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The Naxi, an ethnic population, employ a language that is unlike any other in their native China. Their pictographic writings look more like the writing systems of the ancient Egyptians and Mayans, and they often describe religious rituals and shamanistic ceremonies, such as this manuscript (right), which shows how to conduct a ceremony for casting out evil spirits. Naxi is the world's only living pictographic language. |
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"Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection," a presentation of unique items from the Library of Congress' Asian Division, is now available on the Global Gateway Web site at http://international.loc.gov/intldl/naxihtml/naxihome.html. This presentation features ceremonial writings of the Naxi people of China's Yunnan Province. The Library's Naxi collection is the largest outside of China and is considered one of the finest in the world. This online presentation features 185 manuscripts, a 39 ½-foot funerary scroll and an annotated catalog of the entire collection. |
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