China's Last Matrilineal World
The Female Family Line of the Mosuo in Western China
Interviews and Articles by Zihan Yuan
The Female Family Line of the Mosuo in Western China
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 Lugu Lake (Yunnan and Sichuan Province, China) live the Mosuo people, a branch of the Naxi ethnic minority who are believed to maintain a unique matrilineal culture dating back approximately 2,000 years. As of 2025, the Mosuo are estimated to have a total population of around 50,000.
to understand how matrilineality—the social arrangement of tracing kinship through the mother's line—influences Mosuo society and shapes gender roles in contrast to mainstream patrilineal culture.
In Walabi Village, a Yunnan village home to over 400 Mosuo individuals across 90 households, we interviewed 10 Mosuo households (over 80 individuals) about their family lives...
Gao Bi Ma, photo: Zihan Yuan
Bin Ma Bu Chi
"Here among the Mosuo, women are the heads of households."
The most distinctive feature of the Mosuo's walking marriage ritual (走婚) is that “men and women do not marry in a traditional sense,” according to the villagers. In fact, after entering a walking marriage, both partners would continue to live in their respective maternal households, and any children 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 largely an agricultural economy, in a typical Mosuo family consisting of 8 to 12 members, women's roles are not so different from the typical gender role of women in a subsistence economy: women typically manage a poultry farm and feed the children, while men do the plowing and other physically tiring tasks.
However, as heads of household, Mosuo women typically handle the major decisions: for example, a female head of household usually serves as the financial manager of a Mosuo family.
And this, the Mosuo say, is simply the natural order of things. No fight over positions of power between male and female members of the family, just the quiet harmony of traditions.
Bin Ma Bu Chi, photo: Zihan Yuan
Mosuo-styled wedding dress Gei Ru La Chu has prepared for her daughter
Gei Ru La Chu
"In the walking marriage ritual 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 family."
Gei Ru La Chu, photo: 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 marriages, husbands tend to be less involved in their biological children's upbringing compared to women and their maternal uncles: the basic living and educational expenses of the children are primarily covered by the maternal family. "My husband is also an uncle to his sister's children and needs to care for them too, and we respect that," said Gei Ru La Chu.
Bu Jia Da Shi Ma
A question of economics: Are the economic bonds between partners stronger or weaker in the Mosuo's walking marriage tradition?
As couples in walking marriage do not form a single social unit of their own, economic bonds are generally weaker. Typical Mosuo attitudes toward marriage are largely based on mutual affection rather than socio-economic power dynamics or class.
"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 exchange modest gifts during engagement. However, I still believe a partner's financial background 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, photo: Zihan Yuan
Yi Jin
"There was a trade-off between my daughter's decent job in the modern city of Lhasa and being a Mosuo head of household."
"My only daughter made sacrifices for the family when she decided to come back as the new head of household to replace me. There was a trade-off between her job in the modern city of Lhasa and being a Mosuo head of household here."
73-year-old Yi Jin only has one daughter. Her daughter, Er Che Ma, was once a hotel manager in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Five years ago, she returned home to take on the role of head of household, replacing her mother Yi Jin.
"I was torn," recalled Er Che Ma, "but as the only daughter in my generation, I chose to put family first. I've never regretted coming home."
Yi Jin, photo: Zihan Yuan
Du Zhi Ma
"I learned hand-weaving from my mother. Now I empower other women by teaching them this traditional Mosuo craft."
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.
Over time, however, the growing tourist economy around Lugu Lake made machine-made textiles a lucrative commodity at tourist sites. Many Mosuo textile makers struggled to compete and lost income. To prevent hand-woven Mosuo crafts from fading away and to create more job opportunities for the Mosuo—especially women—Du Zhi Ma registered copyrights for the Twelve Mosuo Traditional Patterns exclusively for Mosuo people in April 2010.
This preserved the authenticity of Mosuo hand-weaving while enabling weavers, especially Mosuo women, to expand their reach beyond the village.
Du Zhi Ma, photo: Zihan Yuan
A More Intimate Glance
The Mosuo Grandmother's Room
The Grandmother's Room, a central feature of Mosuo architecture, is present in every Mosuo house regardless of size. According to Yi Jin (73), when the Mosuo of her generation migrated from the mountains to Walabi Village (closer to Lugu Lake) in the last century, the Grandmother's Room came with them—preserved in every new house they built.
What makes the Grandmother's Room so unique and indispensable?
The Grandmother's Room represents both the beginning and sustaining of life, celebrating the central role of Mosuo women.
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, photo: 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 grandmother) cooks for the family using the fireplace. Historically, Mosuo women also gave birth in the Grandmother's Room. In these ways, the Grandmother's Room is a significant space emblematic of the cycle of life and the central role of Mosuo women as life-givers and nurturers.
Editor's Notes
Beyond Labels: What the Mosuo Teach Us
Scholars distinguish between matrilineality—a kinship system tracing descent through mothers—and matriarchy, where women hold primary authority across all spheres of society. The Mosuo exemplify this distinction. Women are heads of households, control family finances, and children belong to the mother's family line. Yet men still perform certain labor roles, and women's authority is largely domestic rather than extending to village-wide governance. The Mosuo thus occupy an interesting middle ground: a society where matrilineal structures grant women significant power, but perhaps not the complete social dominance implied by "matriarchy." This nuance matters—it shows us that gender equality can take forms beyond Western frameworks of power.
Zihan (Emma) Yuan
Special thanks to the supervision from:
A'Qi Ni Ma Ci Er
Cultural Preservation Worker, Interview and Research Partner
To the Mosuo families of Walabi Village who opened their homes and shared their stories—thank you.
