Lugu Lake Yunnan + Sichuan

Lugu Lake is home to several Tibetan, Yi as well as Mosuo minority villages. The most numerous of these are the Mosuo people (also spelt "Moso"), said to be a sub clan of the Naxi people (as per Chinese records of Minorities in China) with ancient family structure considered as "a live fossil for researching the marital development history of Human beings" and "the last quaint Realm of Matriarchy." It is considered as the home of the Moso Tribe. However, Mosuo have a separate identity from the Naxis, as it is said that the Chinese used the word Mosuo as a generic term for different ethnic groups, including the Naxi.

Lugu Lake is called the "mother lake" by the Mosuo people.The lake is also well known in Chinese travel pamphlets as the region of “Amazons,” “The Kingdom of Women” and “Home of the Matriarchal Tribe”, this last name highlighting the dominant role of the Mosuo women in their society. The marriage rites of the Mosuo people are known as “azhu marriage” ceremony and this unique aspect of their social culture has given the title “exotic land of daughters” to the area. It is also known as "A Quaint Realm of Matriarchy". The matriarchal and matrilineal society of the Mosuos is also termed the “Women’s World". The Mosuo are the last practicing (almost) matriarchal society in the world. Mosuo women never marry and never cohabit, instead they are free to choose as many lovers as they like throughout their lives. Children are brought up by women, and use the surname of their mothers. Families are composed of the members of the matrilineal kind. Women hold the principal positions in the society, forming a modern day ‘woman’s kingdom’, which adds mystique to this magical place.

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR