Langde and Qing Man

Sunday, January 4. Let's start off with a litle factoid: Guizhou province has a population of about 40 million people. The overall composition of the population is about 65% Han and 35% minority peoples. However, in Eastern Guizhou, where we are now, a whopping 80% of the population is either of the Miao or Dong minority group. In fact, Mr. Xiong, our driver, is Miao.

The day gets off to a great start because this hotel (finally!) has both a Western and a Chinese style breakfast. I can eat Chinese food for lunch and dinner every day, but I'm really not wild about it for breakfast. Call me crazy but there it is. And the coffee is good. I think this is the first actual cup of coffee I've had since I arrived in China.

Langde. This morning, we drive a short distance out of Kaili to visit a Miao village called Langde. One notable thing about Langde is that it was the starting point for one leg of the 2008 Olympic torch journey (it began in Langde and ended in Kaili, about 20 km away, in its new sports stadium). There is a stone commemorating that event at the beginning of the walk to the village. (The walk begins from a large car park which I can only imagine is filled with tour buses in season.)

At first, the route goes up some stairs through a cluster of small houses. We see one family busy at work, and then Jason notices that they are making popcorn - the old-fashioned way! This involves an itinerant popcorn-maker who journeys from village to village (or around town) bringing his equipment and know-how. Jason remembers this from his childhood in Kaili. Two men are turning a black mesh cylinder over a fire. Once they decide it is ready, the cylinder is removed from the fire and pointed into a long, cylindrical cloth sack. The popcorn cylinder is opened, and the popcorn bursts out into the sack with a big boom and lots and lots of smoke! It is quite exciting. Then, of course, all of the children gather around to scoop out the popcorn.

Making popcorn

the old-fashioned way:

with fire and a big boom!

We continue uphill, past the village's performance square and amphitheatre (a small sign on a tree above the seats says "Trees of protecting the village"). Eventually we come to a river and a beautiful raised, wooden walkway that will take us all the way to Langde (about 2 km). It is a lovely and peaceful walk, and I am thankful to be making this trip in January. Even though the weather is far from ideal and very little is growing (to say nothing of blooming!), I can have these places to myself.
The walkway along the river to Langde.

We cross the river into Langde by way of a wind-and-rain bridge. Now the funny thing about this is that wind-and-rain bridges are a feature of Dong architecture (I'll see lots of that in Guangxi province). However, they have become so popular as tourists sites that this Miao village decided to build one a few years ago! It is not an original part of the village at all. Strange but whatever. The level of the water is very low at this time of year but there are several working waterwheels along the banks of the river. At the entrance to the village there is another stone, marking the spot where the torch relay began.

Our first order of business is to see about lunch. So we walk through the village, enter a house and there sits Mr. Xiong next to the stove! While we have been walking to Langde, he took the car along the road and has been visiting with some of the villagers. Mr. Xiong speaks the Miao language so it is great to have him with us, although in point of fact most of the minority people also know Putonghua (sp?), or Mandarin as we typically call it. But it is always good to know an "insider." :)

One of the villagers is an elderly gentleman, a former village chief, who reminds me a little of my father. There is just something about his eyes and a sort of shy smile that is so familiar (maybe it was the brimmed cap like the one Daddy used to wear!). He and his daughter-in-law (who prepares our lunch) both eat with us around the stove. One of the dishes is home-cured bacon, and we can actually see some (uncooked) hanging from a hook in the same room! (The photo of me at the top of this entry was taken at lunch.)

Langde is a Hei Miao (or Black Hmong) village, and one of the young women puts on the traditional costume for me. This one has an elaborate silver head-dress as well as a wide silver "necklace" with ornaments hanging down both the front and back, to waist level.

After lunch, we continue our walk around the village, which is folded into the hillside. There are bunches of corn hanging either inside or off of the front of almost every building. On the way up to the restaurant, we passed a man leading a donkey down the stairs. Now we see him coming back up the stairs, the donkey loaded with heavy stones: building supplies. He passes us, and I am leaning against the side of the hill to let him by. Anything for a picture. Later, we see them further up the hill at the building site where they have unloaded these stones and are about to embark on another trip down the hill.

At the center of the town is a dancing ground made of small stones in concentric circles around a wooden pole decorated with buffalo horns and painted dragons. Apparently, in high season there are quite elaborate singing and dancing performances here.

