Introduction
On February 3, 1996 the earth shook in the picturesque town of Lijiang in northern Yunnan. The tremors only lasted eleven seconds, but they devastated the region, tumbling the old town into ruins. Three hundred people were killed and 10,000 injured.
Four years later, Lijiang has made a remarkable recovery. The old town has been completely rebuilt in traditional style. Visitors are delighted with its maze of cobbled, traffic-free streets lined with teashops and Naxi inns in which they can sit in rosewood chairs to sip tea or homecooked food prepared by a friendly family-run business. Everything is kept spotlessly clean. Cloud-capped peaks loom above the closely-packed, black-tiled roofs. Old women in blue Naxi aprons carry vegetables and mountain herbs on their backs in straw baskets. Young men walk by, proudly showing off hunting falcons on their wrists while children in modern sneakers and T-shirts run across the stone bridges which arch across the crystal-clear mountain streams which gurgle through the old town.
It is not surprising that Lijiang, rebuilt in its attractive old style, is proving a major tourist attraction to people around the world. Its tea-shops and inns are thronged with low-budget travelers who can book spartan but clean accommodation for as little as US$5 per night and eat even more cheaply. Coaches take travelers to Tiger Leaping Gorge along precipitous mountain roads giving breathtaking views. In wet weather these roads can be treacherous and heavy rain can trigger landslides. However, the direct air-route from Kunming ensures that visitors from all over the world can now enjoy this unspoilt area of China. Some even believe it was the inspiration for Shangri-La.
Culture
Lijiang has long been home to the Naxi people who were first mentioned in Chinese records in 796 AD, during the Tang dynasty. Their independent kingdom was only annexed to the Chinese Empire in 1724 and they have maintained a tradition of independence, strengthened by their remoteness from central government in their mountain-girded valleys. Today they number 265,000. They have their own language which is related to Tibetan. It is believed they may have originally come from Qinghai province and moved south to Yunnan. Their unique pictographic script was invented over one thousand years ago. Today all children are taught Mandarin, but Naxi is still spoken extensively on the streets of Lijiang and in the villages. There are two main dialects.
Lijiang is home to a traditional Naxi orchestra which plays ritual Daoist music that can be dated back to the Tang dynasty Imperial court as early as 741 AD In the rest of China this haunting and solemn music has been lost - only here on the very fringes of the Empire was it preserved. Down the centuries Lijiang has produced more than its fair share of scholars and intellectuals. Today many of the aged inhabitants have formed this unique orchestra to save this unique heritage.
Naxi Beliefs
The Naxi still believe in their ancient religion known as "Dongba" - a form of shamanism. Their writing was originally solely used by the shamans to record sacred texts such as poems about creation and "The Kingdom of the Jade Dragon." Every dongba shaman has a place of sacrifice on the edge of his village. He summons evil spirits to enter an egg in rites which are clearly demonic in origin. The influence of the dongba religion is all-pervasive from the curios and figurines of weird gods and spirits on sale in tourist shops to the modern mural decorating the Lijiang airport which portrays dongba myths in avantgarde style.
Naxi Myths and the Bible
The Naxi have yet to hear the gospel. Yet there are tantalizing echoes of biblical truth, much distorted, in some of their legends. One of their creation myths reads as follows:
"The rocks and the trees wanted to come down to the plain and began to dispute with the people of the land. So the waters became angry and steam rose to the heavens which made the stars and moon visible. After the water rose to heaven it returned to the earth in enormous quantities covering the world which made everything grow. After the descent of the water the rivers were formed as well as the lakes. After the waters receded a house became visible which had not been seen before. When Nluo and Sse saw the house they copied it and built more. They taught the people to speak. They taught the people what could be eaten and what could be drunk."
In another myth it is stated that a great flood came and only two people (Nluo and Sse) escaped by hiding in a drum covered in deerskin which hung from the top of a fir tree. This pair escaped to become the first parents of the Naxi people. As with many other myths of peoples worldwide there seem to be echoes of the accounts given in Genesis of both creation and of a worldwide flood. Perhaps these stories could be bridges in bringing the gospel to the Naxi.
Christianity among the Naxi
As early as 1909 Dutch missionaries arrived in Lijiang preaching the gospel. After the First World War, German missionaries also entered the area. Later, a British Pentecostal missionary built a small church and some three hundred families were converted in Lijiang town and surrounding villages. Today the church has long been closed and turned to other uses and only three of the original converts are known to be still alive in Lijiang town itself. Two of them are over eighty years of age. It is possible that there may be a few believers meeting in homes in addition, but it is without question that the cause of the gospel is at a low ebb in this beautiful city.
However, the Christian faith is in better shape in the mountainous rural areas outside the town, but which still lie within the Lijiang prefecture which comprises four counties and a large area of northern Yunnan. According to government-published handbooks on sale in the main book-store in Lijiang there are 2,600 Christians in Lijiang prefecture. They are Lisu tribal people living in the west of the area along the banks of the River of Golden Sand (Jinsha-jiang), in Guanghua, in Yongsheng County and along the Xibu River in Ninglang County. (Lijiang Almanac, 1997)
More details of the Lisu Christians in Yongsheng County have also been officially published. This county has a total of 38,828 Lisu of whom one thousand are Christians. There are Lisu churches open in Dongshanxiang, Liziping and Siping, each with a congregation of over one hundred people. In Liude there is a church with over three hundred people attending. Yujiaping village in Liming Sidui has a church with over two hundred people. Diguoping village in Xinmin rural district in Yongsheng County also has a church of over two hundred people. There is also a church in Shuijing with 110 people. (Yongsheng County Directory, 1989)
These official statistics are encouraging proof of the survival and growth of the Christian faith in this remote mountain region of northern Yunnan. The Lisu people are desperately poor and isolated in their mountain valleys. Few have any contact with the outside world, and probably rarely venture even into Lijiang town itself.
Only concerted prayer will bring the gospel to the Naxi people, breaking down centuries of spiritual darkness and spiritual bondage to dark forces.
Pray for
- The possible future re-opening of the old church in Lijiang town (or at some other site).
- Spiritual breakthrough to the Naxi people.
- spiritual revival and deepening of Bible truth among the existing Lisu Christians in the mountains of Lijiang prefecture.