Bai people basically practice monogamy. The son separated immediately after marriage, and parents usually lived with their youngest son. Some of the landlords are big families with four generations living under one roof. People of the same family and surname don't marry, but they will marry their uncles and aunts as usual. A childless woman can be adopted by her husband's wife, and a childless woman can also adopt her brother's children (adoption) or adopted children. Son-in-law and adopted son had to change their names and surnames in order to obtain the right to inherit property.
Before the Yuan Dynasty, the Bai people generally practiced cremation. After the Yuan Dynasty, due to the influence of the Han nationality, it was changed to burial. Funerals are usually grand.
Bai people in Pingba area live on rice and wheat, while corn and buckwheat live on mountains. Bai people like to eat sour, cold and spicy flavors. They are good at curing ham, bow fish, fried chicken brown, pork liver and other dishes. They also like to eat a unique "raw meat" or "raw skin", that is, roast pork half-cooked, cut into shredded pork, and served with ginger, garlic, vinegar and so on. Bai people also like to drink roasted tea.
Bai costumes vary from place to place. In Dali and other central areas, men wear white or blue baotou, white double-breasted clothes and black collars, white trousers and bags embroidered with beautiful patterns on their shoulders. Dali women usually wear white coats, black or purple velvet collars, blue wide pants, short waistcoats with embroidered ribbons, embroidered "knotted shoes", silver bracelets with enamel and silver rings on their arms, and silver earrings with three whiskers and five whiskers on the right. Married people tie their hair in a bun, while unmarried people hang it on their backs or braid it on their heads, all of which are wrapped in embroidery, printing or colored towels.
In the housing form of Bai people, the dam area is mostly "three rooms long", with huts with kitchens, barns and yards on both sides, or tile houses with "one front and two ears", "three sides and one wall" and "four entrances and five patios" of Bai buildings near Erhai Lake, with bedrooms, kitchens and barns separated. Most of the mountainous areas are straw houses, "flash houses", bamboo baskets or "wooden cribs" with stables upstairs and downstairs, and cooking and sleeping places are often connected.
In the long historical development process, the Bai people have created splendid culture and contributed to the civilization of the motherland. Traces of ditches were found in the Neolithic site in Canger. However, at the Haimenkou site in Jianchuan, it is found that residents have been engaged in raising livestock and agriculture. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, bronze culture appeared in Erhai area. During the Shu-Han period, Erhai area had developed into "paddy field animal husbandry". By the Tang Dynasty, Bai ancestors were able to build Cangshan "Gaohe" water conservancy project and irrigate tens of thousands of hectares. Building mountain terraces, Deng Chuan Luoshi River flood diversion project. Nanzhao has its own calendar. Zhou Silian, a Bai scholar in the Ming Dynasty, wrote Tai He Geng's Lost Catalogue and Li Xingwei's Strange Prescription Book, both of which are representative works summarizing ancient astronomy and medicine.
Bai nationality is unique in art, and its architecture, sculpture and painting art are famous all over the world. The three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali, built in the Tang Dynasty, are nearly 60 meters high, with a grade of 16. They are beautifully made, similar to the Little Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi 'an. Shi Baoshan Grottoes in Jianchuan have exquisite craftsmanship and lifelike figures. It has the similarity of China grottoes and strong national style, and occupies a high position in the history of stone carving art in China. Jizushan temple complex, built in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, has overlapping arches and upturned corners. Carving layers of figures, flowers and birds on doors and windows is unique and enduring. They are all made by the famous "Jianchuan Carpenter". Bai lacquerware has high artistic attainments. Most of the high-tech painters used in Yuan and Ming Dynasties were selected from Yunnan. The lacquerware of Dali spread to the Ming Dynasty and has always been regarded as a precious "Song strip". When Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, the Picture Scroll of Nanzhao History stolen by imperialism was made by Bai painters Zhang Shun and Wang Yu 1989. It vividly depicts the myths and legends established by Nanzhao in the form of continuous short paintings, and is one of the precious cultural relics in China. 1 172, Zhang's Dali scroll was called "the treasure of the south". This painting is 10 foot long, 134 inch long. With the theme of King Jing of Protecting the Country, 628 characters with different faces were portrayed. Exquisite brushwork and exquisite craftsmanship are the treasures of ancient art in China.
The "White Opera" developed from the "Blowing and Blowing" of the classical opera has distinctive national characteristics. The Bai nationality has a high cultural level and various talents come forth in large numbers.
In ancient Bai people, there was a combination of music and dance. Poems such as On the Road, Peony in Daci Temple and Cave of Heaven by Yang Qikun, a Bai poet in Nanzhao, are called "master" masterpieces and included in the whole Tang poetry. Literary works such as Wang Fuyun, Snake Bone Pagoda, Killing State Officials and Hooking the Moon Head praised the heroes of the ancient Bai people in class struggle and production struggle. Nanzhao's famous lion dance was introduced to the Central Plains in the Tang Dynasty, and Nanzhao's sacred music was listed as one of the 14 pieces of music in the Tang Dynasty. Bai Diao is a widely circulated metrical poem "3715" (the first three sentences and seven words, the last five words). In the middle of15th century, some scholars used this folk song form to write famous poems, such as "Ci Ji Hua Shan Bei" written by Yang Nai. "Blowing" in white drama is a comprehensive art developed on the basis of the early "Big Ben".
According to the historical picture of Zhongxing in Nanzhao, there are historical books such as Zhang Guo Shi, Weishan Career, Tiezhu Temple and Xi Erhai. During the Dali period, there were also white history and national history, both of which have been lost. Only fragments of white history are scattered in inscriptions in the Ming Dynasty. The Bai history books of Yuan Dynasty, Gu Baitong and Feng Xuan's Reading Yun Zhi, have been lost, but they are all blueprints of Yunnan local chronicles in Ming Dynasty, such as Yunnan Zai Ji and Nanzhao unofficial history. According to historical records, the history of Erhai area was studied by Yang Shiyun, a Bai scholar in Ming Dynasty. This book was collected by another Bai scholar, Li Yuanyang, in Jiajing's Annals of Dali, and it is the final edition of Wanli's Examination of Yunnan Tongzhi Evolution. Wang Song, a Bai historian in Qing Dynasty, collected 6/kloc-0 kinds of books about Yunnan when compiling Daoguang's Annals of Yunnan, and compiled them into 2l volumes, which are important reference materials for studying Yunnan's national history and local history.