Heibaizhanzheng
01 · Historical Records
Taking the war between the White tribe and the Black tribe as its main thread, The Black-White War tells of the origin of the cosmos, the formation of heaven and earth, the birth of mankind and the multiplication of all things, and expresses the cosmology, world view, values and moral outlook of the ancient Naxi forebears.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Black-White War is a heroic epic among the three great epics of the Naxi; in the Naxi language it is called “Dong'eshu'e”, that is, “the war of Dong and Shu”. It circulates mainly in the ancient city district of Lijiang, Yunnan, the Yulong Naxi autonomous county and the Diqing Tibetan autonomous prefecture. The Black-White War tells how in remote antiquity the white dew gathered into a sea, the sea gave birth to a white egg, and the white egg changed into the five “essences” of wood, fire, iron, water and earth; the “essences” changed into five great brazen winds, white, green, red, yellow and black; and the five brazen winds changed into five coloured eggs. The coloured eggs changed respectively into Mili Dongs, the dragon-king family, the “ze” ghosts, the “du” ghosts and Mili Shuzhu, and each of their heavens, earths and myriads of things. By the sea of Mili Daji, born of the white dew, grew the divine tree Hanying Bada which bore gold and silver flowers and fruited pearls and could reckon years, months and days. To contend for the sun and moon and the divine tree the Dong tribe and the Shu tribe waged unending war. In the end the Dong tribe, with the help of the heavenly troops and divine generals, won a great victory, the Shu tribe was exterminated, and light was everlasting from then on, the Dong tribe flourishing from generation to generation. The Black-White War has a profound theme, a grand subject, a magnificent structure, complete and intricate episodes, vivid figures and rich description of feeling; it loses none of the narrative charm of a heroic epic and is at the same time full of mythological colour and highly infectious. Many cultural forms of expression take it as material for creation, such as the folk literature The Story of the Black-White Struggle, the long poem The Black-White War and the poem Gelacimu. Judging from the historical materials, the background of the Black-White War should be the stage of social transition of the Naxi forebears from savagery to civilization, that is, the end of primitive society and before the establishment of slavery.
The Main Body of the War of Dong and Shu (Black and White)
The unending war waged by the Dong tribe and the Shu tribe to contend for the sun and moon and the divine tree.
The Divine Tree Hanying Bada and Mount Juna Ruolüo
The divine tree bearing gold and silver flowers and pearl fruit by the divine sea born of the white dew, and Mount Juna Ruolüo that divides heaven and earth into the white and black realms.
The Dongba Scripture Dong'eshu'e
The Dongba scripture text of The Black-White War.
Chanting at Dongba Rituals
The occasions of the Dongba lineage of transmission, in which The Black-White War is chanted at sacrificial rites.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Mount Juna Ruolüo by the sea divided heaven and earth into the white and the black realms, the Dong tribe living in the white realm and the Shu tribe in the black realm.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Black-White War has been transmitted over a long time; its transmission exists both in the Dongba scriptures and in folk songs handed down orally, and it is divided into the Dongba lineage of transmission and the folk-song lineage of transmission, with clear threads. The Black-White War is of important reference value for the study of the humanities, geography, history and politics of the many western ethnic groups including the Naxi. The epic vividly reflects the historical memory of the Naxi people, forcefully lashes darkness and evil, praises light and justice and extols an unyielding ethnic character and spirit, and has relatively high artistic and social-cultural value.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。