Language Preparation in Yunnan

While Mandarin Chinese serves as the main language of communication, the 56 ethnic minorities in China contribute a rich tapestry of dialects. During our trip to Yunnan, students had the privilege of exploring the diverse languages unique to Northern Yunnan, including those of the Naxi, Bai, and Yi communities.

During the five-day journey, students immersed themselves in the local culture by learning to write in the Dongba script—a rare pictographic writing system of the Naxi culture—through special lessons from a Dongba master. They also explored the nuances of the Tibetan language through interactions with locals, such as the monks at the temple and the welcoming restaurant owners.

These experiences enriched our understanding and appreciation of the region's linguistic diversity. The following sections will go deeper into these fascinating languages.

The Naxi people practice Dongba culture through scriptures, art, dance, and music, with around 60 Dongba dances, colourful paintings, and chanting of scriptures to express their beliefs. Today, Naxi customs and traditions, deeply intertwined with Dongba culture, attract millions of tourists to Lijiang and other destinations across Yunnan.

The Dongba script, a picture-based writing system still in use in Southwest China, plays a central role in the Naxi culture and religion, which emphasizes the connection between the human and natural worlds. 

Dongba dictionaries are important tools and should be used together to build a full set of characters for this ideographic writing system, which requires a semantic index with pictographic radicals to organize characters by meaning, though research on these radicals is still in its early stages. 

The Tibetan languages form a distinct group that descends from Old Tibetan. There are 50 Tibetic languages, which branch into over 200 dialects, organized into eight dialect continuas. This CAS trip has guaranteed students various opportunities to engage with local Tibetans, where Tibetan was frequently spoken and students were able to capture the nuance of the language.

During the trip, students visited a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Yunnan and participated in lessons conducted by a monk. The monk emphasized that acquiring proficiency in Tibetan is a vital aspect of their religious obligations, as Tibetan languages are prevalent in Buddhist scriptures and prayer texts.

The monk also imparted students to a common phrase used to pray for academic success or wisdom in Tibetan Buddhism, which is dedicated to Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom:

ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་བླ་མ་མངྒུལ་གྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ་གི་སྒྲོལ་བ་བློ་གྲོས་བསམ་གཏན།
Om A Ra Pa Ca Na Dhih

This Manjushri mantra is recited to increase wisdom and improve one's ability to study and comprehend. It is commonly used by students or practitioners to ask for blessings in their studies and intellectual pursuits.

Moreover, on our final day, we celebrated with a delightful dinner at a local Tibetan restaurant, where we were warmly welcomed with a white scarf draped around our necks. This scarf, known as 献哈达, symbolizes 热烈欢迎 (a warm welcome). In Tibetan culture, five colours—red, green, blue, orange, and white—hold significant meaning, representing the protectors of space, rivers, the sky, land, and clouds, respectively. While the scarf may be any colour, using all five together is reserved for special occasions. The five-coloured scarves are typically presented to 菩萨 as they are considered the most valuable gift, with the colours symbolizing 菩萨’s attire.

When entering the restaurant, we were also welcomed by the phrase  “扎西德勒”:

བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་

Tashi Delek

In Tibetan-speaking areas, Tashi Delek is a warm and sincere greeting word. It is a rough equivalence to Hi or Hello but means "Good Luck & Good Health" in Tibetan. If someone says “扎西德勒” (pronounced as "zha | xi" with the first tone in Chinese for both characters and "de | le" with the second tone), it means good luck or welcome. A common reply is “扎西德勒，shù” (with the fourth tone).