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“Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.” Joshua Becker, Simplify
One of the earliest customers for the Boeing 787; China Southern was the first out of the 3 major Chinese carriers to operate the type after taking delivery for the wide-body aircraft from mid-2013 being the smaller Boeing 787-8 of which 10 were delivered up until mid-2014. The carrier have also taken on a much larger fleet of Boeing 787-9s with 18 in service with 2 more examples on-order.
More than 10 years since China Southern introduced their first Boeing 787-8, the carrier recently issued a tender placing all 10 Boeing 787-8s for sale, which also includes 2 spare engines (these being General Electric GEnx-1B70s). Separate from the tender, China Southern are also looking to sell their Boeing 777-300ER fleet.
The carrier is in the process of right-sizing and simplifying their long-haul fleet, especially in the wake of reduced international long-haul demand. China Southern has almost whittled down their Airbus A330-200 fleet, withdrawn the eldest Airbus A330-300s whilst the vast majority remain on medium-haul regional flights. The long-haul fleet look set to mainly utilise their Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 787-9s.
Currently, China Southern operates 28 Boeing 787s, which includes 10 Boeing 787-8s and 18 Boeing 787-9s. China Southern have 2 Boeing 787-9s on-order.
Two Zero Charlie Six is one of 18 Boeing 787-9s operated by China Southern, delivered new to the carrier on lease from CSA Leasing on 21st August 2019 and she is powered by 2 General Electric GEnx-1B74/75 engines.
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner B-20C6 on final approach into Runway 27R at London Heathrow (LHR) on CZ303 from Guangzhou-Baiyun (CAN).
Operations image of the week:
The flight dynamics experts working on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission meet regularly to assess progress of the spacecraft's almost-year-long aerobraking manoeuvres at Mars.
The TGO orbiter swung into an initial, highly elliptical orbit at Mars on 19 October last year.
Aerobraking - using drag from the faint wispy tendrils of the upper-most part of the martian atmosphere to slow and lower the spacecraft into its final science orbit - began on 15 March, and will take most of a year, following a cautious ‘slow-as-you-go’ strategy.
As with Goldilocks and the famous bears, staying too high won't drag on TGO sufficiently to reach its intended orbit anytime soon, while dipping too low into the atmosphere could slow it too much, with unwanted results.
Therefore, the flight dynamics team carefully assess the results of every aerobraking orbit, and make detailed predictions on the subsequent orbits based on realtime results. This means there is a lot of data to keep up with.
They have, of course, many sophisticated tools, applications and databases available to help determine orbits, visualise trajectories and calculate future spacecraft manoeuvres.
"But the white board in our briefing room is the best tool we've found for giving everyone an up-to-the-date, realtime view of aerobraking progress during our frequent review meetings," says ESA's Robert Guilanyà, seen above, the TGO flight dynamics team lead.
"A large group of people need to see and discuss the data collected from the atmospheric passages to plan subsequent aerobraking activities. Marking up the white board by hand is simple, easy and instantly viewable by all."
From 25 June to end-August, aerobraking is on pause due to Mars and Earth lining up on opposite sides of the Sun in a conjunction that greatly reduces the reliability and robustness of communication to and from the spacecraft.
Aerobraking will resume in August, and should continue until early 2018, when TGO will perform a series of final manoeuvres to transition to its approximately 400-km high, circular science orbit.
Credit: ESA
BOX DATE: 2001
MANUFACTURER: M.G.A.
DOLLS IN LINE: Cloe; Yasmin; Sasha; Jade
RELEASES: 2001 "1st Edition;" 2005 (not dated) Collector's Edition; 2021 20 Yearz; 2023 "Slim Box"; 2023 "2 Pack"
IMPORTANT NOTES: There are two versions of the original 2001 Bratz that I know of--one version has more detail (which would look like my doll's outfits in the photo), while the other has simplified details on her outfits and accessories. The only difference between the 2001, 2005, and 2021 dolls' outfits is the shoes. The 2005 and 2021 dolls have holes punched in their shoes (a feature added in 2003 to Bratz footwear due to the creation of the 2003 Formal Funk Super Stylin' Runway Disco). The 2023 "slim box" doll was sold wearing her second look, with no extras.
