It is very interest to see how family structure is different between the Han majority and Na minority. As a Han person who was born and grew up in northern China, I did not have too many ideas or knowledge about Naxi people before. By watching this documentary film, it gave me some necessary information about this ethnic group.
First, the Naxi or Nakhi is an ethnic group inhabiting the foothills of the Himalayas in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province, as well as the southwestern part of Sichuan Province in China. Because most of all, Naxi neighborhoods live on mountains, the local Han people in Sichuan and Yunnan also this ethnic group as the “mountain people.” In 2009, the total population of Naxi was 300,000, and some older generation is still using Nashi language instead of Chinese in their daily life. The three most prevalent religions among Naxi communities are Dongba, Tibetan Buddhism, and Taoism.

The family structure between Naxi and Han is different. In general, men have been the dominated gender, and women are positioned as the “fellow gender” in Han families. In traditional Han society, men have the responsibility to work outside, earn enough money to support their families. Meanwhile, women were always asked to stay at home to take care of children, parents, and do other house works. However, the role of men and women in Naxi family is in a different condition: according to some, men have no responsibility in Naxi society – they have no jobs, rest all day, take care children and conserve their strength for nighttime visits. Many Naxi men help their wives to bring up the children and clean the houses. They also deal with the slaughter of livestock, in which women never participate.

At the same time, Naxi women usually work outside and earn money to support their families. As soon as a Naxi girl becomes old enough, she needs to learn the tasks that she will perform for the rest of her life, such as farming, knitting, and making business. In the past, due to isolation between each village and towns, Naxi women always produced all their household goods. Because of this family structure, Naxi women usually have a higher social status and more power than men in their family.