The Ladies of the Lake - 43 min.- July 1998

Journeyman pictures

This stunning film captures the beauty and rarity of the Mosuo women - a matriarchal community in south-west China.

The bashful Mosuo have been dominated by women for more than 2,000 years. In the Mosuo language, the word 'father' does not even exist. Yashima is a typical matriarch. At 65, she has five children, two grandchildren and smokes 80 cigarettes a day. Her children meet their husbands at the end of the day. 'That way we don't argue' explains Dizhi. Parties are for meeting a husband or a wife. Swirling skirts, flames and dancing stir aching hearts. The Mosuo people, like most Chinese, are shy about showing their feelings. They have three sacred taboos: it's forbidden to eat dog, it's forbidden to eat cat and it's forbidden to talk about sex. But overcoming their shyness, they tell us about love, marriage, divorce and the difficulties of living apart. The modern world is not far away though. Peking's family planning policy is dismembering Mosuo culture where large families are society's glue. The local government wants to transform Lake Lugu, in China, into a tourist site, with the Mosuo people as the main attraction. Some already earn money from the summer visitors that they take in canoe trips on the lake. Whilst most Mosuo view change as inevitable, there's more than a hint of sadness that the future may spell the end of their centuries-old traditions. A unique and touching film.

Mosuo Women - China - 12 min - October 1995

Journeyman pictures

In some parts of China girls are killed at birth but in the land the Chinese call the 'kingdom of daughters' womanhood is celebrated. High in the breathtaking mountains of south-western China, live the Mosuo tribe. The Mosuo maintain a society which is probably unique in the world. It revolves completely around women. Property is handed down from mother to daughter. In their language there is not even a word for 'father' and conventional marriage is unheard of. In the past the Chinese government tried to stamp out the Mosuo way of life but their culture is now flourishing again. The simple reason is tourism. The Mosuo live beside a beautiful lake, already a popular destination for Chinese tourists. But whether the culture survives remains to be seen - new-found prosperity and contact with outsiders has bought with it a clamour for a change for the Mosuo.

Mosuo Song Journey - 37 min - 2007

Director, Videography & Editor: Diedie Weng

Producer: Diedie Weng, Carol Bliss

Surrounded by mountains, between the border of Yunnan and Sichuan Province in Southwest China, the Mosuo people have lived on the banks of Lugu Lake for over a thousand years, keeping a matrilineal tradition, in which women head the household. Within this unique background, the Mosuo have been encouraged by the state to develop tourism since the early 1990s. As a result, Mosuo society has started opening to the world and attracting increasing worldwide attention as “A Kingdom of Goddesses.” In the summer of 2004, Chinese filmmaker Diedie Weng accompanied American scholar Carol Bliss and Mosuo writer Lamu Gatusa to collect traditional Mosuo folk songs. From tourist-ridden villages to remote mountain hamlets, the film resonates with the singing of different generations of Mosuo people in a transitional period under the influence of tourism and pop culture.

Mosu & Naxi Matriarchal tribes, Yunnan province, China - 4,5 min -

Yunnan province is the most biodiverse and beautiful province in China. It has half of all plant and animal species found in China and 52 of the remaining 56 ethnic minorities in the country. In this clip Manchán meet the O-Er-Do-Ju family in Lugu Lake, North West of Lijiang in Yunnan. He is accompanied by Miss Lu, a foreign affairs official. The father of the family sits at his mother's fireside and explains the Mosu system of family, in which the woman has complete control. He then brings up to meet his father who was a Buddhist monk until the monastary was shut down under Mao. He is now free to practise again. He gives Manchán a message to bring home to the West with him. The singers on the mountain are members of the Naxi minority and live near Lijiang.
Manchán Magan, Global Nomad Films. www.manchan.com