PERSONAL FUN FACT: It goes to show you that all the original Bratz had some awesome outfits, if I say that I didn't play with Yasmin's clothes as much as some of the others. I LOVED Yasmin's two outfits shown here, but I liked Jade and Sasha's things even more. That being said, I still remember using these outfit pieces all the time. My favorite piece of Yasmin's wardrobe has to be her cream colored bell bottoms. I love the bohemian print at the bottoms of them. Plus, they are so wide, that they cascade perfectly over Yasmin's massive snap on boots. I remember playing with the denim/purple print mini skirt a lot too--it was a great mix and match piece. Yasmin's tube top is really adorable, and quite unique being that it feels like it is made from velvet. But it doesn't stay up well at all--in fact, whoever wears it always ends up showing of her bosoms (not very modest at all is it?)! Yasmin's handkerchief and backpack are the perfect little accessories for these two outfits. Of the original four backpacks made for the first edition Bratz, Yasmin always had my favorite (although Sasha's was really awesome too). I love how earthy and bohemian Yasmin's stuff is--it's a personal aesthetic that she still dons to this day! These two pairs of shoes are even more enormous than your average Bratz shoes. Besides the 2015 shoes, the first edition Bratz footwear is probably the most oversized. If you asked me, the larger the Bratz shoes, the better they are. Plus, they help the dolls stand up on their own!
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Photo was taken Dec 28th, 2011. This is Skaha Lake in British Columbia. Photo was taken with a Nikon D300 10-24mm lens 5 exposures. Processed in Photomatix Pro and then duplicate file processed in Topaz Simplify.
I made a product box and tested it out using this old bold and washer. The picture was good but boring so I decided to have some fun using some Topaz plugins I recently purchased. This is using Simplify.
"Live simply that others might simply live." ~Elizabeth Ann Seton
Have a great Friday....and thanks for all your visits!!!! Will catch up soon :-)
© Darlene Bushue - All of my images are protected by copyright and may not be used on any site, blog, or forum without my permission.
Fog rolling around Jordan Harbour middle of the afternoon, on a hot muggy day! Drop it all and dash for the camera.
Newcastle Corporation was an early adopter of the rear-engined Leyland Atlantean with substantial purchases from 1960. The first examples featured this 'boxy' style of bodywork from Weymann, Roe and Alexander; before the latter's more curvaceous design was adopted as the fleet standard. 220 JVK (fleet number 220) was of those bodied to the earlier Alexander design. This digital representation, based on the sister bus 221 in its current preserved condition, depicts the short-lived simplified 'intermediate' PTE livery, which omitted the traditional yellow colour from between the decks. This was quickly replaced by the final PTE scheme, which reverted to the original style, but with white (rather than cream) window surrounds and roof; and blue (rather than maroon) lining and wheel hubs. It is unlikely that any of the earlier Atlanteans lasted long enough to carry either of these schemes, but please tell me if you know differently (07-Jul-10).
All rights reserved. For the avoidance of doubt, this means that it would be a criminal offence to post this image on Facebook or elsewhere (please post a link instead). Please follow the link below for further information about my Flickr collection:
I've been wanting to make a "plus quilt" forever! This pattern is from the Simplify book by Camille Roskelly. Fabrics are mostly Curio by Basic Grey, with other Moda fabrics mixed in.
Re-worked with Topaz Simplify
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新年好呀！新年好呀！Chinese New Year. Ano-Novo Chinês. Washington, DC. Jan/2017
Chinese New Year, also known as the "Spring Festival" (simplified Chinese 春节; traditional Chinese 春節; Pinyin: Chūn Jié) in modern Mainland China, is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Celebrations traditionally run from the evening preceding the first day, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month. The first day of the New Year falls on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February. In 2017, the first day of the Chinese New Year is on Saturday, 28 January, initiating the year of the Rooster.
The New Year festival is centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Traditionally, the festival was a time to honor deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore,Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mauritius and Australia, and the Philippines.Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours.
Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year's Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes. Among about one third of the Mainland population, or 500 million Northerners, dumplings (especially those of vegetarian fillings) feature prominently in the meals celebrating the festival.
Source: Wikipedia
O ano-novo chinês é uma referência à data de comemoração do ano novo adotadas por diversas nações do oriente que seguem um calendário tradicional distinto do ocidental, o calendário chinês.[1]
As diferenças entre os dois calendários fazem com que a data de início de cada ano-novo chinês caia a cada ano em uma data diferente do calendário ocidental.
