Guizhou South

cctv.com 05-21-2004 17:06

Welcome to Travelogue and welcome back to Guizhou! This week, join me for a whirlwind tour down to southern Guizhou to explore the pizzazz of different ethnic groups down there. Specifically, there are Danzhai Miao, Sandu Shui.

If you've been watching our show lately, there should be no excuse of not knowing anything about this hidden treasure from the traveling perspective. Being one of the most diversified places in China, Guizhou never stops attract and amaze visitors with its gorgeous landscape and kaleidoscopic culture.

Today we will follow an unbeaten path down to south Guizhou, meet the extremely hospitable Miao people in Danzhai County, admire their dazzling handmade color paper and wx printing cloth; then visit the largest Shui ethnic community in Sandu County, dance to the beat of bronze drum and learn about the mysterious Shuishu. It's going to be a true journey of discovery.

Danzhai, the crimson fort, is a place as beautiful and passionate as its name suggests. Just look at how the Danzhai people greet their visitors - an all-out party floating with songs, dances, and, the guarantee of a great party-self-brewed rice wine!

Miao is the dominant group in Danzhai County making up three fourth of the total population. The small village we are visiting today is called Shiqiao with couple hundred households nestled in a mountain valley.

The greeting ceremony of Danzhai Miao people is the most elaborate one that I never seen, and most original-now I know how to make the best use of wooden stools.

Wooden Stool Dance is popular in Miao inhabited southwest Guizhou. It's usually performed after couple rounds of rice wine; and there is no limits to the dancing venue, in house, out in the open air, by the river side, on the mountain slope...

Then again, there is also the swaying Lusheng dance, something you are bound to encounter time and again in a Guizhou trip.

The houses of Miao people in this area are all built of wooden logs on the foundation of huge rocks - strong, simple, yet artistic. Once considered one of the four greatest inventions in ancient China, paper-making method now is a big tourist attraction for shiqiao.

The raw material is the bark of a special kind of tree, just like in the old time. From collecting tree bark, to pulling off the dry paper from the baking wall, it altogether takes 14 steps to finish making a piece of paper, all manual.

Following the paper screens lined along the main street, I found the largest paper making mill among the dozen family workshops in the village.

This is where the step of scooping up paper pulp takes place. Paper pulp is first stirred in the big stone tub; then workers use this screen-like tool to shake and stir until a layer of paper pulp is left on the screen, then pile the damp paper layer upon layer.

A skillful worker can make six to seven hundred sheets of paper a day this way.

The owner of this workshop expanded the product line from traditional white paper to colorful paper with customized designs. Innovation, innovation, innovation,it's always the key to a successful business.

The dizzying color, natural texture, original design, every thing about the paper calls for a shopping spree. Even if you are not a compulsive shopper like me, you will end up stuff your suitcase with these darlings.

My next destination in Danzhai county is Paimo, also a picturesque Miao village of distinctive history and culture.

At the entrance of the village, I took a little detour to a small primary school. It's not easy for those kids to go to school in the mountainous Guizhou. Not bad for a first time teacher, and the first-time for these cute kids to learn English. Actually what brings me to this village is the superior wax printing art. Paimo and the neighboring village Paidao are even recognized as the birth place of the wax printing art. Almost every woman, from seventy year old granny to teenage girl, knows how to make exquisite wax printing cloth here.

Starting from weaving cloth, every step involved is handmade. It is said in the past, a girl's happiness could well rely upon her wax printing skill.

And they really enjoy what they are doing. The work is mostly done in an easy breezy way in small groups accompanied by chatting, giggling and singing.

A sneak peek won't make me a great wax printing artist of course, but at least I learned that those incredibly beautiful patterns were actually designed and hand painted by these lovely ladies. Some were purely spontaneous.

Now to retain this wonderful art, wax printing classes are included in the curriculum of some local schools.

Many of the wax printing cloth of superior design and quality from Paimo became private collection items home and abroad. Local people told me, the bird image is a symbol of Paimo wax printing as compared to the cloth from other Guizhou Miao.

At moments of celebration, girls will dress up from head to toe to show off their self-made wax-printing clothes. In the woods, on the mountain slopes, when you hear this strangely melodious sound, don't get fuzzy, it's young men and women blowing tree leaves to send out love messages.

To outsiders the tune may sound random and strange, but to them, it could well mean "beautiful girl, come out from the woods where you are hiding; Don鈥檛 you know that I've been right here waiting for you?" And other sweet and romantic stuff that will make these girls blush.

Check out all the huge mountains, no wonder there used to be a saying about Guizhou 鈥Di wu san chi ping, roughly can be translated into you cannot find a piece of flat land that is larger than one square meter. This road condition is really a test for driving skills. So there is another saying about Guizhou that Guizhou boasts the best drivers in the country!

Along the hilly, bumpy, roller-coaster like road, this cool Guizhou driver is taking me to Sandu County, the hometown of Shui ethnic group.

Zenlei is a village of over 10 generations, or two hundred years history. Over half of the population belongs to Shui group. Nearly a dozen old houses built over 100 years ago can still be found in the village.

At this family, I tasted the best soybean milk - I guess the secret lies in the sweet mountain spring water.

There is an easy way to tell if it's a Shui village or not 鈥just look for bronze drums.

The villager told me this drum is of over five hundred year old and is the only one left in the whole village now. The technique of making the drum is lost, so this one is extremely precious now as in most important occasions Shui people will beat the bronze drum.

The largest festival of Shui minority is Guoduan in the fall. Bronze drum dance,bull fighting dance, and Lusheng dance are all performed on the round showground during the festival.

A ceremony of offering sacrifices to ancestors is another important part of Guoduan. Today, the villagers put on the ceremony to welcome us, friends coming from Beijing.

Shui people have been living in this area since the period of Tang dynasty over a thousand years ago. After years of migration, their ancestors belonging to the ancient "Baiyue" people in south China, settled in the now Sandu area. There are many unique folk customs about Shui people.

In the past, interracial marriages with other ethnic groups were prohibited, but now things are changing.

The most prominent aspect of Shui ethnic culture is no doubt the mysterious Shuishu, a divination book passing down from ancient time.

The book covers such topics as calendar, astronomy, and religion, and is believed to have branched out from Luoshu, a diagram inscribed on a tortoise shell over 4000 years ago that embodies the spirit of Taoism. Only men studied Shuishu and learn how to write in Shui characters. The characters of Shuishu is a mixture of Chinese characters and some inscriptions from oracle bones.

This is a very precious book, almost like a guide book for making lifetime decisions. For example, check this out, this is when to have a son that can run like a horse; when to build a house; and here, probably the most important one鈥搘hen to get married. I should've read this long time ago. Ok, back to the book. In this area, the ethnic groups rarely have their own written language. But Shui is an exception. This is like their almanac, fortune-telling almanac.

The costumes of Shui people definitely are worth taking a closer look. At least Shui people are one of a few ethnic minorities that still wear traditional clothes in daily life.

What they are working on here is a special handicraft 鈥horse tail embroidery. The string of horse tail were wrapped around with silk threads, then it was sewn into decorative patterns on the cloth, creating a special, sculpting-like effect.

But none of the posters can rival this bonfire local people created for us, what else can it be but T-r-a-v-e-l-o-g-u-e 鈥Travelogue!

And remember to join Xiaolan again next week for more on the majestic South Guizhou!

Editor:Zhang  Source:CCTV.com