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Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the End of the World

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by Melisa Gao, Sr. Correspondent

Leaving Mother Lake is the autobiographical account of a girl coming of age as a Moso, an ethnic minority that lives in the Himalayas in southwestern China. In the Moso culture, women hold an honored place, and families are matrilineal. Yet young Yang Erche Namu feels trapped by society's expectations of her. As she grows into a strong-willed young woman, she decides to leave the Moso to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. Forsaking her ties to her family and her people, Namu relies on her own determination and resourcefulness to brave the unforgiving world. But Namu is caught between two ways of life, and this struggle eventually becomes the focus of the story.

Namu, now a famous singer, wrote this memoir with the help of Christine Mathieu, an expert on the Moso people and their history. The authors' passion for this story and for the Moso people resonates with every sentence. Moso traditions and beliefs are a departure from almost any we encounter in today's world, and the book is worth reading for that reason alone. Leaving Mother Lake is a lovingly crafted tribute to this enchanting but little-known culture, with all its legend and lore.

Namu and Mathieu use wonderful details to paint a picture of the Moso people and their home. "Red granite and evergreen forests towered over the meadow, and peaks like saw teeth pierced the blue sky, slicing through feathery clouds - ridge after ridge, and as far as I could see," they write. "The air was so pure, so still, so empty of familiar smells and sounds that I might have become frightened if I had not been overwhelmed by so much wild beauty" (80). This calm beauty of the Moso villages later contrasts the rowdiness of the city streets Namu will visit.

Despite its unique setting, the themes of Leaving Mother Lake reach effortlessly across cultural differences. We laugh and cry with our heroine, and we identify with her feelings of confinement and longing. Leaving Mother Lake is primarily a book about love, loyalty, duty, and desire. That Namu and Mathieu can convey these emotions across the vast cultural differences is a testament to their storytelling abilities; their use of exquisite imagery and rich description make the story all the more enjoyable.

Copyright 2003, Blue Jean Online

The best beginnings are always the simplest.

In Leaving Mother Lake, the reader is instantly drawn in as Namu begins her story by pleading with her mother to share the details of her birth. With this seemingly simple request made at her mother's knee, Namu unfolds the world in which she grew up and all of the important players. She tells her own coming of age story but she also shares the stories of her village and her people.

It's easy to see why she wanted to leave such a remote and impoverished place. What makes Namu's story special is how much she feels indebted to her culture and her people for producing her.

Everyone has great stories about their childhood but some of Namu's are particularly expected. For instance, this is probably the first time readers will come to know a little girl who was so cold while herding yaks in the mountains that she stuck her legs in the yaks' stream of urine during Winter mornings to feel warm, even if only for a few moments.

A truly spectacular memoir.

The lifestyle and cultural norms of the Moso people "one of fifty-six Chinese nationalities" of Tibet, who "number about 30,000" are much different than those of most developed countries. The women tend to engage in a series of monogamous relationships, resulting in matriarch family units with several half-sibling children. This one fact might cause people to describe them as sexually promiscuous and immoral. Others might look at the matriarchal, matrilineal Moso as an intriguing social entity not bound by the social constraints of most cultures. Although the Chinese government has encouraged marriage, the Moso people are overwhelmingly undeterred. Mothers tend to prize daughters, as through their offspring the family lines continue. Children may never learn the identity of their fathers, and if they do, will refer to them (as all men) as "Uncle." Children ideally remain with their maternal relatives their entire lives, dying in the same dwelling in which they were born. Men are needed "to herd the yaks in the mountains, to travel with the horse caravans to trade in the outside world, and to make the long journey to Lhasa to study the holy Buddhist scriptures and become lamas." Girls shift from childhood to womanhood by participating in a post-menarche "skirt" ceremony. They then move from a communal room to their own special chamber and are encouraged to engage in sexual relationships. Leaving Mother Lake is the story of Namu Erche, a member of the Moso tribe, who lived a life less ordinary. Her mother, "curious and restless," defied the norms of the tribe by moving from her own mother's home to settle in a village two days' walk distant. Namu cried so much as a young child that three attempts to trader her to other families were unsuccessful. An elder sister was instead traded for a male cousin, who was raised as her brother. At eight, she was sent to yak-herd with a great-uncle. Several years later she returned to her mother's home to participate in her skirt ceremony. When a group of Han Chinese visited her village to record traditional songs, they noticed her singing skills and chose her along with two others to participate in a singing contest. Successful in their first endeavor, they again succeeded in a bigger contest. Changed by her big city experience, she ran away from home to follow her dreams. She returned home, but only for a visit, after several years at a musical conservatory. Although Namu's story is fascinating, the writing seems overly simplified. Other good memoirs about lives less ordinary include: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Twelve Little Cakes by Dominika Dery, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

