| People | Dulong · |
| Region | Yunnan, Gongshan County: Dulong River valley |
| Role | drink in their own way |
Tea
Under the influence of their Tibetan neighbors, the Dulong put tea leaves, salt, and melted animal or vegetable fat into a specially made bamboo joint, and prepare and drink the tea in it. Salt is not produced in the valley: it was bartered in 察瓦龙 Cháwǎlóng, along with beads and clayware, for 独龙毯 dúlóngtǎn blankets, hides, medicinal herbs, and wickerwork; during the Qing period, local administrators levied tolls for passage and forced salt on them at unequal rates. The only route over the Gaoligong range is closed by snow for half the year — hence the measure of salt in the tea is sparing.
Growth on the crown
Tea tree flower: five rounded petals spread in a neat rosette, with a dense button of stamens in the middle, raised above the petals on a short stalk. The tone is a warm pale ochre with a brown vein and a dark edge along each petal — bone, milk, and snow white do not appear on the head; a single dark tea leaf is caught in the notch between petals. The bush blooms in late autumn, when the leaf has already been picked and tied into a porter’s bundle: this is the only part of the tea plant that still stands on the branch in the gorge at that time of year. At 6 mm — a round spot with a lobed edge and a single dot in the center, not a clump.
Headdress
篾箩额带 mièluó édài — the forehead strap of a carrying basket: a narrow band of unbleached hemp, wrapped with dyed red rattan, lies across the forehead, with two cords running back and down to a finely woven basket hanging below the shoulder blades. No slit in the crown is needed — the band passes UNDER the growth, leaving the flower fully exposed, and the cords diverge, curving around it on both sides. The rock salt has left the head for the load: a piece of it lies in the basket next to the broken tea.
Outline at 6 mm. Strap: a thin line across the forehead and two cords running back and down to a basket below the shoulder blades. On Yanta, the forehead band is four times wider and carries no load; on Ugolek, the mass is pressed close against the back of the head, while here it is carried on the back.
Clothing
A striped homespun blanket 独龙毯, slung over the shoulder and tied, short pants, bare feet.
Palette
Red and black stripe of the blanket, unbleached hemp, dirty white salt, red rattan of the strap.