O calendário chinês é lunissolar, tem em consideração tanto as fases da lua como a posição do sol. O ano-novo chinês começa na noite da lua nova mais próxima do dia em que o sol passa pelo décimo quinto grau de Aquário.
Os chineses relacionam cada novo ano a um dos doze animais que teriam atendido ao chamado de Buda para uma reunião. Apenas doze teriam se apresentado e Buda, em agradecimento, os transformou nos signos da Astrologia chinesa.
Os doze animais do Horóscopo chinês a que correspondem os anos chineses são, de acordo com a ordem que teriam se apresentado a Buda na lenda acima citada: rato, búfalo/boi, tigre, coelho, dragão, serpente/cobra, cavalo, carneiro/cabra, macaco, galo, cachorro/cão e o javali/porco.
Desta forma, se 2008 é o ano do rato, 2009 é atribuído ao boi (búfalo), 2010 ao tigre, 2011 ao coelho e assim por diante. 2017 é o ano do Galo.
Fonte: Wikipedia
This one for sure looks better on B l a c k M a g i c
Todays challenge for the daily shoot was Experiment in the digital darkroom today. Make a photo and post-process it any way you like to unleash your creativity.
So it was a nice day here and we had some things we had to do, but by about 2:30 we were done so decided to jump in the car and go somewhere we hadnt been before and ended up in Snug Harbor Park on Staten Island a lovely quaint little park which we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around, and this is one of the shots I got today
This shot I played around with in Topaz Simplify, the shot in the first comment is how I would normally have done this shot
No plastic wrap effect, no PS comic book filter, and no b&w conversion like yesterdays post. This is what I saw through my camera and I like the tones, texture and shadows on this Pine tree.
Another photo from my recent stroll down the South Bank of the Thames at London.
Huelight E-M5 camera profile. Lightroom, Photomatrix. Nik Collection, DxO Viewpoint 2, Flypaper presets and Topaz Simplify 4.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 & M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8.
© Saira Bhatti
This is what these cherry blossoms induced in my thoughts while walking among them.....“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ~ Henry David Thoreau #Canon #Photography
A Distinct face @ the Sindur Khela Celebration of Durga Puja'08 At the Baghbajar Puja Pandal.
Durga puja is celebrated in the autumn months of September/October. According to the Hindu solar calendar, it falls on the first nine days of the month of Ashvin. It is the time of the year when the weather is at its moderate best giving the air a festive touch. Durga puja is the most favorite festival of the people of eastern India, especially the people of West Bengal. This festival is celebrated all over India, though with differing rituals, for nine days. It is also called Navratri in some parts of the country.
The last day coincides with Dussehra. Idols are taken away in large processions for immersion in water. "Sindur Khela" (Vermillion game) is a major event of Dashami. First, the married women greet the Mahadevi for one last time, accompanied by rituals. They do aarati, but ready-to-chew paan-leaves in the hands of the goddess, put sweets on the lips of the idol, wipe out eyes as one does to wipe off the tears when leaving a loving place. This event is called "Durga Baran". They apply vermilion to the Goddess's head and to each other and greet each other with sweets.
Before "Ma" leaves, married women of all age groups visit the nearby pandal to take part in an emotional ritual where vermilion (sindhoor khela), is applied to the parting of each other's hair. The loha (the metal and gold bracelet given to the bride by the mother-in-law) and pala/sannbha (the red and white bangles worn by many married Bengali women) are also touched up. Sindhoor is applied by the women and the priest on the forehead of the goddess. A mother-in-law gives an iron bangle interlaced with gold or silver to a new bride as the first gift, a token of suhag, which the daughter-in-law wears all her life. During Durga puja, when idols are being taken away for immersion, sindoor is taken from in front of the idols and applied to the parting in the hair by married women. What is left on the fingers is applied to this iron and gold (silver) bangle, and is known as touching the loha. The ritual of applying sindoor can also take place at home when Bijoya Dashami is celebrated with family members.
WWII German S-Boot. Scaled down and simplified a bit to be a practical minifig size.
Guns from BrickArms and helmets from BrickForge.
