One of special customs Derung people have is that they would put tattoos on women's faces.

I took those photos with one of the women in the Derung tribe who still have tattoo on her face.

She told me the patterns on her faces were punctured with a thorn, and the dye is from southwestern birch.

She also mention the reason why they have tattoo on women's faces. She said that In order to protect themselves from being taken away by mobs from other tribes, the Derung women put tattoos on their faces, so stranger would not dare to close to them. Over time, the tradition was carried on until the time of liberation.

Today, only 27 Derung women still have tattoos on their faces. And, the youngest among them is already 80 years old. This tradition is about forgotten by the world.

Derung people also have very interesting wedding customs

One of them is called "说婚". 说婚 is when a boy falls in love with a girl, he would find someone called 说婚人 to help him win the girl.

说婚人 is a person who would took a teapot, a bag of tea and a few packets of cigarettes from the young man's house. After bringing these things to the woman’s house, regardless of the attitude of the woman’s family, 说婚人 will put the tea in the teapot in the he woman’s house, boiling it on the fire pit. Then, this person would send the tea to the woman's family. After the tea was delivered, the person would begin to praise the young man, saying how capable and honest is the young man, how good the man’s family is, how rich he is, and the girl should marry to him. After a while, 说婚人 would start to sing, and repeat all those steps until the woman’s family is tempted. If the women's family takes the tea and drink it, that means the family agrees about the marriage