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Ancient Dongba Music
The Naxi ethnic group has a long history and splendid culture. More than 1,000 years ago they created the Dongba pictographic scripts, Dongba pictures and Dongba Dongjing music. The pictographic scripts are consisted of Pictographic symbols, phonetic symbols and auxiliary marks.

It is one of very few ancient pictographic scripts in the world still in use. Books written in Dongba scripts are called the "Dongba scriptures." Dongba Music originated in the Fang Dynasty, and is still popular among the local people. The ancient music is melodious.

In 1940s, Peter Goullart wrote about the Ancient Dongba Music. He thought it was "a carol of the universal life, unaffected by the conflicts in the incongruous human life. The music is classical and ever-lasting. It is the music of the gods. It is the music of a peaceful, permanent and serene country." For many years, the Chinese people have been wondering why this elegant musical tradition can be preserved in such a remote place like Lijiang. Equally incredible is that such an ethnical group with small number of people could pass this tradition of the Tang and Song dynasties as a part of their daily life. It not only belongs to the elites of the society but also the common people. For thousands of years, the Naxi people have merged their ethnic musical elements and feelings into this classic tradition.

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