China's Last Matrilineal World
The Female Family Line of the Mosuo in Western China
Interviews and Articles by Zihan Yuan
Having an estimated population of 50,000 people, the Mosuo are believed to have China's last existing matrilineal society.
In the remote areas around the Lugu Lake (Yunnan and Sichuan, China) live the Mosuo people - people of the ethnic minority Naxi who are believed to live by their unique matrilineal culture stemming from approximately 2,000 years ago.
to see the influences of matrilineality, the social arrangement of tracing kinship of the "mother's line", on the Mosuo society, and to what extent it shapes gender roles in the context of a society in contrast to the mainstream, patrilineal one.
In Walabi Village, the Yunnan village home to over 400 Mosuo individuals across 90 households, we interviewed 10 Mosuo households (over 80 people) about their family lives...
Gao Bi Ma, credit: Zihan Yuan
Bin Ma Bu Chi
"Women are the head of houses"
The most distinctive feature of walking marriage is that “men and women do not marry in a traditional sense.” In fact, after entering a walking marriage, both partners would continue to live in their respective maternal households, and their kids would belong to the mother's family."Us women have naturally become the head of houses," said Bin Ma Bu Chi.
As the Mosuo society remains an agricultural economy, in a typical Mosuo family consisting of 8 to 12 members, the role of a woman is usually not so much different from the typical gender role of women in a self-subsistence economy: women typically take care of a poultry farm and feed the children while men do the plowing and other physically-tiring tasks.
However, with the role of "head of houses", Mosuo women typically handle the "big matters" in a household: for example, a female head-of -house is usually the financial manager of a Mosuo family.
Bin Ma Bu Chi, credit: Zihan Yuan
Mosuo-styled wedding dress Gei Ru La Chu has prepared for her daughter
Gei Ru La Chu
"In the walking marriage of the Mosuo matrilineal tradition, the husband and wife do not really marry each other but continue to live separately, but it doesn't mean my husband is completely absent from my matrilineal family"
Gei Ru La Chu, credit: Zihan Yuan
"My husband continues to be associated with his mother's family, of course, after marriage," said Gei Ru La Chu. "That doesn't mean that we do not contact each other at all. In fact, he is not entirely absent from the upbringing of his biological children - when 'our kids' were younger, he would send money home and provide some financial support, even though he is not directly part of our household."
However, Gei Ru La Chu also acknowledged that overall, in walking marriage, husbands tended to be less involved in his biological children’s upbringing compared to women and the children’s uncles on the maternal side: the basic living and educational expenses of the children would primarily be covered by the maternal family. "My husband is also an uncle in his mother's family and needs to care for the children in his extended family too, and we respect that," said Gei Ru La Chu.
Bu Jia Da Shi Ma
"Bride prices? We don't care."
In the walking marriage tradition, the husband and wife do not form a single social unit of their own. Therefore, economic bonds become weaker, resulting in a typical Mosuo attitude toward marriage being largely based on mutual affection rather than socio-economic power dynamics.
"Bride prices? We don't care," remarked Bu Jia Da Shi Ma.
“In the past, there was no special engagement ceremony. With improved living conditions, my children might have casual forms of bride prices/gifts. However, I still believe the financial background of one is never an important factor for my children to consider when entering marriage - what truly matters is that they are genuinely happy being with each other."
Bu Jia Da Shi Ma, credit: Zihan Yuan
Yi Jin
"My only daughter made sacrifices for the family when she decided to come back as a new head-of-house in replace of me... There was a trade-off between her old job in Lasha and being a Mosuo head-of-house here."
73-year-old Yi Jin only has one daughter. Her daughter Er Che Ma was once a hotel manager in Lasha, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. 5 years ago, she returned home to take on the role of the new-generation-head-of-house in replace of her mother Yi Jin.
"There was a conflicting voice in me," recalled Er Che Ma, "but as the only girl in my generation, after much thought I decided to consider my Mosuo family at large. This (returning home, taking on the role of a Mosuo head-of-house, and giving up the job of a hotel mamager) is a decision I never felt regretful about."
Yi Jin, credit: Zihan Yuan
Du Zhi Ma
"I learned hand-weaving from my mother.
My way of empowering others is spreading the Mosuo traditional hand-weaving craft in those unemployed women in my village."
60-year-old Du Zhi Ma is a provincial-level inheritor of the Mosuo traditional hand-weaving craft. Since 2003, Du Zhi Ma has transformed her home into a workshop, leading local Mosuo women in hand-weaving.
In later years, however, the growing tourist economy in Lugu Lake led to machine-made textiles becoming a lucrative commodity in tourist sites. Many Mosuo textile makers lost jobs when hit by this economic trend. To avoid hand-weaved crafts of the Mosuo people became something that would fade away in the future and create more job opportunities for the Mosuo (especially Mosuo women), Du Zhi Ma decided to register copyrights for the Twelve Mosuo Traditional Patterns only for the Mosuo people in April 2010, preserving the originality of the Mosuo hand-weaving craft while empowering many others like her to add value into a wider society beyond Walabi village.
Du Zhi Ma, credit: Zihan Yuan
A More Intimate Glance
The Mosuo Grandmother's Room
A repeating theme of the Mosuo architectural design, the Grandmother's Room, regardless of size, is present in all Mosuo houses. According to Yi Jin (73), the Mosuo people of her generation migrated from the mountains down to the Walabi Village (closer to the Lugu Lake) in the last century. However, the design of the Grandmother's Room accompanied the Mosuo people all the time every time they moved and new houses were built.
What makes the Grandmother's Room so unique and indispensable?
"It is a room that symbolizes life," said our interviewees.
The centerpiece of every Grandmother’s Room is the fireplace, which symbolizes care and protection in the Mosuo matrilineal culture.
A corner of the Mosuo Grandmother's Room, credit: Zihan Yuan
Like many elders in their seventies, Xiong Na Yi Jin now resides in the Grandmother's Room. From a practical perspective, the eldest female of a Mosuo family (usually the grandma) would cook for the family using the fireplace. Historically, in the past, the Mosuo used to give birth in the Grandmother's Room. In these ways, the Grandmother's Room is a significant place to the Mosuo emblematic to the cycle of life and celebrating the role of Mosuo women in carrying this "lifely" role.
Open Discussion
Matriarchal VS Matrilineal?
There has been a heated debate on the differences between "matriarchal" and "matrilineal". It is important to acknowledge there are nuances between the two, and hopefully this virtual tour of the Mosuo matrilineal culture could inspire thinking of the relationship between the female family line (characterized by matrilineality by definition) and the power, rights, and lives of women in the context of China's last existing matrilineal society (whether it constitutes a matriarchal world).
Zihan (Emma) Yuan
Student Journalist
Special thanks to:
A'Qi Ni Ma Ci Er
Cultural Preservation Worker, Interview and Research Partner
The Mosuo Family at Walabi Village
