Study on He Hong’s Dongba Manuscripts Collected by American Harvard-Yenching Library

Advances in Anthropology

2014. Vol.4, No.1, 13-17

Published Online February 2014 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/aa) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/aa.2014.41003

Study on He Hong’s Dongba Manuscripts Collected by

American Harvard-Yenching Library

Xiaoliang Li

The Institute of Chinese Language and Documents, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

Email: longer_2411363@163.com

Received November 26th, 2013; revised December 24th, 2013; accepted January 19th, 2014

tion License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original

by law and by SCIRP as a guardian.

American Harvard-Yenching Library has uploaded its Dongba manuscripts of Naxi on the official website.

Most of the Dongba manuscripts collection is featured with older version, good appearance, fluent and

elegant writing, and the portraits are true to life. Therefore, Harvard Dongba manuscripts collections are

definitely rare collections. Some of these manuscripts were written by He Hong, who was one of

well-known Dongba, native Naxi priests, in Baisha, Lijiang. This paper focuses on several aspects of the

title pages, writing style, postscript of He Hong’s manuscripts in order that we can understand the charac-

teristic of the Dongba manuscripts of Baisha.

Keywords: Harvard-Yenching Library; He Hong; Dongba Manuscripts

Introduction

The Naxi (also written Na-khi or Mo-so) is an ethnic minor-

ity in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province in China, near

the borders of Tibet and Burma. Their pictographic Dongba

(also written dto-mba or tomba) script is the only remaining

living pictographic language today. It is called the Dongba

script because it is primarily utilized by Dongba or priests when

they carry out their different ceremonies, rituals and exorcisms.

Dongba script was written on Dongba manuscripts. The actual

story of the Dongba manuscripts began way back in 1867 when

the French missionary, Pere Desgodins, sent an 11 pages copy

of Dongba manuscripts to Paris. Subsequently, more Dongba

manuscripts were brought back to Europe or America by trav-

elers in Yunnan and they were discussed in terms of the devel-

opment of writing (Jackson, 1989: p. 135). According to Britain

scholar Anthony Jackson’s survey, about ten thousand Dongba

manuscripts lost overseas.

There are 598 manuscripts in Harvard-Yenching Library, an d

the Harvard-Yenching Library’s holdings (510 from Joseph

Rock and 88 from Quentin Roosevelt) were acquired by Har-

vard-Yenching Institute in 1945. Joseph Rock, Zhu Baotian,

and Li Lincan edited these manuscripts respectively. Joseph

Rock catalogued the Dongba manuscripts collected by himself.

Li Lincan explained 21 pieces of these manuscripts and trans-

lated some manuscripts’ name into Chinese. Zhu Baotian cata-

logued all of those manuscripts and we can check the material

in his works An Annotated Catalog of Naxi Pictographic Ma-

nuscripts in the Harvard-Yenching Library. In addition, He

Jiquan, Deng Zhangying and Zhang Chunfeng have studied on

them respectively. He Jiquan translated the postscript of some

manuscripts and determined the identity of some classics writ-

ers. Deng Zhangying and Zhang Chunfeng studied the manu-

scripts stamped with two red circles. At present the Har-

vard-Yenching Institute, the Institute of Ethnology and Anth-

ropology, Chinese Academy of Social Science and the Institute

of Dongba Culture at the Yunnan Academy of Social Science

are translating the 598 manuscripts.

According to Li Guowen (1998: p. 227), He Hong was a

Dongba who lived in Baisha Town, Lijiang, during the late

Qing Dynasty. He was the nineteenth generation descendants of

a famous Dongba Jiuzhilao, and he is also the grandfather of He

Cheng who was a famous Dongba during the early Republic of

China. We have found that 50 manuscripts among the Harvard

Dongba manuscripts collections were written by He Hong.

These manuscripts are used in the ceremony for the prolonga-

tion of the life. The Naxi language pronunciation of the cere-

mony’ s title is zɿ33tʂu55, which means “long life connect”, and a

common theme is that things have been disconnected, for ex-

ample heaven and earth, mountain and valley, the cardinal

points, and of course longevity and the family. This ceremony

is to make good this interruption of continued long life (Jack-

son, 1979: p. 190).