Chongqing (simplified Chinese: 重庆; pinyin: Chóngqìng; Sichuanese Pinyin: Cong2qin4; Sichuanese pronunciation: [tsʰoŋ21tɕʰin214]; Postal map spelling: Chungking; Wade-Giles: Ch'ung-ch'ing) is a major city in southwestern mainland China and one of the five national central cities. Administratively, it is one of the People's Republic of China's four direct-controlled municipalities (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and the only such municipality in western China.
The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the sub-provincial city administration that was part of Sichuan Province. In 2007, the municipality of Chongqing had a population of 31.4 million.[1] It has jurisdiction over 19 districts, 17 counties, and four autonomous counties. With an area of 82,300 km² (31,800 mi²), it is the largest direct-controlled municipality, larger even than one province and an autonomous region, as well as Taiwan.[2] It is possibly the world's largest municipality by area.
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Rye bread with sesame seeds, Tzatziki and Sobrasada.
Takes like 60 seconds to make.
"Simplified lunch" is, in this case, equal to "lazy lunch."
The Nakhi (simplified Chinese: 纳西族; traditional Chinese: 納西族; pinyin: Nàxī zú; endonym: ¹na²khi) are an ethnic group inhabiting the foothills of the Himalayas in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province, as well as the southwestern part of Sichuan Province in China.
The Nakhi are thought to have come originally from northwestern China, migrating south toward Tibetan populated regions, and usually inhabiting the most fertile river-side land, driving the other competing tribes farther up the hillsides onto less fertile land. The Nakhi, along with Bai and Tibetans, traded over the dangerous overland trading links with Lhasa and India, on the so-called Tea and Horse Caravan routes. They were brought to the attention of the Western world by two men: the American botanist Joseph Rock and the Russian traveller and writer Peter Goullart, both of whom lived in Lijiang and travelled throughout the area during the early 20th century. Peter Goullart's book Forgotten Kingdom describes the life and beliefs of the Nakhi and neighbouring peoples, while Joseph Rock's legacy includes diaries, maps, and photographs of the region, many of which were published in National Geographic. The two were friends and left the region together when the Communist troops came in.
The Nakhi form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. The official Chinese government classification includes the Mosuo as part of the Nakhi people, although neither ethnicity support this categorization. Although both groups are descendents of the Qiang people, together with Tibetans, Pumi and Yi, and notwithstanding very striking resemblances between their respective languages, the two groups are now understood to be culturally distinct, the Nakhi more influenced by the very patriarchal Han Chinese culture, the Mosuo more influenced by Tibetan culture and their own matriarchal family practices.
CULTURE
Nakhi culture is largely its own native Dongba religious, literary and farming practices, influenced by the Confucian roots of Han Chinese history, and also by the group's Tibetan neighbors. Especially in the case of their musical scores, it acts as the foundation of the Nakhi literature. The Nakhi have their own writing, their own distinct language and their own native dress.
MUSIC
Nakhi native music is thousands of years old, and is presently being energetically kept alive by He Wen Guang, who writes and performs Nakhi music in both traditional and modern styles. Another form of music, labelled Nakhi ancient music by its supporters, is about 500 years old and came from Nanjing traders who were encouraged by various emperors to trade with, live in and inter-marry with the Western tribes as a way of improving controls over the unruly western regions abutting Han China. Along with the Han music are included literary lyrics, poetic topics, and musical styles which are understood to derive from themes prevalent in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. This music was played as a living tradition by the Nakhi long after it was all but lost in the rest of Han China. There are three main styles, relating to the location of the music playing groups: Baisha, Dongjing, and Huangjing, all using traditional Chinese instruments.
The origin of Baisha music is said to come from a gift from the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan. On his expedition to Dali, he had difficulty crossing the Jinsha ("Golden Sand") River (a tributary to the Chang Jiang), and received help from Mailiang, the chief of the Nakhi people. To show his appreciation, Kublai Khan left half of his band and many musical scores as a gift to the chief. "Baisha Fine Music" is one of ancient China's few large-scale, classical orchestral forms of music and has twenty four tunes, locally known as qupai. Although archaic, simple, and usually very slow in style, modern Baisha music is euphonious, and sometimes even energetic in character.
