Travelling to Lugu Lake, many visitors have heard the title "Mosuo Princess". But who was this princess? Why did she marry into Lugu Lake from a big city? And how did her life turn out?

This article tells the full life of Xiao Shuming (肖淑明), the last Mosuo princess (末代王妃).

At 16, from Chengdu to Lugu Lake

Xiao Shuming was not Mosuo. She was born in Chengdu; her father was a Nationalist (KMT) general. She grew up in Ya'an and attended a well-known local girls' middle school. This was the early 1940s, and for a girl to attend middle school was already considered remarkably enlightened.

In 1943, Labao Chen (喇宝臣), the tusi (chieftain, 土司) of Zuosuo on the Lugu Lake side, came to Ya'an on official business. Liu Wenhui (刘文辉), then chairman of Xikang Province, acted as matchmaker and introduced 16-year-old Xiao Shuming to Labao Chen. (Note: some sources record the chieftain's name as Luosang Yishi (罗桑益世); accounts differ, so this detail is marked as uncertain.)

Labao Chen was a full 20 years older than Xiao Shuming. By then he was the supreme ruler of the Lugu Lake region, governing the Mosuo people (摩梭) around the lake.

Xiao Shuming agreed. A 16-year-old girl from Chengdu followed a chieftain 20 years her senior across the mountains to Lugu Lake. She thought she was going to do work for ethnic unity; she never imagined that this journey would last a lifetime.

Life as the Princess

Arriving at Lugu Lake, Xiao Shuming became the princess. Her Mosuo name was "Cier Zhima" (次尔直玛).

She was no princess locked away in a deep palace. In a red jacket and white skirt, twin pistols at her waist, she rode a fast horse to hunt; locals said she looked like a female chieftain.

She did a great many things:

She founded a school. She brought 50 sets of primary-school textbooks and a pedal organ from Chengdu and opened the first primary school for the Mosuo people at Lugu Lake. She invited children to study for free and taught them Chinese characters. Before that, Mosuo children at Lugu Lake had almost no chance of an education.

She kept the seal. Her husband entrusted her with the chieftain's great copper seal. Carved on it were the words "Zuosuo Hereditary Qianhu Commissioner for Pacifying the Yi" (左所世袭抚彝千户司), and on the handle the inscription "Imperially bestowed in the 49th year of the Kangxi reign of the Great Qing". Much of the chieftain's day-to-day business was handled by her.

She fostered unity. She befriended the leading Mosuo women of the area and bridged Han–Mosuo relations; when disputes arose among the headmen, she helped mediate.

From Princess to Prisoner

The good days did not last long.

In 1956 came the Democratic Reform, and the tusi system was abolished. Xiao Shuming took the lead, ahead of time, in freeing the household slaves, reducing rents and interest, and learning to do housework herself. When bandits rebelled, she went into the mountains twice and, without firing a single shot, persuaded the rebels to surrender.

But she still could not escape.

In 1959 she was arrested and sent to a labour camp. Why? By her own account, a district magistrate surnamed Ma had tried to use his power to enter a Walking Marriage (走婚); when she refused, he nursed a grudge and in turn framed her.

She spent 14 years in the labour camp.

Re-seeing the Light After 14 Years

A new director took over the labour camp; after reading her file he said, "Your offence is a matter of history, so we will treat you leniently."

In 1987 she was finally cleared of her label and restored to citizen status. By then she was already in her fifties.

Towards the end of the 20th century, her long-standing injustice was re-investigated. The Liangshan Prefecture Party committee reviewed her whole life and affirmed her contributions to ethnic unity and to women's rights. In 1999 she was elected a member of the Liangshan Prefecture CPPCC.

She was in her sixties that year. From marrying into Lugu Lake at 16 to the restoration of her good name, more than forty years had passed.

Returning Home for the First Time After 58 Years

In August 2001, the Ya'an municipal government sent a "wedding-welcoming delegation" to bring the 74-year-old Xiao Shuming home to visit.

This was her first return since leaving Ya'an at 16. Fully 58 years.

By then her parents, brothers and sisters had all passed away; only her old classmates from middle school were still alive — and they were all white-haired too.

She was given a grand welcome in Ya'an. The local government hailed her as "the modern Wang Zhaojun".

Is the Princess Still Here?

Xiao Shuming died in 2008, at the age of 81.

Her former residence is now one of Lugu Lake's attractions — the "Mosuo Princess Mansion" (摩梭王妃府), on the Sichuan side of Lugu Lake. Visitors can go in and see the house she lived in and the things she used.

But for Xiao Shuming herself, Lugu Lake was never a scenic spot — it was the place where she lived her whole life. She came here at 16 and never left. She gave Lugu Lake her best years, and she gave Lugu Lake her old age as well.

How to Think of Xiao Shuming's Life

Many people compare Xiao Shuming to Wang Zhaojun and Princess Wencheng — all married from a big city to a remote ethnic region to foster ethnic unity.

But Xiao Shuming's story was more tortuous than Wang Zhaojun's. Wang Zhaojun was sent as a peaceful bride by the Han court and held an honoured status; Xiao Shuming was framed, spent 14 years in prison, and left prison an ordinary citizen.

She once filled in a ci poem summing up her life:

> Daughter of a general, for ethnic unity and peace, at sixteen married down to Lugu Lake, holding the seal of the Kingdom of Women. Honest, just, kind; following local ways, in red jacket and white skirt. Green horse, twin guns; wood and earth, sowing the Chinese script.

>

> The crown fallen to the ground, past merits unspoken; fourteen years in bonds, bitter disgrace, tears for the weeping child. Hearth, lone lamp, night rain; in a flash of dream, frost on both temples. The government comes to welcome the bride; wealth and gods heal the soul; the withered wood turns to spring again.

This was the life of the last Mosuo princess. Not a legend — the whole life of a real woman.