It's hard to believe a culture as 'counter' as the one described in Leaving Mother Lake was ever allowed to survive in China, especially during the era of Mao, of a numbing sameness when to be different often meant to be imprisoned or killed.
Namu was born into a community of matriarchs, a village in which women own the houses and rule the households, taking a series of lovers, bearing children, but never leaving their mother's house, and certainly not leaving the village. Namu's mother breaks with the cultural by moving to a nearby village, and, like mother, like daughter, Namu breaks out even further, eventually touring far from home with a musical troupe. Returning home to her powerful mother, she finds the truth in the adage: you can't go home again.
Leaving Mother Lake is an anthropological study presented as memoir, a satisfying way to learn much about this hidden and previously unknown culture.

Yang Erche Namu, born in 1966 is a professional singer, model, socialite, author and basically a very famous person in China. She has written eight autobiographies in Chinese, none of which have been translated into English. However, from what we can gather from excerpta most of them narrate together with her life story the many relations she has had with men all over the world, with detailed appreciations of their virtues and vices. She is actively interested in women empowerment in China and has been investing in hotels in her home region in Sichuan. In 2007 she wrote a public letter proposing to Sarkozy, but evidently he preferred Carla Bruni. Her fame in China does not march together with public sympathy, and she says of herself that Chinese hate her almost as much as Mao's wife.
However, this discussed public personality has a very interesting background, that has drawn the interest of an appreciated anthropologist Christine Mathieu (1954) who undertook the task of reconstructing Namu's childhood. This biography written in first person is not actually written by Namu but by her "interpreter" Mathieu. Namu was born in the Moso ethnicity, one of the 56 Chinese recognized minority groups. The less than 50,000 Moso live according to a matrilinear social organization. Women detain property and through the so called "walking marriage" procreate children that more often than not do not know their fathers. A woman's offspring is usually by different men. This kind of social organization is very rare, but still survives in some parts of the world and determines a peaceful and non violent environment. Until the 1980's this secluded society had had few contacts with the outside world and maintained its peculiar characteristics and represented an anthropologist dream..
The spirited and intelligent Namu was keen to escape her limited life in a Moso village, and this is the story of "Leaving Mother Lake". The story of Namu's youth ranges from the description of her family and friends, sibling rivaltry, an isolated experience among the mountains with her uncle and basically a conflictive relationship with her mother Christine Mathieu has reconstructed and rewritten Namu's childhood from long conversations and memories of the protagonist, and after completion of the biography she submitted it to Namu, who recognized herself in the tale. Can this lead us to call this is an authorized biography, a biography by proxy, a false diary, an interpreted memoir? The definition is difficult, and the genesis of this book, which has been a world wide best-seller, is I think one of its drawbacks. The personality of the young Namu has been westernized, and probably for this reason it gains so much empathy. In some points Namu's story reminded me of "Caddie Woodlawn" " or "The Little House on the Prairie".
Independently however from the description of the protagonist's character and her personal facts, the book is an anthropologic text full of stories, episodes, historical and religious analysis and correlations with history and sociology of the evolution of modern China. I was personally more interested in this aspect and found that Mathieu knows how to tell a story, and has aptly chosen Namu as her vehicle for a social analysis of the Moso ethnicity. The memoir is followed by a chapter on the discussions on the evolution of the Moso ethnicity and its possible historical explanations and another with a two voice interview with Namu and Mathieu.
This book is very readable, it breezes along conveying by broad lines the sense of this social group, it also introduces us to the strong personality of Namu. But I suggest to look her up on from other sources, one of which is Michel Palin's "Himalaya" and reflect on who she really is and what she represents in modern China.

