The International Naxi Society was recently founded in Lijiang, Yunnan Province. Over 200 Naxi scholars from the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, China and many other countries attended the inaugural ceremony.

Naxi culture has attracted enormous interest around the globe. The United States, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Thailand and many other countries have many researchers engaged in the study of Naxi culture.

The Naxi ethnic group is mainly distributed in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Naxi represents one of the world's last remaining matriarchal societies.

More than 1,000 years ago, the Naxi created a script with 1,500 words. The"Dongba Classic", written in the Naxi script, records the history, language, literature and art, religion and customs, astronomy, and philosophy of Naxi society. The "Dongba Classic" constitutes an encyclopedia of ancient Naxi culture.

The study on Dongba Culture dates back to early this century. Interest and research in Dongba Culture has also attracted a veritable army of international scholars in recent years.

The founding of the International Naxi Society indicates that Naxi culture has now been recognized as a serious study subject among scholars in China and abroad and now joins the rank of Dunhuang Studies and Tibetology, the Society's president said.

The Society will promote and protect Naxi and Dongba Culture and encourage Sino-foreign exchanges.