Do the Mosuo Still Practice Walking Marriage? A 2026 Field Report

Many tourists come to Lugu Lake wanting to know one thing: do the Mosuo still practise walking marriage?

The answer: yes, some still do, but it is no longer the mainstream.

This article explains the real situation in 2026 – who still practises walking marriage, who has married, and why it is declining.

How many people still walk marriage

Not many.

Twenty years ago, most people in the Lugu Lake area practised walking marriage. Now walking marriage and marriage are each about half – this is my general impression from years of running a hotel at Lugu Lake and dealing with local Mosuo families, not census data. And the younger people are, the lower the share of walking marriage.

Remote villages like Yongning and Wenquan: walking marriage is still the mainstream. The farther from the tourist areas, the better the tradition is preserved.

Near tourist areas like Daluoshui and Lige: marriage is more common. Young people who went out for work or school absorbed outside ideas and come back to register a marriage.

The younger generation (ages 20–30): among the ones I meet, fewer than three in ten practise walking marriage. Most choose marriage, or go out to work and never return.

Why walking marriage is declining

First, the impact of tourism. Tourists bring outside ideas – monogamy, buying a house, registering children. Young Mosuo see this and think marriage is fine too.

Second, wider education. Mosuo children all go to school now, many through high school and college. After modern education, many young people feel walking marriage is "too primitive" and marriage is more respectable.

Third, economic change. Originally the Mosuo practised walking marriage because of the big-household system – a dozen people working together was efficient. Now, with tourism and guesthouses, small families are more flexible. Two people running one guesthouse is easier than a dozen people sharing accounts.

Fourth, household registration and schooling. Children born from walking marriage are registered in the mother's household. But now that children must attend school, many schools require information from both parents. A walking-marriage father and his child are not in the same household register, which makes paperwork very troublesome. This pressure pushes many Mosuo families toward marriage.

Can you switch between walking marriage and marriage

Yes.

The Mosuo do not treat walking marriage and marriage as either-or. Two people may walk marriage for years, and when the relationship is stable, register it and become formal spouses. Conversely, a married couple whose feelings sour may return to walking marriage – the wife receives her male partner at home, and the husband visits his female partner's home.

This flexible switching is not rare in Mosuo society.

How Mosuo young people view walking marriage

Not everyone thinks walking marriage is good.

Older Mosuo: feel walking marriage is tradition, the root of the Mosuo, and must not be lost.

Middle-aged Mosuo: conflicted. On one hand walking marriage makes sense – two people together purely for feeling, no house, car or bride price needed; on the other, marriage is more solid – a stable family, a father for the children, simpler paperwork.

Young Mosuo: most choose marriage. But they respect the walking-marriage tradition and do not see it as shameful.

Can tourists experience walking marriage

No.

Walking marriage is the private life of the Mosuo, not a tourist attraction. The "scratching the palm to pledge love" at the bonfire party is a performance, not real walking marriage.

Real walking marriage is private – the couple confirm their relationship quietly, the man visits the woman's home by night and leaves at dawn. Outsiders cannot see it, and should not try.

If someone tells you "pay and you can experience walking marriage", that is a scam – do not believe it.

Will walking marriage disappear

Not in the short term.

The Mosuo matrilineal big household still exists, and the cultural soil for walking marriage remains. As long as matrilineal families exist, walking marriage has a reason to exist.

But over the long term, the share will keep falling. In twenty or thirty years, walking marriage may survive only in the remotest villages, becoming a "cultural heritage" rather than a daily way of life.

This is neither good nor bad – it is the natural course of social development. The Mosuo have chosen a way that fits modern life better, and we should respect it.

When you travel to Lugu Lake, do not come with the mindset of "watching primitive people walk marriage". The Mosuo are ordinary people like you and me. Their walking-marriage system is not a zoo exhibit, but one people's unique understanding of intimacy.