Free Dongba Culture training course opens in Lijiang

A free training course on Dongba culture was opened to children at the Snow Mountain Academy in Lijiang this summer.

The course occurs every morning from Monday to Saturday. Teachers of Naxi nationality instruct children in learning Dongba symbols and the Naxi language.

The director of the academy said that the free training course was opened at the request of many local parents. Students learn Dongba symbols, Dongba painting and Naxi language skills in class. If students can complete the training over four holiday periods, they will be able to understand 2,000 commonly used Dongba symbols as well as read works written in Dongba.

Dongba writing is comprised of a system of pictographic glyphs which can help children lay a foundation for painting. Considering that some pronunciations in the Naxi language cannot be marked by pinyin or international phonetic symbols, the course will ensure that children learn standard Naxi language and pronunciation.

The reason why such free training will be offered is because local teachers are very concerned about the protection of their ethnic culture. They hope to preserve and protect their traditions from extinction in this way. The academy expressed their strong desire to organize the course in order to give more people the opportunity to study and learn Dongba culture.