A few years ago a doctoral student of the ethnic Yi group, who was studying in Beijing, told his supervisor, an anthropologist, about how people of his family lineage fought against drug abuse by using a time-honored religious ritual. Inspired, the professor began a research project shortly thereafter. The finding was remarkable: 87% of the former drug addicts had given up the habit for good thanks to help from fellow clan members. In contrast, up to 90 percent of the drug addicts worldwide go back to drugs after a period of rehabilitation. For China, the figure is a startling 99%.
    Our story goes back to May 22, 1999, the “Tiger’s Day” of the ethnic Yi group in Yunnan Province, southwest China which by tradition is the day for declaration of war. An elaborate ritual was held by one of the large ethnic Yi  family there to “declare war” on drug abuse to uphold the survival and honor of the lineage. 
    The Tiger’s Day ritual proved a brilliant success. There used to be 22 drug addicts in the family. Four years later, 14 of them had given up the habit for good, six were using drugs again after a period of rehabilitation, and two had died. The same ritual was held on the Tiger’s Day 2002. Of the 16 drug addicts who were present at the ritual, 14 were successful in getting off drugs and are leading a normal life. Even more remarkable is that up to now, not a single new drug addict has been found in the family group.
    Professor Zhuang Kongshao, director of the Anthropology Institute of the Remin University of China, caused a small sensation when he published his findings on a research project involving an ethnic Yi community in Ninglang County, Yunnan Province. The rate of success was 64 percent for the 1999 ritual and as high as 87% for the 2002 ritual. In contrast, up to 90% of the drug addicts worldwide reportedly will pick up the habit again after a period of rehabilitation. The corresponding figure is as high as 99% for China, or a pitiable 1% success rate. Undoubtedly, the professor’s findings epitomize a victory of a traditional culture over the psychological urge for drugs.
    Paomaping Township in Ninglang County, where people of the ethnic Yi group live in compact communities, lies close to the Gold Triangle, an area infamous for being one of the world’s largest producers and suppliers of heroin and other drugs. Back in the early 1990s, a few locals took to heroin and by early 1999, the number of drug addicts had grown to 86, including 22 in the Jiari Family covered by Professor Zhao Kongshao’s study.
    It so happened that in 1999, Jiri Muji (alias Yang Honglin), a young chieftain of the Jiari Family, became a doctoral student under the professor’s supervision. Chatting with the professor one day, he said that in his hometown, drug traffickers had been using blood relationships and the concept of lineage loyalty to promote their sales, and that his family was fighting back by making use of the Tiger’s Day ritual. As people of the ethnic Yi group see it, blood relations constitute the root of a lineage and therefore are inviolable. The Tiger’s Day ritual obliges every member of the extended family to fight drug addiction to prove his or her loyalty to the lineage.
    Professor Zhuang Kongshao was inspired, realizing that the Tiger’s Day ritual may serve as a convincing proof to how ethnic lineages and social organizations use those centuries-old customs and rituals to ensure a proper change in their role in promoting the progress of modern societies. This, he concluded, is an important subject for anthropological study. Then the professor lost no time in asking his student, Jiari Muji, to go back and do some preliminary studies. On May 22, 2002, the day the ritual was held for a second time, the professor led a group of students to Jiari Muji’s village, where they produced a video documentary on the ritual. By doing this, Professor Zhuang Kongshao said, he intended to publicize the Tiger’s Day ritual among ethnic Yi people and raise their confidence in their own culture vis-®§-vis the spread of drug abuse and addiction. It was also his hope that the documentary could play a role in curbing the spread of AIDS in areas inhabited by people of the ethnic Yi group. 
    In June and July of 2002, the documentary was shown at Lijiang, another area in Yunnan with ethnic Yis living in compact communities. The response was unbelievably positive. Viewers were moved, and some lineage chieftains told the professor and his group that they would follow the example set by the family in the film and would also declare war on drug abuse on the Tiger’s Day.
    Local government officials were quick to realize the importance of this unique method in fighting drug addiction and the spread of AIDS. Thanks to their work, the local people have set up a system of identity and action to reinforce the fight. Numerous ethnic family lineages have declared war on drug abuse. Paomaping Township has won the honorific title of “drug-free community.” So, too, has Zhuhai Township in neighboring Sichuan Province, where a non-governmental organization has become known nationwide for its success in using traditional customs and beliefs in the fight. These and other cases prompt Professor Zhuang Kongshao to assert that anthropologists can play a role in enhancing people’s awareness of drug abuse. In his opinion, the “Tiger’s Day pattern” allows full use of the awe held by people for their traditions to promote a just cause. It also features deep respect for indigenous cultures and ethnic ethics as a means by which people can pinpoint the social and cultural factors giving rise to drug problems and on that basis, proceed to find a ways of resolving them.