Dongba, the script of Naxi priests, is often described as the world's last living pictographic writing, and its manuscripts have been on UNESCO's Memory of the World register since 2003.
- Good for:
- Families with kids, language lovers, anyone spending more than two days in Lijiang
With a Naxi teacher you learn how drawn signs for sun, water, mountain and person combine into words, write your own name, and hear what the ritual texts were written for.
Etiquette and what to know
Old-town stalls will paint your name in 'Dongba' in two minutes; a session with a teacher is slower and tells you what you are actually writing. Handmade Dongba paper, made from the bark of a local shrub, is a light souvenir.
