Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World

Fascinating look at a matrilineal society in China. ( )

Deep in the mountains on the China-Tibet border, 2685 meters above sea level, lies Lake Lugu and the Moso people. Known as the Country of Daughters, this society has lived relatively cut off from the rest of the world. While these people are said to be matriarchal, it is actually a bit more complex than that, as Mathieu, the anthropologist of this book explains. Because of their remoteness and their customs that seem so unusual to the outside world, the Moso are not easily understood. While they may not be matriarchal, they are matrilineal - blood ties are determined by maternity rather than paternity. This makes complete sense because of their tradition of walking marriages whereby sexual relationships between men and women are not monogamous.

With this book, the reader is introduced not only to this culture, but also to a rare example of an individual from this culture that has made a way and a name for herself in the outside world. The daughter of a rebel who wanted to join the communist party, Yang became a rebel herself. As a baby, her mother tried to exchange her for other children, to families who desired a girl or had no children of their own because Yang would not stop crying. Inevitably, however, she always ended up back with her mother. When she was eight, Yang went to live with her uncle herding yaks, and she did not return to live in her village again until she was thirteen. As a teenager, she was invited to sing in the cities in contests, and she was a great success. She returned to her village, but a short time later she ran away to become a singer in the city. As was her mother, Yang was a rebel. She left her family to go it alone as her mother had done, putting strain on this all important relationship.

Yang has a fascinating and unusual life. To Westerners, her upbringing and customs are intriguing; to Moso, her rebelliousness and estrangement are disconcerting. Always the outsider, Yang has overcome some of the most dangerous obstacles to find her place in the world and to tell her story.

Leaving Mother Lake is a peek into a different world, one that is completely different from the rest of the world, and fast disappearing. Namu grew up in an isolated section of the Himalayas in China. In her society the women did not marry, they were the ones that owned the property and passed it down to their daughters. The men either live with their mothers or live a mostly nomadic existance, "visiting" women on a temporary basis. There was no word for father in their culture.

Since this author is just about my age I found myself comparing my childhood to what hers much have been like. They had no electricity, no running water, not much schooling.

Namu is lifted out of her childhood home when she is discovered to have a wonderful singing voice. She no longer lives there but does go back to visit, where she has a complicated relationship with her mother. This story of her journey is a eye opening read. ( )

Fascinating view of a woman's childhood in the Moso tribe in southwestern China. ( )

T Bk club. Remarkable story of a matrilineal society high in the mountains between China and Tibet. Girls are favored; traditional marriage is not; women may take many lovers; siblings have different fathers none of whom live with the families; men live in their mothers' houses so children are raised with uncles. Yang escaped this wondrous yet remote and life by winning a singing competition at a young age. The book tells how she became an internationally known musician and model. ( )