I have noticed, amazing tribals painted on house walls, on my frequent trips, between Dali and Kunming.
Most of them appear after passing Chuxiong.
You can spot them from the highway.
They are all round and orange/yelliw and black. But there are different designs and patterns.
Although, some houses share the same tribal with others.
Does anyone know what they represent? Are they a special minority art, or a family coat of arms?
If you know anything about them, please share.
I think they could be worth a gokunming feature article. They are real pretty.
You will see 2 diff motifs in 2 diff villages - one is the mushroom motif that was painted by the govt because that is the mushroom county of Yunnan. It is near the Nan Hua and Yao An exit. You will also notice the giant yellow mushrooms made of metal on the top of the hill.
www.gokunming.com/[...]
www.gokunming.com/[...]
The other motif is about the Yi minority just past the Chuxiong Rest area.
@HFCAMPO
I have seen the mushroom and dinosaur paintings but it's not them.
The tribals are just beneath the joint of where the roof meets, at the front end of the house.
They are approximately 25inch in diameter.
The ones I have seen are yellow and black, with an exception of beeing nightblue and yellow.
I am guessing, that they are coat of arms but I would like to know more about them.
They are very nice to look at.
So, I figured someone here may know something.
Many thanks to you HFCAMPO.
As Campo mentioned, it's probably Yi people. You could probably get some more background by searching 彝族壁画
Why are you calling them 'tribal'?
The paintings appeared in 2009 when the than governor of Chuxiong ordered these paintings all over Chuxiong district (A Yi district). In Chuxiong even the railway bridges are painted and don't forget the lampposts (Which you can see all along the motorway there as well).
If you look careful you will see the paintings are only on the road side and not at the back side of the houses. I would hardly call them tribal but more a top-down attempt from the governor to pimp the place a bit. Normal Yi houses are earth colourer because they are made of rammed earth or adobe bricks, also they are now often whitewashed. So tribal would be earth colour.
Not sure I'd call the Yi a 'tribe'.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_people
Here is a list of Yi minorities and their locations. As you can see, the list quite extensive. At closer inspection you will notice that the list has been broken down by province and prefecture but it does not clearly state which type of Yi is found in each county. You can use the sort button on top of the list.
Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture
Chuxiong city
Dayao county
Lufeng county
Mouding county
Nanhua county
Shuangbai county
Wuding county
Yaoan county
Yongren county
Yuanmou county
I must admit I am very curious about this now and I will make some inquiries about those symbols during my travels. I found a picture of the houses I took a few years back and I can see the circular symbols you are talking about.
I didn't like the term 'tribal paintings'. Perhaps the term ethnic/minority would be more fitting.
I too have heard that the paintings on the walls of the houses along the highway was instigated by local government to stimulate tourism. But I also believe that the designs/motifs are largely authentic. Although I could easily be wrong on that.
I used the word tribal, because I simply don't know the name for it. I remember a tattoo artist told me, those circles with patterns are called tribals.
My apologies, if it wasn't politically correct.
