Naxi Native Language and Dongba Culture Inheritance Reader - (Full 3 Volumes)

Author: Guo Dali, Yang Yihong, Editors
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: A Textbook for the Inheritance of the Naxi Mother Tongue and Dongba Culture, this is the first set of Naxi language and culture textbooks in Yunnan Province. Lijiang Ancient Town is renowned worldwide for preserving its unique Naxi culture and ethnic architectural style, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Guo Dali, the President of the Yunnan Provincial Ethnic Studies Association, discovered through social surveys that in recent years, less than 30% of primary and secondary school students in the ancient town could speak Naxi, and they lacked knowledge of their ethnic culture. This poses a threat to the tourism industry, which is a pillar of the local economy and heavily relies on Lijiang's scenic beauty and Naxi cultural features. Guo Dali contacted Yang Yihong, then the principal of Xingren Fangguoyu Primary School, along with other local Naxi language and culture enthusiasts. With support from the education department, they launched Naxi language specialty classes in Xingren Fangguoyu Primary School and Huangshan Primary School in 1999, developing their own textbooks to teach ethnic language and culture. They selected famous stories, folk songs, children's songs, and proverbs from Dongba scriptures as teaching materials, and even translated classical Chinese poems such as Li Bai's "Quiet Night Thought" and Li Shen's "A Humble Farmer" into Naxi.
The Naxi Hieroglyphic Dongba Script: This is an introductory book on the Naxi hieroglyphic Dongba script. Lessons 1-4 introduce Naxi language, Naxi phonetic script, and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Lessons 5-18 cover knowledge about nature, people, families, and society, with a total of 262 basic hieroglyphic characters included in the book. The appendix provides references in 4 types, introducing knowledge of the Naxi hieroglyphic script, its grammar, and application. This set consists of three books, including The Application of Naxi Hieroglyphic Dongba Script and Selected Readings from Naxi Hieroglyphic Ancient Texts.