Mosuo Zhuanshan

The Mosuo Walking around the Mountain Festival is to worship Gemu Goddess Mountain and pray for the Goddess' protection. It is held annually in Yongning, Xiao Liang Shan about 20 kilometers from Lugu Lake. The government places them as members of the Naxi minority although they are significantly culturally distinct. Because of the rain, the crowd was smaller this year and most of the young girls weren't dressed in costume. Although Lugu Lake was on the way, we didn't stop there.

Tuo Tuo Rou (Pork chunks), Rice and Soup

Many Mosuo families will send at least one male to be trained as a monk.

Yak Cheese

Yi women here tattoo their hands

Yan Xia was Yunnan female snooker champion (although this is pool)

A Pumi Lady- they dress just like the Mosuo here

Yongning Market

Xiao Liangshan Yi in Yongning

Plastic Bags will be banned in China in 2009

Yongning Temple

We passed by Lugu Lake

The Mosuo culture is most frequently described as a matriarchal culture. In fact, the Mosuo themselves frequently use this description, to attract tourism and interest in their culture. The Mosuo culture defies categorization within traditional Western definitions. They have aspects of a matriarchal culture, in that women are, in many households, the head of the house, property is passed through the female line, and women tend to make the business decisions. But political power tends to be in the hands of males, which disqualifies them as a true matriarchy.

Probably the most famous and most misunderstood aspect of Mosuo culture is their practice of “walking marriage”, so called because the men will walk to the house of their ‘partner' at night, but return to their own home in the morning. The Mosuo generally live in large extended families, with many generations (great grandparents, grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, etc.) all living together within the same house. For the most part, everyone lives within communal quarters, without private bedrooms or living areas. However, women between certain ages (see the section on “coming of age” above) can have their own private bedrooms.

Traditionally, a Mosuo woman who is interested in a particular man will invite him to come and spend the night with her in her room. Such pairings are generally conducted secretly, so the man will walk to her house after dark, spend the night with her, and return home early the next morning. While it is possible for a Mosuo woman to change partners as often as she likes – having only one sexual partner would be neither expected nor common – the majority of such couplings will actually be more long term. Few Mosuo women will have more than one partner at a time. More than one anthropologist has described this system as “serial monogamy” as many of these pairings may last a lifetime. Even when a pairing may be long term, however, the man will never go to live with the woman's family, or vice versa. He will continue to live with and be responsible to his family; she will continue to live with and be responsible to her family. There will be no sharing of property.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosuo