The area on and around the Lugu Lake is inhabited by the Mosuo people, a sub clan of Lijiang’s Naxi people. The Mosuo maintain a matriarchal society where men and women are not bound by marriage, and rather than live together stay in their respective mother’s homes. Any children fall under the care of the maternal families, and the parents can unite or separate at will.
As such, the Musuo people call Lugu Lake the ‘Mother Lake’, but Chinese travel brochures also describe the region as that of “Amazons” or “The Kingdom of Women”.
Lugu Lake straddles Ninglang County in Yunnan Province, and YanYuan County in Sichuan Province. Surrounded by mountains, the 52square km lake is 2,685m above sea level, and up to 93m deep. It’s the highest lake in the Yunnan Province and has five islands.
The Legends of Lugu Lake
A beautiful female spirit called Gemu had many local mountain spirits as her lovers. Whilst being entertained by a local mountain spirit, another spirit from a distant mountain came to her house on horseback. Humiliated that she was already being entertained he left.
Gemu heard the horse leaving and chased the departing spirit, but could only find a large hoof print. Gemu’s tears of frustration filled the hoof print, forming the Lugu Lake. When the male spirit saw this he threw pearls and flowers into the lake which became the islands in the lake and the azaleas which now line the shore.
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Wow, that’s really interesting – I’ve never heard of this lake before, and what a great myth to go with it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Beautiful photos, too.
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fascinating! are the islands inhabited?
Not permanently, but one has a temple with a constant flow of pilgrims and tourists.
What an interesting story! And some really beautiful photos
Love the intro into the lake here. We are heading there next from Chengdu — how long did you stay there? Is there anything else to do in the area? or just take in the beauty of the lake? : )
We were only there one night. It’s pretty, but not worth much more two or three days. It’s probably better to just enjoy the views of the lake – most of the attractions are busy and somewhat pushy.