On the bank of Lugu Lake, in the border area between Yanyuan County of Sichuan Province and Ninglang County of Yunnan Province, live the Mosuo people, a branch of the Naxi ethnic group. They follow a matriarchal system, where the common people live their whole lives in the maternal family home and never marry their lovers. While studying this ethnic group, I was honored to meet hal system, where the common people live their whole lives in the maternal family home and never marry their lovers. While studying this ethnic group, I was honored to meet Ci'erzhima, an elderly woman who is regarded as the last queen of the Mosuo ople.

Ci'erzhima was born into the family of a senior military officer in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, in 1927 and was named Xiao Shuming. She studied at the Ya'an Mingde Girls' Middle School in her early years and was known as the queen of the campus because of her beauty and talent. because of her beauty and talent. To strengthen relations with the chiefs of the Mosuo people, the local government had adopted the policy of pacification through marriage, and thus, Xiao Shuming, who was not a Mosuo, was married to La Baochen, the heaof the Zuosuo Village of the Mosuo.

After the wedding, Xiao and her attendants traveled on horseback over Erlang Mountain and through Kangding and Muli counties. After more than two months of riding across snowy mountains and chilly valleys, they finally came to the shores of Lugu Lake, where Xiao started her life as the headwoman of a mountain village.

In the almost 60 years since then, Xiao Shuming has acted as an ambassador through marriage in the society of the Mosuo people. She has constantly held the reins of authority, administered the society's internal affairs, and suppressed rebellions. She has experienced great wealth and high honor as well as difficulties and hardships. She has made great contributions to the political stability, the economic and cultural development, and the unity of the various ethnic groups in the area of Lugu Lake and won the affection and esteem of the Mosuo people.

nd cultural development, and the unity of the various ethnic groups in the area of Lugu Lake and won the affection and esteem of the Mosuo people.

Ci'er zhima at her drawing table.	Ci'erzhima enjoys reading.
Raising pigs and doing farm work is Ci'erzhima's recipe for keeping fit and living long.	Ci'erzhima, the75-year-old queen of the Mosuo people.

I enjoyed the company of this elderly lady at her home, as she smoked, drank, chanted poems, danced, androte calligraphy. Listening to her tell stories of the past, I could almost see a beautiful young girl carrying twin guns on her waist, mounting a white horse along the bank of Lugu Lake in the light of the morning sun. My heart was filled with deep esteem for this queen.
1. Ci'erzhima, the75-year-old queen of the Mosuo people.
2. Writing calligraphy.
3. Ci'erzhima enjoys reading.
4. Raising pigs and doing farm work is Ci'erzhima's recipe for keeping fit and living long.
5. The area around Lugu Lake is inhabited by the Mongolian, Tibetan, Yi, Naxi (including Mosuo), and Bai ethnic groups, each with its own customs. The Mosuo people still preserve a matriarchal family life and the custom called Zouhun, where lovers do not marry. Instead, the man occasionally visits the woman, stays for the night, and leaves the next morning.

by Yang Xiuyun