Gonglang Village, Mangduo Community

Gonglang Village, Mangduo Community

Gonglang Village, Mangduo Community

Just over ten minutes from Weiyuan Town, the county seat of Jinggu, lies a Dai ethnic village nestled under the shade of phoenix tail bamboo. In front of the village primary school stand two 800-year-old banyan trees, towering like giant parasols. Dozens of children play beneath them. Though it’s early winter with no wind, cicadas can still be heard, and under the bright sun, the dappled shadows of the trees create a hazy scene.

Walking down the path, you’ll find ancient trees towering along the way. Under bodhi and mango trees are traces of local rituals where residents worshipped tree spirits to pray for blessings and ward off disasters. Several branches are arranged in circles around the trees and bound with white threads to the banyans. Before the Dai people embraced Buddhism, nature worship was their main form of primitive religion. Though they later converted to Buddhism, remnants of their original beliefs remain. The Dai worship house spirits and village spirits. “Pī Mēng,” the greatest local deity, is a shared guardian spirit of the entire region. The most significant ritual is the tree spirit worship. Near every village lies an ancient grove, with the largest tree regarded as the tree spirit. Every year in the second or fifth lunar month, villages hold ceremonies at designated times. This is why Dai villages are often surrounded by clusters of large banyan, bodhi, mango, or other ancient trees providing ample shade.

The Mangduo Buddha Relics are located on a slope encircled by a small river, featuring one footprint and two handprints. One of the two palm prints is 0.65 meters long and 0.53 meters wide, while the other is 0.84 meters long and 0.41 meters wide, deeply embedded in a massive rock, resembling the Buddha’s Fearless Mudra. About two meters away on another large rock lies a 1.52-meter-long and 0.75-meter-wide footprint. To protect these relics, a monastery is currently being built over them. According to local legend, this place was originally called Mengwo Basin, a prosperous salt-producing area. However, a vicious dragon in the river brought harm to the people. Seeing this, the Buddha left his hand and footprints to subdue the dragon and restore the land and its riches to the villagers. Additionally, when the relics were unearthed, an ancient stone tablet inscribed in old Tai script was discovered nearby and is now housed in the Mangduo Monastery. The tablet is made of red sandstone. Due to its age, the surface has become faded, and after excavation, the inscriptions were retraced with ink to make the characters legible.

Weiyuan Town: Located in the county seat, Weiyuan Town is the political, economic, cultural, and transportation hub of Jinggu County. It is part of the flatland area, covering a total area of 42 square kilometers. The town administers three community resident committees—Bailong, Weiyuan, and Xiang—and two village committees—Mangmao and Weiyuan Street—along with 20 villager groups. By the end of 2003, the town had 11,149 households and a total population of 25,114, including 4,732 agricultural residents, with a population density of 597 people per square kilometer. Among the residents, there are 11,537 people from ethnic minorities such as Dai, Yi, Lahu, and Hui, accounting for 46% of the total population. Of these, the Dai ethnic group numbers 6,695, making up 27% of the population. … Weiyuan Town detailed information++