This paper focuses on several aspects of the title page, writ-

ing style, postscript of He Hong’s manuscripts in order that we

can understand the characteristic of the Dongba manuscripts of

Baisha.

Postscript of He Hong’s Dongba Manuscripts

It is the direct evidence for us to determine the identity of the

writer if there is signature in the postscripts. Referring to the

following postscripts, we can determine that these manuscripts

are written by He Hong.

This page (Figure 1) is a postscript written in Dongba script

and the translation is, “it was written by He Hong who lived in

OPEN ACCESS 13

X. L. LI

Figure 1.

D3.

Baisha countryside, be33kv33 village, on August 15th. There are

no thousands of meters tree in the pine forest and snow moun-

tain. In our village, there is no one that can live beyond 100

years old. In the world, holding ceremonies is hoped to prolong

longevity. The insider knows the ropes, while the outsider just

comes along for the ride. I have taught others what I’ve know. I

couldn’t turn to anybody for help about what I haven’t known.

The kind-hearted man died, but their good reputation spread the

later generation.”

The symbol represents ribs, here reads ho21. The next

symbol represents stomach of a ruminant, here read shu21,

and the two symbols represent a person’s name, He Hong.

From the second line is a postscript (Figure 2). The first 4

lines are written in Geba script which is a kind of Naxi syllabic

character; the next 2 line are written in Dongba script. Transla-

tion is, “The man who was born in mbu33tho21 soil rabbit year

wrote this manuscript in Lunar August 20th. He Hong who

lived in the village of be33kv33lɑ33zo33tʂhu33ɡə33iə33kæ33 wrote

this manuscript at the age of fifty-eight. Life always fills up

with disappointment. I hope everything goes well. Good repu-

tation will never lose. Let the priest longevity.” The symbol

, here reads hɯ, and the next symbol , here reads ho, and

the two symbols represent a person’s name, He Hong.

This postscript (Figure 3) is written in Dongba script, “The

man who was born in mbu33tho21 soil rabbit year wrote this

manuscript in Lunar March. He Hong who lived in the village

of be33kv33lɑ33zo33tʂhu33ɡə33iə33kæ33 wrote this manuscript at

the age of fifty-one. It’s easier said than done . Look before leap. ”

The symbol , here reads hɯ, and the next symbol , here

reads ho, and the two symbols represent a person’s name, He

Hong.

From the beginning of the second line is a postscript (Fig ure

4) and the translation is, “He Hong who lived in the village of

be33kv33lɑ33zo33tʂhu33ɡə33iə33kæ33 wrote this manuscript at the

age of sixty-one. May me longevity. My descents will happy

forever.” The symbol , here reads hɯ, and the next symbol

, here reads ho, and the two symbols represent a person’s

name, He Hong.

The signatures of He Hong in the four postscripts above are

different. But in the light of handwriting and pronunciation of

Dongba and Geba scripts, they actually refer to the same per-

son.

Determining He Hong’s Year of Birth

About He Cheng who was He Hong’s grandson, Li Guowen

(1998: p. 277), “He Cheng (1879-1953) lived in Xinshan vil-

lage, Baisha Xiang, Li jiang (丽江白沙乡新善行政村), who

was the 21st descendant of a famous Dongba Jiuzhilao. He

Hong is the grandfather of He Cheng.”

Figure 2.

D9.

Figure 3.

D20.

Figure 4.

D43.

From the above, He Hong may live in the late Qing Dynasty,

but the accurate time is unknown. We find the key evidence in

the D9 postscript, “The man who was born in mbu33tho21 soil

rabbit year wrote this manuscript in Lunar August 20th.”

mbu33tho21soil rabbit years may be in 1879 or 1819. He Hong’s

grandson He Cheng was born in 1879. So He Hong was born in

1819.

D63 postscript can also confirm this conjecture.

