The Naxi people of the Lijiang plain have their own writing system, known as Dongba, and it is remarkable for two reasons: it is pictographic, with characters that are recognisable drawings of objects, actions and ideas, and it is still used liturgically, which makes it the last living pictographic script in the world. The script is not a general-purpose written language - it functions as a mnemonic for ritual texts that the priest already knows by heart - and the priests who use it, the dongba, are trained in the accompanying ceremonies, music, dance and divination.
The museum and the script
Lijiang's Dongba culture museum, near the Black Dragon Pool at the northern edge of the old town, holds manuscripts, ritual objects, musical instruments and priestly clothing, and explains how the script is written and read. The characters run to well over a thousand, and many are transparent even to a visitor without Naxi - a figure with a bow, a man walking, a mountain, a star. The manuscripts themselves are written in columns on hand-made paper, with the pictographs accompanied by a second, cursive script used for grammar and sound.
Religion and ritual
Dongba religion is distinct from Tibetan Buddhism and from the Chinese traditions, though it has absorbed elements of both; it is concerned with the propitiation of nature spirits and with the ordering of human life through ritual. Ceremonies involve chanting, drumming, dance and offerings, and the priests' painted scrolls, staffs and headdresses are as much the artifact as the manuscripts. Lijiang's Naxi orchestras, which play a related repertoire of ancient music, are the other surviving public face of the same culture.
Practical notes
Lijiang is a stop on the Kunming to Shangri-La railway and is served by air, and the museum is a short walk from the old town's northern edge, so it fits easily into a first day. Admission is modest and captions are largely in Chinese, though the script itself needs no translation. Real Dongba manuscripts are antiques and their export is controlled; what is sold to visitors is contemporary work, which is worth buying for the calligraphy rather than as an antiquity. Pair the visit with Black Dragon Pool next door for the classic view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
