The path less trodden

By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-04 10:25

Those looking for a spelunking experience that's a little less River Styx can explore Stalactite Cave, which is stocked with some of the odder stone formations geological forces can sire.

While Guizhou is known for its breathtaking landscapes, the people who inhabit them are what make the province truly wondrous.

Currently, 39 percent of the population hails from 49 of China's ethnic minorities. While several ethnic group villages constellate the city's periphery - the inhabitants of which love guests - it's helpful to first visit the Guizhou Ethnical Cultural Museum to become acquainted with local customs.

A Miao woman weaves using a traditional handloom in a village near Guiyang.

The 300 items on display here comprise the world's largest collection devoted to local minorities.

Most of the embroideries, statues and tools come from the Miao people, 49 percent of whom now live in Guizhou after millennia of migration.

The Miao is known for its ornate silver jewelry - used in ancient times to test the toxicity of questionable foodstuffs.

Miao are also acclaimed for tailoring elaborate and colorful clothing. A ceremonial outfit could take up to four years to complete but is seen as an investment in appeasing the gods. Miao deities' adoration of the colorful totems are believed to inspire them to heap blessings upon the wearers.

These totems are also a source of mystery, because Han people have also used many of the images at certain points in history.

Depictions of the ferocious mythical beast Taotie, Fuxi and Nuwa - Adam and Eve's Chinese contemporaries - and the Taoist yin and yang symbols suggest the Han and Miao peoples shared a common lineage or made contact earlier than believed.

Many travelers questing to experience ethnic minority culture firsthand start with Kaiyang county, which is mostly populated by the Bouyei.

From downtown Guiyang, it's a bone-juddering, 40-km ride on roads that snake among terraced mountains.

A narrow mountainside roadway coils up a particularly sheer mountain to Matou village, a 1,100-year-old Bouyei ethnic minority settlement founded in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). Matou is famed for a three-year uprising against Mongolian rulers and soldiers during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) in 1301.

Previous 1 2 3 Next Page