Mosuo Villages at Lugu Lake

Lugu Lake (泸沽湖), the ancient and mysterious “The Female’s Kingdom” composed of Mosuo (摩梭) People, is an incredibly beautiful lake, nestled high in the Himalayan mountains (at about 3500 meters about sea level). The lake straddles Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, with the border between the two running right through the middle of the lake. A walking tour around the lake takes about 3 days, through some incredibly beautiful scenery, and gives you a chance to visit many local Mosuo communities.

Mosuo Villages at Lugu Lake

The Mosuo people have their own ways and customs, still retain some remnants of the matriarchal society. Men and women are not bound by marriage, each living at one’s mother’s home. Men work at home during the day and spend their night with the women they love in their homes. Children are under the care of and supported by their maternal families. Fathers do not live in the same family with their children and women so that they are not bound up with their women financially in their production and life. This unique wedlock values affection and gives more freedom to men and women in their relationships. They may choose to unite or separate at will. It has been considered as the living fossil as a basis for a study of social patterns and matriarchal marriage customs in today’ s world.

Mosuo people

There are more than 20 villages scattered around the Lugu lake, with the best-known villages being Dazhui, Yongning, Luoshui and Lige, which are the main tourist centers of the area. In these villages, most of the residences are log-cabin wooden houses with planks as titles. The inner construction represents the feature of the matriarchal society family: the room with oven is the center of the residence, beside it lie the rooms where elders and children live; there is another two-storey guestroom on top of which is the residential room of females and males. And features of matriarchal clan commune period have been kept.