Utopia forged by women a modern model of harmony

In a society where women hold the reins, what it is like to be a man?

On the shores of Lugu Lake in Yunnan province, visitors from around the globe have come to explore that question in a wooden house in Luoshui village, Lijiang.

Geze Duoji, 54, a member of the Mosuo ethnic people who number more than 50,000, sits in what is traditionally called a "grandmother's room", sharing stories of his group's unique culture and how it has evolved in modern society.

Here, in one of the world's last matrilineal societies, women lead the way — and relationships follow a path unlike anywhere else on the planet.

"We practice a system called zouhun, or walking marriage," Geze tells the visitors, adding that for Mosuo people, relationships are based purely on mutual affection, free of economic or social pressures.

"In a walking marriage, men visit their partners at night. They arrive after the woman's family has gone to sleep, usually around midnight, and leave before dawn to return to their own family."

In Mosuo society, extended families are centered around grandmothers, forming tight-knit households where belongings are shared equally among all. Both men and women take responsibility for raising all the children in the family, irrespective of who the parents are, creating a collective approach to child care.

Children inherit their mother's surname, and decisions about family planning, such as how many children to have and when, are primarily made by the women, often in consultation with other family members.

"Our language doesn't even have a word for aunt," Geze tells his audience. "Your mother's sisters are all your mothers. It doesn't matter who gave birth to you."

Thanks to this unique social structure, Geze said, male-female relationships are free from possessiveness, jealousy, or concerns about economic status. In fact, Mosuo society has virtually no widows, orphans, war or crime, he said.

It is a utopia sought by Westerners sometimes compared to the mythical "Shangri-La".