This story from the NY Times is about a matrilineal society near Lugu Lake in Yunnan Province, China. Amy Qin writes that the area’s beauty and the colorful female-centric traditions are a tourist draw, but once again, a culture and a language are threatened.
“A young man clad in a white shirt, black pants and red belt suddenly scrambled up the side of a log house and slid feet first into a second-story latticed window.
” ‘This is how Mosuo men would climb into the “flower room” of the women,’ Ke Mu explained to visitors as the triumphant swain stuck his head out the window of the flower room, or private bedroom, and waved his hat.
“It was morning in the lakeside village of Luoshui here in southwestern China. On a narrow side street, dusty from hotel construction nearby, a group of young workers, including Ms. Ke, 18, was preparing for another day of cultural pageantry at the Mosuo Folk Museum. …
“A fascination with such traditions has led to a booming tourism industry in this once-isolated region. …
“Visitors can watch residents perform traditional dances in colorful costumes and can take boat rides on the lake as young Mosuo men serenade them with love songs in Naru, the Mosuo language.
“All around the village are signs that read, ‘Welcome to the Kingdom of Daughters.’
“Lively as its traditions seem, however, the Mosuo community is facing a crisis. As its interaction with the wider society increases, residents and outside experts fear that the group’s unique cultural practices are facing a grave threat.
“Experts say that the population of Mosuo in the Lugu Lake region, estimated to be about 40,000, is decreasing as more young people marry outside the group or move to larger cities for work. And without a written language, Mosuo culture is particularly vulnerable to disappearing.” Read about some curious customs here.
Photo: Adam Dean for The New York Times
Mosuo women in traditional outfits danced for Han Chinese tourists at a show in Luoshui. 
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