The Mosuo: 10 Interesting Facts

The Mosuo are a people with a unique lifestyle who live by Lake Lu Gu in southern China. Here are same amazing facts regarding the Mosuo and their culture.

1. Mosuo women are the heads of their households; the matriarch assigns tasks to other family members, holds the purse strings, owns the household property rights and makes the business decisions; but women are also responsible for most of the chores and are often seen working in the fields fully garbed in their traditional costumes. 

2. Men tend to look after (and slaughter) the livestock, go fishing and build the traditional homes, generally consisting of four buildings around a central courtyard. They are also responsible for political and funerary matters. 

3. Offspring may be swapped between families in order to create a gender balance in households. This way the balance of skills and duties is maintained.

4. The institution of marriage does not exist in traditional Mosuo culture. When a girl reaches puberty, she is given a “flower chamber”, a personal boudoir, where she can “secretly” invite a partner of her choice. There is no time limit for these “walking marriages” and a woman may change partners as often as she likes. The partner discretely leaves in the morning and would need an invitation to return, though never for more than a night at a time. 

5. Traditionally, neither men, nor women leave the family home, households could therefore span a number of generations. Only sexually active women would generally have their private chambers; other family members tend live communally. 

6. Most of the Mosuo are centred around, or in the vicinity of Lu Gu Hu ('Hu' means lake) on the borders of Sichuan and Yunnan, by the foothills of the Himalayas and not far from Tibet. 

7. The original religion of the Mosuo is Dabaism, which incorporates animism and ancestor worship. Later, Tantric Buddhism was introduced and accepted, alongside the original beliefs and rituals. 

8. Despite the Buddhist element within the Mosuo faith, fish and meat form an important part of their diet. Nevertheless, dogs are highly respected, having exchanged their longer lifespan for humans’ original shorter one, as legend would have it. 

9. The Chinese government respects and supports the Mosuo culture; the most significant threat to the Mosuo is the encroaching of modern society.

10. Although the Mosuo are a distinct cultural entity, the Chine government classifies them with the Nashi , one of the 56 ethnic group recognised in China.