Taoist in origin, and fused with some indigenous elements, Dongjing music was introduced to the Nakhi from the central plains during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and today it is the most well-preserved of the ancient musical forms in China. In addition to its intrinsic stateliness, purity, and elegance, Dongjing music has incorporated some local musical elements and styles. Originally reserved for the ceremonies of the gentry, the local passion for music resulted in enthusiastic participation by the lower classes.
ART & ARCHITECTURE
There are many arts that are native to the Nakhi People, such as the rarely seen Nakhi handmade embroidery, Dongba painting, Dongba wooden carving and so on. Much of the wood carving that characterizes Nakhi houses are made by Bai craftsmen today. Absorbing architectural styles of the Han, Nakhi houses are built in a standard Han style of one courtyard with one, two, three or four buildings around it, sometimes with linked adjoining courtyards. The mud brick and wood structures at first sight have been described as crude and simple in appearance, but a closer inspection reveals elaborate and delicate patterns on casements and doors, elegant pillars and pillar supports, and a very comfortable and airy living environment.
Nakhi temples are decorated on the interior with carvings on poles, arches and wall paintings that often exhibit a unique combination of dongba and Buddhist influences. The decorations include depictions of episodes from epics, dancers, warriors, animals and birds, and flowers. The mural paintings depict Dongba gods, and stylistically are derived from Han Chinese interpretations of Tibetan Buddhist themes. A good example is the Delwada Temple.
FESTIVALS
"There are strong arguments that support the idea that in the past the main ritual activity performed on a temporal basis was the worship of Shu nature spirits on the first days (usually on a dragon or snake day) of the second lunar month, and that this was the traditional New Year of the Naxi. In Baidi, where the old traditions have been preserved, this is the most important festival, when everybody dressed in their best clothes, gathers around the Baishuitai terrace in a festive atmosphere and pay respect to the Shu gods of nature." ... "Around the same time when the Shu Nature spirits are worshipped in Baidi, the people gather to honour Sanduo in Baisha and Lijiang."... "Worship of Heaven ceremony, celebrated some days before Worshiping Shu, is a ritual celebration to remember that Naxi ancestors came from Heaven, and that therefore they descend also from a celestial lineage." The New Year is nowadays the main festival for the Naxi of Lijiang. the New Year is considered a time of renovation for humans, their houses and their fields, a time of spiritual and physical rebirth when every person must be born again, clean and uncontaminated from the hard existence of the previous year (Ceinos 2012).
The Nakhi celebrate the annual Torch Festival on the 24th and 25th of the sixth month of the Lunar calendar, which corresponds approximately to July 8–9, and the Sanduo Festival on February 8
According to legend, Sanduo is a war god who defends the local people. In ancient times, a hunter discovered a strange stone on Jade Dragon Mountain, and carried the stone home. On his way home, he had to put the stone down for a rest, because it was extremely heavy. When he decided to continue his trip, he could no longer lift the stone, and many thought that it was the embodiment of a god. The Nakhi later built a temple to honour this god, whom they later named Sanduo, and depicted as an immortal in a white coat and a white helmet, carrying a white spear and riding a white horse. They believed that Sanduo would protect the local people and their land. Because Sanduo was thought to have been born in the year of the Goat, it is sacrificed at his festival.
CUSTOMS
Cremation has been a tradition since ancient times, although burial was adopted in most Nakhi areas during the late Qing Dynasty and remains the preferred method of disposing of the dead today. Religious scriptures are chanted at the funeral ceremony to expiate the sins of the dead.
Among the Nakhi in Yongning County in Yunnan and the Yanyuan County in Sichuan, there still exist remnants of the Mosuo matriarchal family structure, which was vigorously but unsuccessfully eradicated during the Communist era.
As the heads of the family, a woman leaves her inheritance to her descendants either from the mother, or through her sisters and their offspring.
In Nakhi society, women do most the household and farm work, and while they keep to the kitchen when guests are present, they are essential to the household and are therefore influential in family decisions.
In 2005, Kuang Jianren, a famous Chinese film script writer produced "Snow Bracelet", a film based on the life of (Nakhi) Nakhi ethnic minorities in Yunnan.
A few Nakhi men carry on the ancient Chinese tradition of hunting with falcons. This practice is rarely found in other parts of China today.
NAKHI MUSIC
The Nakhi have several indigenous forms of music, including baisha xiyue and the Chinese-inspired dongjing discussed above.