Postscript (Figure 5), “Written in Guangxu three years, ox

year, Lunar July 7th. Altair and lyrae are in the sky.” The first

symbol represents garlic, reads kv33, here read kuɑ33. The

second symbol represents wool, sheep wool, reads ʂʅ33,

here read sy55, the two symbols represent the title of an empe-

ror’s reign, the Chinese Guangxu (光绪). The third symbol

represents breath, here reads sɑ33 = san (三). The forth symbol

represents eyes, here reads ȵiə21 = nian (年). Guangxu

three years is A.D.1877. So this manuscript was written in A.D.

1877.

Other postscripts with accurate time in Figure 6.

We identified He Hong’s year of birth, according to the

postscript of age dating, and these manuscripts can be launched

in 1870 to 1886. So He Hong at least lived between 1819 and

1886.

Characteristic of He Hong’s Manuscripts

The Title Page

He Hong’s manuscript uniformly bond with orange covers

OPEN ACCESS

X. L. LI

Figure 5.

D63.

Figure 6.

The postscripts with accurate time.

edged with blue, green or yellowish brown, and decorated on

either side with striped borders, for example Figure 7.

Title Area box

The manuscripts with horizontally set titles were more beau-

tifully ornamented. In most cases, the titles were set into oblong

box with a variety of symbols on top of it. Four or six draperies

were drawn around the upper part of the title box. The drawing

skill of the Dongba writers of this type was more sophisticated

than that of others, for example in Figures 8 and 9.

The title is started with a Dongba sitting in the stage and

chanting. The majority of the manuscripts’ title explain that

which ceremony they can be used. He Hong’s manuscripts are

all used in ceremony for the prolongation of the life, so the

Dongba scripts always apprea in the title. Here

reads zɿ33tʂu55py21. Joseph Rock recorded them as zɪ̆ chung bpö.

The name of the manuscript is followed.

Generally speaking , there is al ways a start sy mbol in the fi rst

age or passage. Different regions of Dongba will use different

symbols. These symbols are mostly derived from the Tibetan,

but it is also unusually personalized.

A single vertical lines was used as the inter sentence markers

in the general manuscripts. Two vertical lines are used at the

end of a passage. Additionally, in some postscript of the manu-

scripts circles separate the sentences. As shown in Figure 10.

He Hong manuscripts’ columns pattern is the same with

general Dongba manuscripts, which was divided into three

columns per page. Only in postscript page, it would be divided

into more than 3 columns, as in Figure 10.

Joseph Roc k’s Sticker

Each manuscript collected by Joseph Rock is marked with

two stickers. One is on the cover (Sticker 1), and the other is on

the back of cover (Sticker 2), as shown in Figures 11 and 12.

The content pattern of Sticker 1, zɪ̆ chung bpö̈ + number. zɪ̆

Figure 7.

D3.

Figure 8.

D27.

Figure 9.

D35.

Figure 10.

D67.

Figure 11.

D39.

chung bpö is the phonetic symbol of the c e re mony for the pro-

longation of the life, and the number shows the kind of the

ceremony. Sticker 2 was composed of manuscript’s name, the

phonetic symbol of name and the number which are written by

OPEN ACCESS 15

X. L. LI

Figure 12.

D39.

Dongba script. The Sticker 2 number is commonly known as

the serial number which was marked by Joseph Rock. In theory,

the serial number should be unique. Harvard has 50 scriptures

which copied by He Hong, 49 manuscripts’ serial number is

included between 1938 and 1988. We can’t find No. 1987 and

1950 in Harvard’s collection. We check Zhu Baotian’s works

An Annotated Catalog of Naxi Pictographic Manuscripts in the

Harvard-Yenching Library and find that the scriptures NO.

1987 and 1950 corresponding to D10 and D15 of Zhu Baotian

respectively. While the manuscripts that Harvard-yenching

institute library published lack D10 and D15. We speculate that

D10 and D15 both are He Hong’s manuscripts. Another deter-

mined one written by He Hong is No.2061. Thus, we can con-

clude that this batch of scriptures was collected from the same

place at the same time by Joseph Rock.

