Yi ethnic culture museum opens in Yunnan

A museum recently opened in Yunnan Province dedicated to the ethnic culture of the Yi minority. It is aimed at rejuvenating their unique crafts and customs that are being pushed into oblivion.

The museum takes the shape of a typical Yi village tucked between mountains. Covering an area of five thousand square meters, it was funded by a Yi ethnic entrepreneur and took three years to complete.

Visitors will gain a glimpse into the ancient Yi culture. The museum presents their tools for daily living, traditional housing styles, and religious practices, as well as a weaving technique the Yi people have used for a millennium.

According to the curators, most of the exhibited items are no longer used by Yi people. But they are valuable heritages, offering a key link to the ancestral wisdom in the Yi community.

Yi people worship "Fire", and a stove is a necessity in every family and is at the center of their daily life.

Zhang Renhua, Yi villager, said, "We consider the stove as a symbol of family. You can also say it is the seedbed of Yi culture, because it gives birth to our religion and folk arts."

The time-honored weaving technique is also revived at the museum. Using a type of grass unique in the area, the complicated weaving technique has already disappeared in many Yi areas.