Anlu

Anlu (simplified Chinese: 安陆; traditional Chinese: 安陸; pinyin: ānlù; literally: "peaceful continent") is a sub-prefecture-level city in east-central Hubei province, People's Republic of China. In 2010, the population of the city was 568,590. It is administratively a county-level city of Xiaogan.

Transport

Anlu is served by the Hankou–Danjiangkou Railway.

Anlu (Cameroon)

Anlu is a traditional practice in the Kom communities of the Northwest Region of Cameroon. The practice revolves around groups of women gathering together and engaging in extreme behavior to shame and ostracize individuals who break community morals, such as physical abuse of a pregnant woman or incest. The origin of the practice is said to come from a time the women of Kom communities were the only people left to defend the towns from an invading force and so dressed as men and caused the opposition army to flee. The traditional practice became relevant with large-scale, political mobilizations by women from 1958 until 1961. This political anlu paralyzed both traditional and colonial administration in the Kom region and disrupted courts, schools, markets, and travel through the region.

Traditional anlu

Origins

Oral traditions claim that anlu was created when, during war, all the males were slaughtered (in some versions this is in Bamessi). The story records that the Kom people were a tributary to a chief in Mejang and their tribute was to build a house in the Mejang city every year. Eventually, the Kom refused and Mejang dispatched an army to put down the rebellion. The Mejang forces decided to attack while the men were hunting and capture all the women. The women heard about this and so dressed in male clothing and went with crude weapons to meet the Mejang. The men fled from what they thought were the troops of Kom and only one was captured. The women stripped off their clothing to reveal that the Mejang forces had been defeated by women and Mejang became a Kom tributary after that point.