A candid, insider's view of the fascinating woman-centered Moso culture of southwest China. Yang Erche Namu is a strong-willed, ambitious girl who wants to leave her village and make it in the outside universe. Yet her descriptions of Moso traditions, especially of her initiation into womanhood, show a culture of incredible beauty.

This book gives an excellent and interesting inside look at one particular matriarchal society. Some reviewers don't like the author, but from my perspective, that is beside the point. I was interested in seeing how the matriarchy functioned. VERY interesting read.

Living in China, I wanted to experience a little about its culture. I have lived in some other countries (in the "western" world) and living here has both been a challenge and a great experience on how things are different from "my" western side of the world.
Then, I stumble across this book and it's even more amazing the way her (Namu's) life changed from the childhood in the Moso country to living among the han chinese (don't think these people are the same), learning their culture, their language and writing ( I myself know how difficult this is, I've been struggling for 2 years), and even go live abroad in the west. This is amazing, I wonder how she must have changed and how much she has learned from all this. It's really incredible.
This book is easy reading. Besides, it's not a sad story, like the ones we've been reading about women in China of the cultural revolution, etc. I really enjoyed it. It's so good she shared her story with us.

The authors did a good job presenting the Moso people to the outside world. The writing draws readers into each scene, exposing us to a fascinating culture, as seen through the eyes of Namu. Her family lives a simple life, bound by strong traditions (albeit, some unconventional).

Namu's voice in the story is refreshing. Her recollection of venturing away from her family (to Beijing) for the first time revealed her inquisitive nature and vulnerability. But once she got a taste of the big city and glamorous lifestyle, it ignited an inner passion.

The friendship Namu developed with Nankadroma was touching. I wish there were more details surrounding their eventual reunion, including what became of Nankadroma.

The book makes for lively debate regarding intimacy and marriage.

Bill Lee, Author, "Chinese Playground."

As with all young people, Erche Namu Yang--or just Namu--faced the traditional crossroads of forging her own identity when she was a teen in the early 1980s. While many authors have written about this important life turning point, Namu's book stands out because she faced her coming of age in one of the world's most unique cultures. As the book's extended titles notes, she experienced "a girlhood at the edge of the world." What she should have said was "in a Feminist Utopia"!

Namu was born into the Moso (also Mosuo) people, who live near Lake Lugu (or Mother Lake) in remote parts of Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, bordering Tibet. This area has been referred to as The Country of Daughters, with good reason. The Moso are one of the world's few remaining matrilineal societies. Mothers serve as heads of their families, daughters are favored, and property and leadership is passed down among the females. Sounds good! However, this culture has been described as a feminist fantasy as well as mistakenly understood as tribes of promiscuous women, because the women do not marry. They move from one relationship to the next when they wish, without any self-consciousness or guilt between either party. Male roles within the family structure are filled by the family matriarch's brothers and sons. The Moso believe that because the men in the household are all blood relatives, they will be forever loyal and helpful to their women kin. There's definitely something to that.

No, I'm not making this up! The wealth of details Namu provides about Moso culture in her story will set the record straight about her people's lifestyle. Put on your cultural historian hat and remain aware that the Moso's socio-economic structure totally works for them, and you will learn a lot about an amazing group of people.

Though it traumatized her family--especially her mother--Namu knew her destiny lay beyond becoming her family's next leader. This book is about a girl having the courage to fulfill her dreams and how these ambitions affect her relationship with her mother. The Moso cultural aspect provides a unique backdrop for a timeless story about personal growth.

SIDE NOTE: I had the privilege of hearing Namu speak at the Shanghai Literary Festival one year. She is stunningly beautiful with a voice to match. She is so talented that she is successful at everything she does. When she couldn't sing anymore, she became a model. When she was too old to model, she became an author. To date, she has written 13 books--though only Leaving Mother Lake has been translated into English. Now she is trying to improve the quality of life in Lake Lugu and to be an ambassador for the Moso. She has opened the Namu Palace Hotel Museum at Lake Lugu, where artists can stay gratis if they create a piece to put in the adjacent art gallery and where guests can learn about Moso culture first hand. Hmmm. Definitely something to think about! But if nothing else, you can be inspired simply by reading her coming of age story.