DRESS
The Nakhi women wear wide-sleeved loose gowns accompanied by jackets and long trousers, tied with richly decorated belts at the waist. Sheepskin is worn over the shoulder. Especially in Ninglang County, the women wear short jackets and long skirts reaching the ground with several folds. Large black cotton turbans are worn around their heads, which are accompanied with big silver earrings. The men's costume is much like that of Han Chinese. In modern times, traditional dress is rarely worn among the younger generation. It is now usually only worn at cultural events and on special occasions.
The dress of the Dongba lamas sometimes resembles that of the Bön priests of Tibet; some dongbas wear conical hats like those of the lamas of the Black Hat sect, with a piece of red cloth.
LANGUAGE & SCRIPT
The language is written with Geba script and Dongba script.
HISTORY
The Nakhi are believed to be the descendants of the nomadic Qiang, an ethnic group inhabiting the Tibetan plateau since ancient times. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Nakhi were known as the Mosha-yi, or the Moxie-yi.
Frequently harassed by neighbouring tribes, the proto-Nakhi then moved southward to the banks of the Nujiang River and the Jinsha River and then to the Along River in the present-day province of Sichuan in western China. After being pushed south by other conquering tribes, the Nakhi settled in the very fertile Baisha and Lijiang areas by the year 3 CE.
Nakhi histories describe a split into three groups while their ancestors were still in Baisha. The ones who remained are known as the Nakhi, those in Dali are known as Bai[citation needed], and those living around the Lugu Lake are called the Mosuo. Today, this description of the origins of the Bai and Mosuo are strenuously contested.
Historians have decided that between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, agricultural production in Lijiang replaced livestock breeding as the main occupation of the people. The production of agricultural, handicraft, mineral, and livestock products led to considerable prosperity, and during this period a number of slave-owning groups in Ninglang, Lijiang, and Weixi counties developed into a feudal caste of lords. Tibetan Buddhism took hold in the Lijiang region following visits from the Karmapas from the fourteenth century onwards.
In 1278, the Yuan Dynasty established the Lijiang Prefecture, which represented the imperial court in Yunnan. A chieftain, Mude, was made the hereditary chieftain of Lijiang Prefecture, exercising control over the Nakhi people and other ethnic groups (particularly the Eastern Tibetans inhabiting the region of Kham) during the Ming Dynasty. The hereditary chieftains from the Mu family collected taxes and tribute, which then went to the Ming court in the form of silver and grains. The Ming relied on the Mu family as the mainstay for the control of the people of various ethnic groups in northwestern Yunnan Province.
In 1723, during the Qing Dynasty, hereditary local chieftains in the Lijiang area were replaced by court officials, and the Mu chieftains were included in this group retaining position as local administrators.
The ancient Nakhi town of Lijiang is now a major tourist destination. In the old town, the Nakhi rent buildings to Han merchants who run shops catering to tourists.
RELIGION
The Nakhi are traditionally led by their native dongbas in matters pertaining to religion. Through both Han Chinese and Tibetan cultural influences, Tibetan Buddhism has gained widespread respect (especially in the case of the Mosuo). Taoism, and particularly its "fengshui" practices have been widely practiced since the tenth century.
DONGBA
Dongba religion was rooted in the beliefs of the Tibetan Bön religion; the word "Dongba" literally means "wise man" in the Nakhi language. Historians have traced origins to a Bön shaman from eastern Tibet named Dongba Shilo, who lived in a cave near Baishuitai 900 years ago. According to Nakhi legends, he was said to have created the Lijiang Mural.
Anthropologists claim that many of the Dongba rituals show strong influences from the Bön religion, and are not native in origin. Bön lamas are believed to have settled among the Nakhi as farmers, and to have begun to practise exorcisms as a way of earning a little money on the side; they were thus in competition with the native ritual specialists, locally known as Llü-bu, or Ssan-nyi. This is disputed, largely because the Bon religion is so adulterated by Tibetan Buddhism today that it is difficult to find pure and authentic practitioners to use as a basis for comparison.
Religious scriptures suggest that the Llü-bu were female shamans who practised divination, exorcism, and other rites in a trance. By the early nineteenth century, the Dongba priests had created a huge religious vocabulary accompanied by a variety of rituals, and had largely displaced the Llü-bu. This is certainly the case with Yi shamans, but the connection to dongba practices remains unclear.
