The Dongba script, called “Sijiulujiu” in the Naxi language, meaning “signs on rock and wood”, is primarily used to write the Dongba Sutra, and is believed to be the only surviving pictograph writing system in the world.

Lubanlurao, meaning “the migration of herdsmen” and therefore also translated as Song of Migration, is an epic written in the Dongba script. The epic tells a story, which says that on an alpine pasture, a group of young men and women wanted to dismantle the stone walls built by their parents and flee far away. Among these young men and women, Zhubuyupai and Kaimeijiumingjin were lovers. They fled with their companions. Unexpectedly, on the way, Zhubuyupai was called back by his parents who came up with him. Kaimeijiumingjin waited for Zhubuyupai, but did not see him, and was scolded by Yupai’s parents. She finally hanged herself on the Shieryanzi Slope, and was summoned to the beautiful and free Third Yulong Kingdom by the Goddess of Dying for Love.