Back on the Road. After exhausting everything that Langde has to offer at this time of year, we are back in the car and on our way to another Miao village. Along the way, we make a stop at a small town where a bustling outdoor market is going on. Everywhere I turn, bright colors are on display. Whether it is cloth, embroidery thread, embroidered clothing, embroidered baby carriers, the place abounds in color, which is so welcome on a gray day. There are small pigs in cages that appear to be woven out of reeds of some sort. And hanging in the butcher's stall appears to be every internal organ (liver, intestines, stomach) of whatever animal (cow, pig?) is on offer.

In the market, Jason picks up a tiny seed, and says, "try this." Well, of course, it's a pepper of some sort but, hey, I'm game. Now, I have eaten a LOT of spicy food since coming to Hunan province, but this takes the cake. This little pepper actually makes your mouth numb!!! It has a great flavor but the effect is just staggering! I have to buy a bottle of Nutri-Express (a pineapple-flavored soy milk drink) in order to neutralize it! OK, I'm willing to try everything once but that's it for this pepper. For further information: it comes from something called either the Chinese prickly ash or the Japanese pepper tree, a deciduous shrub, whose Latin name is Zanthoxylum bungeanum.

We make another stop at a minority costume museum and shop, where traditional Miao clothing is made and displayed. The retail shop is downstairs and the display room is upstairs. I wish there were a way I could convey the wonders that appear in this place. Wall after wall is covered with clothing which can only be described as objets d'art. Any textile collection in the world would kill to have even a small part of these things, and here they are hanging in a small non-descript place along a small road in Guizhou province. Row after row of beautiful batik clothing items, most elaborately embroidered, it is a feast for the eyes. There is a 50 yuan charge for taking photographs, but I don't care. I'm photographing everything! And of course I can't resist buying a few little samples of their handiwork from the shop downstairs! A few of the women who make these things are hard at work around a stove in an adjacent room.

I take a short walk up the street to a building that has two enormous posters of Chairman Mao hanging on two walls. I noticed them on the way to Langde and definitely wanted to get a photo of them. They are actually quite nice representations of him.

There are so many haystacks (or rather rice-stacks) in all of these villages. After the rice has been harvested, the stalks are piled up into stacks and used for many different things. China, after all, is a country where almost nothing goes to waste. It's why they eat virtually every part of every animal. So, Jason tells me, the rice stalks can be used for bedding, for shoes (woven sandals, although they don't do this much anymore), as food for animals, and at the end, they burn what's left and use the ash for fertilizer.

Qing Man. Finally we arrive in our second Miao village for the day. Here there is the shop of a folk artist, which is quite interesting, but most of his work appears to of the sort that will cater to the tourist trade (African themes, Southwestern American Indian themes - I kid you not). In other words, derivative. One of the young women puts on their traditional festival costume, which is less elaborate than the one we saw earlier today, but still adorned with silver and beautiful embroidery.

We have a walk around the village, where I see the entire side of a barn covered with corn, chili peppers and peanuts, hanging to dry. As we are heading down the stairs out of the village, a small group of children are returning from school and they scramble up to see the laowei and to have their pictures taken. They are as cute as can be. I love having these interactions with children. Further along, there is a giant pile of water buffalo dung that would make any cow patty look like a thin mint! I also manage to get up close and personal with a water buffalo that a young man is trying to lead down the road. The water buffalo, however, is more interested in having a snack along the roadside!

Back in Kaili. We have a little break to rest and clean up, then head out again. We have dinner in a beautiful restaurant, with lovely murals and more Miao costumes in display cases, one right next to our table. The name of the restaurant is Lianghuanzhai. We have a fabulous dinner of stewed fish with sour soup (the specialty of the house), mashed potatoes (yes, indeedy) with chili pepppers mixed in (of course!), and some delicate sweet dumplings. I cannot get enough of the mashed potatoes and the dumplings, so Jason rolls me out the door! Fortunately, our evening is just beginning.

I am interested in visiting the night markets, which sell not only food but everything you can possibly imagine. People are selling giant stalks of sugar cane, tiny hard-boiled birds' eggs and lots of other delicious-looking things. Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be), I'm stuffed from dinner. In another market are various clothing and household items. These markets close up during the day to make way for other things.

After we have walked a couple of miles checking out all the goods, Jason takes me to his apartment to visit his family. How great is that?! He and his wife and son live with his parents, which is not at all unusual in China. I have brought a balloon animal (purchased at the market) for his son, who is enthralled by it! Jason's parents and wife are all just lovely people, though of course Jason has to translate everything. They serve me tea and fruit, and it is a wonderful ending to a very busy day! (I tried putting a couple of photos in this blog entry but, even though it is easy, it is a black hole as far as time is concerned so for the moment I'm just going to concentrate on the writing. The pix can come later.)