Writing Style

He Hong’s writing style is obviously different from other

Dongba or prests. He’s script style is smaller than general

Dongba script and graphic form is reserved and delicate. He

Hong selected the long script spacing so that handwriting is

neat and legible, for example Figure 13.

The arrangement of some postscripts’ scripts was in a line

across the page, reads from left to right line by line, as shown in

Figure 14. The arrangement of all ritual text and some post-

scripts’ scripts was not in a line across the page, it reads from

left to right, from top to bottom, for example Figure 15.

He Hong is good at Dongba script, Geba script, Sanskrit and

Chinese script.

The postscript of D9, D20, D43, D67 are written in Geba

script, for example Figure 16.

The front 5 pages of Figure 17 were written in Sanskrit

which are incantations. Prayers, charms, incantations were used

to appease the gods or to ward off demons.

Chinese script of Figure 18, “百歲光陰爭十年，十年更上千

秋頌，千秋福禄綿三世，三世相承百歲人。玉兔久成千岁藥，

桂花新放一枝香。”

By comparison with the handwriting, the poem and the test

were transcribed by the same person. Even if He Hong is not

the author of this poem, it can prove that He Hong’s Chinese is

good enough to comprehensive this poem at least.

In addition, D8 envelope have a Chinese couplet, “天青地青

道青一通，日光月光世光萬年。” D 37 envelope have a Chinese

couplet, “寳婺喜见萱堂荣晚景，金枝佇看桂蕋憒秋香。”

Conclusion

The Significance to Domain Division of Dongba Script

It has long been a difficult issue for scholars to divide do-

main of Dongba script. The handed down manuscripts, frequent

Figure 13.

D39.

Figure 14.

D28.

Figure 15.

D28.

Figure 16.

D20.

Figure 17.

D49.

usage and difficulties of long time storage make it difficult for

us to see the early Dongba manuscripts. Thus, at the present

stage, we can only rely on the postscripts to determine the

writing age of Dongba manuscripts. The area and time of He

Hong’s Dongba manuscripts copy are determined, which offer

us information to divide domain of Naxi manuscript.

OPEN ACCESS

X. L. LI

Figure 18.

D32.

The Significance to the Study of Naxi Culture History

He Zhiwu and Guo Dalie referred to schools of Dongba,

these Naxi Dongba in Lijiang and Zhongdian county belonged

to four diffenernt schools, the schools of Baisha, Tai’an/Ludian,

Baidi and Baoshan. The Baisha school include the Dongba of

Lijiang plain which was and still is the economic and culture

centre of the Naxi. The Dongba here produced more ritual texts

and were skilful in painting and dancing than Dongba else-

where. They used the Dongba script as well as Geba script

(1985: p. 42). Influenced by the culture of Han, Dongba manu-

scripts in this area revolutionarily changed in writing, the title

page and illustrations. As a consequence, a large number of

dedicate Dongba manuscripts emerged. Whether in title page,

binding and illustrations or in font and normative character

usage, those Baisha Dongba manuscripts can be treated as

learning models. It is of great importance to study Baisha

Dongba manuscripts, which can help us to get a comprehensive

understanding of Naxi culture history.

The Significance to the Study of He Hong’s Other

Dongba Manus cri pt s

The majority of the Dongba manuscripts preserved in Euro-

pean and American libraries or museums was collected by Jo-

seph Rock. And lots of them lost when a boat was sunk with

Rock’s stuff on board, during World War II. Li Guowen has

ever mentioned that He Cheng had sold all his Dongba manu-

scripts to Joseph Rock. According Anthony Jackson’s survey,

in addition to the Library of Harvard-Yenching Institute, many

other European and American libraries or museums that pre-

served He Hong’s manuscripts. Therefore, our study on this

batch of Dongba manuscripts will lay a foundation for our fu-

ture research.

Acknowledgemen ts

We are grateful to Jaan Aru for his substantial help during

preparation of this report.

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