Behind the Curtain; An intimate look at a too-popular tribe.(Cover story)(Brief article)

Originally of Tibetan origin, the Naxi people settled in China's Yunnan province about 2,000 years ago. They brought with them the Dongba religion--a mix of animist spirit and ancestor worship--and developed their own ceremonial music, as well as a sophisticated written language that combines symbols and pictographs. Today, much of that traditional culture is kept alive by the tourist trade in and around the town of Lijiang, which has become one of China's most popular destinations. Tour groups of middle-class Chinese now jostle with foreigners to watch lavishly costumed Naxi sing and dance; Naxi crafts like wood carvings are sold as souvenirs. In so-called cultural villages, the Naxi's rural way of life is carefully preserved, as if in amber, for the tourists who wander among their stone courtyards and in and out of houses and barns.

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