Brothers

Picture Story

In old age, to be supported.

8 April 2026 · Lijiang

Returning to Lijiang, everyone came to visit the old father.

Naxi tradition: when an elder approaches death, the whole family must come to be beside him. Word spreads like wind — no one summons, distant relatives arrive of their own accord. Cured meat, wild mushrooms, butter tea; cooking fires set up in the courtyard, like a festival.

My uncle, twelve years younger than my father, came every morning, took his hand, and spoke softly in the old language. My father could no longer understand, but my uncle kept speaking — herding cattle, being beaten, being sent to school. Tears fell onto their clasped hands.

At night the women kept watch, stitching soles by the fire pit, singing ancient Naxi melodies. I had heard them since childhood, and only now do I understand: the path of the ancestors, the direction of the soul, the bridge between life and death.