Let the World Memory Heritage Benefit Humanity – Notes on Yulong Wenbi Dongba Culture Academy by Wang Yonggang

Yulong Wenbi Dongba Culture Academy of China is a public-welfare institution focusing on the protection and inheritance of Dongba culture. For a long time, the academy has quietly upheld its mission to safeguard this ancient civilization. It has been featured in in-depth interviews and reports by mainstream authoritative media in China, including People’s Daily, Yunnan Daily, Lijiang Daily and local official television stations.
Below is the special report published by Yunnan Daily, an official Party newspaper of China

Lan Xin (Lan Xin): World Memory Heritage The Only Female Inheritor of Dongba Culture, International Renowned Writer & Poet. Internationally acclaimed bilingual writer, poet and translator, member of the Chinese Writers Association. The only female inheritor of UNESCO-listed Dongba Culture, International Disseminator of Dongba Culture and practitioner of Chinese culture’s global outreach. Winner of the Italian Francesco Giampietri International Literary Award, President of Lanxin Samei Academy and Dean of Yulong Wenbi Dongba Culture Academy.

Eva Lianou Petropoulou
Αποκλειστικη Eκπρόσωπος για την Ελλάδα για την προώθηση της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς – Dongba Culture Κίνα

Yulong Wenbi Dongba Culture Academy is a purely public-welfare institution dedicated to the rescue and inheritance of endangered Dongba civilization.

Dongba culture is an ancient heritage passed down generation after generation by the Naxi people. Centered on Dongba pictographic script, it carries the Naxi ancestors’ cosmology, outlook on life, reverence for nature and accumulated wisdom. In 2003, UNESCO inscribed the Dongba ancient manuscripts on the Memory of the World Register. It is the only surviving living pictographic civilization on Earth, a precious living cultural fossil for all humanity.
At the end of 2018, Lanxin Samei, a Han Chinese writer, gained recognition from Aheng Dongta, the Naxi Dongba sage and the 17th-generation orthodox Dongba inheritor. She broke the millennium-old ancestral rules of the Naxi people and became a contemporary female inheritor of Dongba culture, and was given the sacred name Lanxin Samei.
At first, the Dongba sages knew little about Lanxin Samei and once had doubts. Over several years, after witnessing the tangible support she and her academy have devoted, they were deeply moved. Their initial doubts turned into supreme reverence. They call her Panzi Samei, the only Goddess of Wisdom recorded in the ancient Dongba manuscripts (this is where the name Lanxin Samei comes from).

She witnessed the crisis of Dongba culture on the verge of extinction and the hardships endured by Dongba inheritors. Touched deeply by what she saw, Lanxin Samei made a solemn vow to devote her whole life to the protection, inheritance and global dissemination of Dongba culture. In the spring of 2020, she left her career of hosting foreign cultural events for traditional Chinese culture at Beijing Folk Custom Museum, and travelled to Lijiang, founding this academy together with like-minded cultural partners.
Supported by donations from philanthropist Wan Yilong, the academy was jointly founded by Aheng Dongta, the 17th-generation orthodox Dongba inheritor and lecturer of The Mysterious Dongba Pictographs for UN Chinese Language Day 2021, Lanxin Samei, international bilingual writer, and Shangguan Changfeng, master of traditional Chinese culture. Mr. Bai Gengsheng, Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association and the most distinguished cultural representative of the Naxi people, serves as the Honorary President.
For many years, adhering strictly to public-welfare principles, the revered and remaining Dongba sages and orthodox inheritors alive today serve as our academy mentors, forming our exclusive core resource. This precious faculty is unique across the world. The academy has continuously supported the few remaining living Dongba elders and inheritors. Lanxin Samei and Aheng Dongta jointly translate and interpret the three major classic epics and relevant mythological works of Dongba culture. Lanxin Samei creates original works interpreting Dongba wisdom. Meanwhile, the academy nurtures new generations of inheritors to sustain this endangered cultural lineage.

Located in Lijiang, the academy was rebuilt from an ancient millennium-old temple. It is known as a pure land for Dongba culture, serving both as a sacred site for Dongba cultural inheritance and a holy hall for carrying forward traditional Chinese culture.
Guided by the vision to protect Dongba culture, spread benevolence, enlighten wisdom and uphold virtue, the academy gathers social strength to rescue, preserve, interpret and pass on this precious heritage.
Mr. Bai Gengsheng, Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association and the most distinguished cultural representative of the Naxi people, has fully affirmed the academy’s achievements in cultural inheritance and international dissemination. He states that Yulong Wenbi Dongba Culture Academy has become a new cultural landmark and a global cultural calling card of Dongba civilization.
The academy holds a grand spiritual vision: to realize the living inheritance and eternal continuity of the endangered Dongba civilization, allow this profound ancient Eastern wisdom to shine brightly on the global stage of diverse civilizations, and ultimately benefit all humankind.
Driven by this mission of great love and noble aspiration, the academy is also writing and creating new Dongba epics and a new chapter of civilization for this era.
Major Authoritative Achievements & Global Practices

1. On April 21, 2021, UN Chinese Language Day, Dean Aheng Dongta was officially invited by UN Headquarters to deliver an online keynote lecture The Mysterious Dongba Pictographs, featured on the official UN website headline.

2. The academy’s Dongba scriptures, paintings, ritual instruments and art collections toured continuously at the French Oriental Museum and other European museums. Many original artworks are permanently collected by the China National Museum of Intangible Cultural Heritage and China Arts and Crafts Museum. The academy also hosted the special Dongba cultural exhibition for the 12th Yunnan Provincial Games.

3. Dean Aheng Dongta was invited to attend the World Artificial Intelligence Conference Education Forum in 2022 and delivered a keynote speech, bridging ancient Eastern civilization and modern global technology.

4. As a prestigious Sino-Western cultural envoy and international disseminator of Chinese culture, Dean Lanxin Samei has been interviewed in depth by mainstream media from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. She shares her profound spiritual connection with Dongba civilization and interprets its ancient wisdom. She also runs exclusive Dongba Culture Decoding Columns in many international authoritative journals.

Her paper How to Make World Memory Heritage Become Human Literary Reading has attracted wide attention from cultural circles worldwide and sustained cross-cultural exchanges.
Global Influence & International Partnerships
The academy’s cultural influence extends to the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, as well as other regions across the globe. It has established long-term friendly cultural partnerships with international institutions, scholars, and artists globally, steadily promoting Dongba civilization to integrate with the world and benefit humanity.