The Mosuo () are a small ethnic group living in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China, close to the border with Tibet. Dubbed the 'Kingdom of Women' by the Chinese, the Mosuo population of about 50,000 live near Lugu Lake in the Tibetan Himalayas .
Scholars use diverse terms and spellings to designate the Mosuo culture. Most prefer 'Mosuo' some spell it 'Moso', while a minority use neither term, but refer to them as the Na people.
The Mosuo people are known as the 'Kingdom of Women' because the Na are a matrilineal society: heterosexual activity occurs only by mutual consent and mostly through the custom of the secret nocturnal 'visit'; men and women are free to have multiple partners, and to initiate or break off relationships when they please.
The origin of matrilineality and matriarchy
Introduction
Matrilineal cultures trace descent through the female line. It can also be considered a society in which one identifies with one's mother's lineage including familial lineage or property inheritance.
Matriarchal cultures are run by women. Women hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property at the specific exclusion of men, at least to a large degree.
Technically, Mosuo culture is matrilineal, but many anthropologists classify the Mosuo tribe as a "matriarchal society". The Mosuo themselves sometimes use the term matriarchal to describe their culture in order to bring more tourism and interest into their culture. Mosuo culture does have characteristics of a matriarchal society, in that women are the head of the household, the property is passed down through the female line, and the women make business decisions; yet political power tends to be in the hands of males, disqualifying them from matriarchy status (although, according to one NPR article, there was once a time when the political leaders of Mosuo villages were female). Nevertheless, some anthropologists, like Peggy Reeves Sanday, determine that societies like Mosuo are in fact matriarchies. They note that, rather than a simple mirror of a patriarchal society, a matriarchy "emphasizes maternal meanings where 'maternal symbols are linked to social practices influencing the lives of both sexes and where women play a central role in these practices'". These scholars thus favour redefining and reintroducing the word matriarchy, especially in reference to modern matrilineal societies like the Mosuo.
Beginning of Mosuo matrilineality
The Mosuo are a small ethnic group living around China's Lugu Lake in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan. Most Mosuo people celebrate a matrilineal culture, tracing lineage through the female side of the family.
Historically the Mosuo lived in a feudal system where a larger peasant population was controlled by a small nobility. The nobility was afraid of the peasant class gaining power. Since leadership was hereditary, the peasant class was given a matriarchal system. This prevented threats to nobility power by having the peasant class trace lineage through the female line. This system has led to numerous distinct traits among Mosuo society.
Mosuo girls become Mosuo women
A Mosuo girl is considered a woman after she has participated in the coming of age ceremony. This ceremony, observed between the ages of 12 and 14, marks a Mosuo girl's transition to womanhood as well as a Mosuo man's transition into manhood. Here women are introduced to skirts and men to pants.
Prior to the coming of age ceremony, Mosuo children dress the same and are restricted from certain aspects of Mosuo life, namely religious ceremonies.
After the coming of age ceremony, Mosuo women are allowed their own private bedroom within the household in which they live; men are not afforded this advantage.
Mosuo 'marriage'
The Mosuo men practice tisese which translates as walking marriage in Chinese. However, the Mosuo term literally means 'goes back and forth'.
Women have the choice to invite men of interest to their private sleeping room. If the man does not reciprocate this desire, he may simply never visit the woman's household. Men perform tisese in the true sense of the word. They can seek entry into the sleeping chambers of any woman they desire who also desires them. When feelings are reciprocal, a man will be allowed into a woman's private sleeping area. There he will spend the night and walk back to his mother's home in the early morning.
Male suitors have been known to commonly descend into a woman's bedding chamber from a designated opening in the ceiling, commonly using a grappling hook, or modern rock climbing apparatus.