The White Water Terrace at the Baidi Village. The small village of Naxi ethnic group sits in Zhongdian County, Deqin Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province.

In the golden times of nomadic tribes, the area had accommodated aboriginal tribes and the Moxie people moving down from the north. Together they melted into the Naxi people.

Cradle and activity center of the ancient Naxi culture, this place is seen as the holy land of the Naxi people's Dongba religion. Legend says that Ding-ba-shi-luo, founder of the Dongba religion, was on his way back from learning Buddhism in Tibet when he was attracted by the beautiful mountains and settled at the magical White Water Terrace to preach. Also on the mountain is a cave to commemorate A-ming-shi-luo, the second-generation founder of Dongba religion. If a Dongba shaman of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet cannot visit the A-ming Cave, he would die with eternal regret.

Completing his studies in Japan, young Naxi scholar Bai Gengsheng must set foot at the White Water Terrace.

In an old Naxi house, a bamboo basket that symbolized the God of Life was hanging on the column joining the male and female beds. Miniatures of a ladder, pagoda, stone and arrow were treasured in the basket.

Light smoke rose from the stove. Bai Gengsheng saw that Xi Aniu's eyes slowly opened. Following the ancestors' schedule, Xi was measuring this young man who was fluent in Naxi, standard Chinese, Japanese and English.

Led by the supreme Dongba shaman Xi Aniu, the most authoritative dongbas of the Dongba culture at the White Water Terrace would raise fundamental questions about the universe at this Naxi young man who had gained a doctorate in Japan and came as a pilgrim. From the origin of things, to the movement of the sun and moon and the destiny of mankind, they probed this young man with a great number of rhetorical questions. Bai Gengsheng answered them all fluently.

"In the Dongba culture, the image of the Naxi people is never like this, signing all the day, sitting around the family stove doing nothing. Instead they should be heroes opening the world, vicious tigers dashing down the snowy mountains, and straight-billed white cranes with great wisdom ...

"But I didn't see this national spirit in real life. The dongba and daba shamans who used to carry on this spirit were persecuted in the cultural revolution (1966-76). Their scriptures were burnt and instruments tossed into the river. The culture related to people's daily lives barely survived ...

"Backward economy is terrible, backward culture is even more so, because it rips away from you the courage to change this poverty ...

"To understand the Naxi nationality, one must first understand China. To understand China, one must understand the world.

"Staying within the Naxi culture to study the Naxi culture, you'll never understand what is the Naxi culture. It is only through comparisons that you can find the meaning of Naxi culture in the global context and devote yourself to the development of the Naxi minority."

(China Daily April 22, 2002)