China's last but one matriarchy: The Jino of Yunnan

Hidden in the tropical mountains of China's southern reaches lives one of the most fascinating of China's minorities: The Jino. With a population of merely 21,000, they are one of the lesser known ethnic groups in China, and in the past were often confused with the surrounding minorities. The study of their culture began only in the last decades of the 20th century and unveiled to the world a people marked by the strength with which they had preserved their matriarchal customs, and by remarkable adaptation to the tropical mountains they inhabit. The shadow of their former matriarchy, and of their goddesses, was to be found everywhere in the Jino life and culture, like a giant umbrella that spread out over their villages and colored all their principal activities. Its influence was especially prominent in their myths and legends, as well as in the spiritual life that directed their everyday activities: farming and hunting, house building, village ceremonies, and rituals. The apparent