Hello~

I'm high school student from  Shenzhen, China. I'm a STEM student who is also deeply interested in culture and humanities. From one of my relatives I learned about Dongba culture, which is a beautiful and meaningful yet fragile culture in the southwestern corner of China. I was then intrigued by its mysterious nature, hoping to explore more about its culture. 

I had a field trip to Baidi village in Yunnan​, the birthplace of Dongba culture, which allowed me to experience Dongba tradition in person. For instance, I learned about the traditional way of making paper for writing Dongba script starting from collecting Raohua bark, a kind of plant specially used for paper-making. Also, I further learned about Dongba dance and rituals. I collected lots of visual sources along the way, including photos of local buildings and museums and videos of me interviewing some of the Dongba intangible culture inheritor telling me about their culture and current status. 

 The adventure of the countryside, the untamed natural scenery, and the hospitable locals left me with wonderful memories. However, I was informed by many during my interviews that, nowadays, with the increasing prevalence of the Han Majority culture, a large portion of their culture and tradition is gradually disappearing, as not many people, even including their local descendants, are willing to learn Dongba culture. As many elderly members of the community left this world, with few successor, the preservation of Dongba culture became a problem. Although the government is paying increasing attention to the preservation of the culture, the financial support for Dongbas is still limited. 

Then I came up with the idea of developing this website, which combines  culture with technology, creating "digital humanities" to record Dongba culture and publicize it, hoping that it can be a guide, or an introduction, of the beautiful but endangered culture. 

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