The Mosuo people are a branch of the Naxis. With a population around 80,000, they mainly live on the lakeside of the Lugu Lake of Yongning Township of Ninglang County.

The folk residences of the Mosuos are built with locally available logs into village courtyards. This kind architecture is also called Muleng (log-fenced) house with comparatively good performance of protecting insiders from the cold and the hot, as well as reflecting the ecological outlook of conforming to the nature. The Mosuos have kept the basic form of matriarchal families. What appears  in front of you is a complete courtyard of a Mosuo home, which consisting of the principal room, the Buddha worshipping hall, the flower room and the gate. The principal room faces the south and is generally called the Grandmother’s room, in which the oldest woman of the family stays. It is also the core place for the whole family to dine, to entertain guests, to discuss matters concerned and to contact and communicate with the gods. The flower rooms are also called Axia’s rooms where ladies of marriageable age stay, one room for each one lady for walking marriage. The Buddha worshipping hall is the venue to enshrine and worship the Buddha and to carry out worshipping activities.

In and out of the Mosuo courtyard, the Mosuo girls festively sing and dance. They present buttered tea to guests, row on the lake and sing the song of “Madami”, fully displaying folk customs and traditions.