The Lugu Lake, located on the border of Sichuan and Yunnan, is jointly administered by the two provinces. The eastern area of the lake belongs to Yanyuan County of Sichuan. Covering 49.5 square kilometers at an elevation of 2685 meters, the lake has a water storage of 950 million cubic meters. As China’s third deepest freshwater lake, the lake has an average depth of 40 meters, with its deepest point measuring 93.5 meters. Formed in a geological fault belonging to the geological age of the Late Cenozoic, the lake has five islands, four peninsulas, fourteen bays and seventeen beaches. The shores of the lake are inhabited by many ethnic minorities including Mosuo, Yi, and Tibetan, among whom the Mosuo community is the largest. Mosuo is known to the outside world as the "the last quaint Realm of Matriarchy." Its unique custom, the “walking marriage,” has aroused the interest of anyone who has ever had about the practice. “Walking marriage” refers to any ongoing sexual relationships in the Mosuo culture. Unlike in traditional marriages, men and women involved in “walking marriages” are not pronounced husband and wife; neither do they live together under the same roof. Children of such relationships are raised by their mothers or the mothers’ families. Quite often such relationships are kept secret and it is morally acceptable in the local culture for women and men to engage in sexual relationships with as many partners as they like. [Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department of CPC Liangshan Committee]
