adorned with guardians, gods, and other imagery, all depicted in curvilinear, colorful styles. I would have loved to have learned more about the imagery on the walls and elsewhere in the temple. Alas, we had to move on.

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The Women at the Gate

At the town square in the heart of the old town of Baisha was a large gate. Sitting at each side of the gate were several women, chit chatting with their displayed vegetables for sale. With their distinctive Naxi blue aprons, blue caps, dark pants, and a T-shaped cape, their ethnicity was immediately recognizable. 

Note the baskets next to one of the women. The basket is used to haul produce and other goods. The cape helps protect the rubbing of the basket on the woman's back. Over my time in Yunnan, I would see many women walking through the towns carrying baskets on their backs.

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A Funeral with Watermelons and Turbans

On our way out of Shuhe, we suddenly encountered a mass of people. A member of the Naxi ethnic group, my guide instantly recognized the reason for the gathering - a funeral. As I quickly closed the doors of the car, I saw some large floral wreaths being carried away (see bottom photo for a glimpse of the back end of one wreath near its upper left side). Instead of a hearse, the pallbearers carried the blanket-covered body through the street. Some of the mourners wearing white turbans knelt on the street right next to where I quickly had positioned myself. I spotted a framed B&W photo of a Naxi woman in her traditional clothing, presumably the deceased. 

Women were together in a line, and men formed another.  Snacks were available, such as watermelon and sunflower seeds. A woman even came up and offered some of the refreshing summer fruit to me. 

Carrying the body through the street

Funeral procession, with the floral wreaths in the distance and blanketed body near the center

Almost as quickly as the procession had arrived on the street, it had moved onward. It was time for us to drive to the nearby Baisha town to see the embroidery.

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Three Wells

Clean water was a highly regarded resource to the Naxi people in Yunnan, China. In its villages where I visited, streams and canals were a dominant feature. When walking through the village of Shuhe, I saw these three pools/wells with a signpost. Streams were guided by farmers into the village, where they were diverted into three small pools; the first one for drinking/cooking, second pond for washing food, and the third for washing clothes. 

Nowadays, most homes have their own indoor water, but some people (as this woman) still make use of these public pools. Even now, the water looked rather clear.

How different this scene is to what I recalled from my time in India, particularly the Adyar River which flowed close to my apartment in Chennai. How fitting that The Hindu, one of India's main newspapers, wrote and compared the waterways of the Yunnan region to that of the main rivers in India. 

Adyar River, Chennai

Sunrise silhouettes obscures some of the garbage strewn along the fowl-smelling Adyar River

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