Dongba is the name of the official religion of the Naxi people of Lijiang, as well as that of their ritual spiritualists or religious shamans who wrote the religious manuscripts of the tribe over the centuries in their unique pictorial script (hieroglyphics). It is said that only about 30 or so dongbas are still alive today, and several of them are attached to the Dongba Cultural Research Institute located at Heilongtan in Lijiang, engaged in the task of translating the ancient religious manuscripts into Chinese and preserving the ancient culture of the Naxi people. The picture shows one of the dongbas at the Research Institue in Heilongtan, Lijiang.