Adherents of Dongba had no places of worship, and so they were not officially recognized as a religion by the Communists following their arrival to the region. A Dongba shaman is merely a part-time practitioner priest, who is literate in Dongba religious texts that were unreadable by most Nakhi, who are not usually taught to read their own language.
The Dongba religion is based on the relationship between nature and man. In Dongba mythology, "Nature" and "Man" are half-brothers, having different mothers. According to the villagers of Shu Ming Village, nature is controlled by spirits called "Shv". These gods are depicted as human-snake chimeras. The Dongba priests practice rituals such as the "Shv Gu" to appease these spirits and prevent their anger from boiling into natural disasters such as earthquakes and droughts.
Before communist rule in China, many villages still had shrines or places of worship dedicated to nature gods, such as Shu. Nakhi inhabitants of Tacheng, which is in the Lijiang-Nakhi Autonomous county, still profess belief in the "nature and man" relationship.
Their attitude towards nature is clearly illustrated by the story of He Shun, a Dongba priest, who forbade his three sons to cut down more trees than they personally needed, as this would anger the gods and bring misfortune to his family.
One of the most widely practised Dongba rituals, Zzerq Ciul Zhuaq (literally, to repay the debts of a tree), has been described in the village of Shuming. The ritual was conducted if somebody was stricken with illness or bad luck, when a Dongba priest would be consulted. On many occasions, the result would show that the person had carried out logging or washing of dirty things in the forest, and the family or person concerned would have to ask the Dongba priest to hold the ritual near where the activity had taken place, and apologise to the nature god Shu.
Being a conservative people, the villagers prohibited logging, and even the cutting of tree branches and gathering of dry pine-needles from the coniferous trees wasn't generally allowed. The gathering of pine needles was only allowed in July, when the forests were lush and green. However, only one person from each household was allowed to do this job, in order to enforce fairness between households with more or fewer labourers. (Dry pine needles are mixed with pig manure for fertilizer. Green pine needles are used as a ground covering in courtyards during celebrations)
The elders, locally known as Lao Min (老民), would watch the all these activities. The elders also voluntarily carried out the public affairs of the village. Traditionally, they played an important role, which still influences many villages.
Especially in Longquan, the villagers have traditional regulations for logging and firewood collection. Known as Jjuq-ssaiq or Jjuq-Hal-Keel by the local people, this refers to the regular logging of trees and firewood every two to three years in the forested area near the particular village. A group of people comprising the Lao Min, the village headman, and the mountain guards will organise the procedure in advance. Even in recent years, Nakhi villages still retain an organisation that protects the forests. This organisation is administered by the members of the village committee, which necessarily includes the heads of the agricultural Productive Cooperatives, the members of the female union, and the village mountain guard.
Until the communists came to power in China in 1949, villagers followed these traditional principles and tried to use the natural resources conservatively, with thought for the preservation of the natural resources for future generations. However, after 1949 serious cultural and social change came to the Nakhi, and the government encouraged logging by the Han army in Nakhi areas, which in turn led to a loss of influence of the traditional customs.
TIBETAN BUDDHISM
Many of the Nakhi embrace the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, resulting from the presence of the eighth and the tenth Karmapas in the Lijiang area during the fourteenth century. Over the years, the Nakhi in Lijiang built Buddhist Gompas, which acted as the place of worship for the Nakhi Buddhist community. The first monastery, Ogmin Namling at Lashiba, was founded by the tenth Karmapa, Chöying Dorje. Religious Mani stones can also be found in some of the Nakhi households.
The Nakhi king inviting the eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje to Lijiang in 1516. The king, worried about the safety of the Karmapa on his long journey to Lijiang, dispatched an army of four generals and ten thousand soldiers to accompany him. On the third day of the fourth month, the Karmapa reached the border between Tibet and the Nakhi kingdom. Accompanied by his brother and his uncle, who were both riding elephants and escorted by many riders on horseback, the Nakhi king, riding on a palanquin, received them with this magnificent welcome. The king prostrated himself before the Karmapa, the elephants broke their tethers and bowed down three times before him, and raised their trunks to the sky trumpeting loud as thunderclaps.
WIKIPEDIA