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The Pumi ethnic minority
 The 29,700 Pumis are concentrated in the Yunnan
Province counties of Lanping, Lijiang, Weixi and Yongsheng, as well as
in the Yi Autonomous County of Ninglang. Some live in Sichuan
Province, in the Tibetan Autonomous County of Muli and Yanyuan County.
They are on rugged mountains as high as 2,600 meters above sea level,
cut by deep ravines.
According to Pumi legends and historical records, ancient Pumis were a
nomadic tribe, roaming the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Their descendents
later moved south to warmer, more verdant areas along valleys within
the Hengduan Mountain Range. By the seventh century, the umis were
living in Sichuan's Yuexi, Mianning, Hanyuan, Jiulong and Shimian
areas, constituting one of the major ethnic minorities in the Xichang
Prefecture. After the 13th century, the Pumis gradually settled down
in Ninglang, Lijiang, Weixi and Lanping. They farmed and bred
livestock. Later, agriculture gradually took a predominant place in
their economy.
The Pumis speak a language belonging to the Tibetan-Myanmese language
family of the Chinese-Tibetan system. Although Pumis in the Muli and
Ninglang areas once wrote with Tibetan characters, this was mainly for
religious purposes. Gradually the Tibetan characters fell into
oblivion, and most Pumis now use Chinese.
Pumi villages are scattered, usually at least 500 meters from one
another, on gentle mountain slopes. Pumis generally build their houses
from wood and with two floors, the lower for animals and the upper for
people. Almost all family activities indoors take place around the
fireplace, which is in the middle of the living room on the upper
level.
In addition to maize, their staple food, Pumis also grow rice, wheat
and highland barley. Their variety of vegetables and fruits is limited
to Chinese cabbage, carrots, eggplant and melons. A favorite food of
the Pumis' is "pipa meat" -- salted pork wrapped in pork skin in the
shape of a pipa, a plucked string Chinese instrument with a fretted
fingerboard. They also like tobacco, tea and liquor. Liquor, in fact,
is used both as a sacrificial offering and as a gift for the living.
 Pumi women in Ninglang and Yongsheng often wrap their heads in large
handkerchiefs, winding their plaited hair, mixed with yak tail hairs
and silk threads. They consider plait beautiful, the more so the
bigger it is. Normally, they wear jackets with buttons down one side,
long, plaited skirts, multi-colored wide belts and goatskins draping
over their backs. In the Lanping and Weixi areas, women tend to wear
green, blue or white long-sleeved jackets under sleeveless jackets,
trousers and embroidered belts. Often, they wear silver earrings and
bracelets. Pumi men wear similar clothes: linen jackets, loose
trousers and sleeveless goatskin jackets. The more affluent wear
woolen overcoats. Most carry swords.
Before 1949, Pumi society was in many ways still organized according
to the pre-feudal clan system. In Yongsheng County, for example, clan
members lived together, with different clans having different names.
Families belonging to the same clan regularly ate together to
commemorate their common ancestry. Marriage was primarily between
clans. Internal disputes were arbitrated by the patriarch or other
respected elders. Clan members shared a commitment to help one another
through difficult times. In Yongsheng, ashes of the dead of each clan
were placed in the same forest cave.
Pumi communities in Yongsheng and Ninglang counties were primarily
made up of big families, while in Lanping and Weixi counties, small
families prevailed. Only sons were entitled to inherit property, and
the ancestral house usually was left to the youngest son. Monogamy was
customary, although some landlords were polygamous. Parents chose
their children's spouses, and marriage between cousins was preferred.
Most women married at 15, while most men at 18.
Pumis celebrate the beginning of Spring Festival (the Chinese Lunar
New Year) and the 15th of the first month of the lunar calendar. On
the latter festival all Pumis, young and old, clad in their holiday
best, go camping on mountain slopes and celebrate around bonfires. The
holidays are devoted to sacrifices to the "God of the Kitchen" and to
feasting, horse racing, shooting contests and wrestling.
Pumis are good singers and dancers. Singing contests in which partners
alternate verses are a feature of wedding ceremonies and holidays.
They dance to the flute, incorporating in their movements gestures
tied to their work as farmers, hunters and weavers.
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