The Black and White War

The Black and White War, called "Dong Ai Shu Ai" in Naxi (the "Dong-Shu War"), is the crowning work of Naxi Dongba literature and stands with the Genesis and the Luban Lurao as one of the three great Naxi epics. Written in Dongba pictographic script within the Dongba scriptures, it was inscribed in the fourth national ICH list in 2014 under folk literature, declared by the Gucheng District heritage centre of Lijiang.

The epic turns on the war between the White tribe (Dong) and the Black tribe (Shu), recounting the origin of the cosmos, the forming of heaven and earth, the birth of humankind and the multiplication of all things, chanted by Dongba priests during ritual. Grand in narrative and rich in imagery, it carries the cosmic, worldly and moral outlook of the ancient Naxi as they moved from wildness toward civilisation.

The Black and White War is the highest achievement of Naxi Dongba literature, of outstanding value for the study of Naxi primal belief, social change and the oral epic tradition, and a treasure within the diverse epic heritage of the Chinese peoples.

The epic's text and chanting can be explored at the heritage practice halls of Lijiang's old town and at Dongba cultural research institutes.