Bordering the better known Yunnan Province – a much visited Chinese district north of the ‘Golden Triangle’ countries of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand – unpolluted and relatively sparsely populated Guizhou is untrammelled by the boot of international tourism.
The province in south-western China doesn’t make it onto many tourist itineraries because it doesn’t boast of a great wall that snakes its way through the countryside or a massive square in front of a once forbidden city.
The appeals of Guizhou, therefore, are somewhat more subtle though this inland mountain province located on the elevated Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau has a pleasant subtropical climate, unique natural settings and, perhaps most interesting of all, a diverse and vibrant ethnic minority population that lives in small remote communities.
The names of most of these groups were unfamiliar to me as I heard them rattled off after arrival in Guiyang, the 4-million strong provincial capital. Bouyi, Yi, Shui, Hui, Zhuang, Bai, Dong, Tujia, Gelao, Gejia, Miao … ah, at last a group that I had heard of because Miao (also known as the Hmong) are also found in the hilly districts of forested northern Thailand.
The Miao is the most significant minority group in Guizhou Province. According to legend the Miao people originated from the eggs of a butterfly after it had mated with a bubble!
When they eventually hatched after being looked after by a mythical bird, jiyu, 12 eggs gave life to a Miao man called Jiang Yagan, a water buffalo and a host of other strange creatures and abstract phenomena.
This extraordinary story of creation is still recalled through the Miao’s detailed embroidery.
Beautiful Embroidery
Wandering through the remote village of Shiqiao, after a long drive from Guiyang, I encountered ladies recreating the main players of the fanciful legend with colourful sewing threads and pieces of fabric. Elsewhere other women were sorting or sifting rice, maize or chillies.
Though most Miao men were tending livestock or toiling in the fields, Mr Wang was busy making paper using a technique that has changed little in 1000 years.
Some 50 households in remote and rustic Shiqiao are involved in paper making which involves soaked tree bark and limestone powder.
Most of the finished product – crafted into notebooks, lampshades, umbrellas and even wallpaper – is exported or sold to local people or the occasional visitor. Occasional is the operative word because only a few intrepid travellers make their way from Guiyang to this still unspoiled area of great cultural and scenic diversity.
Shiqiao wasn’t the only remote outpost where I had up close and personal contact with hospitable Miao people.
At Shidong I stopped for lunch with a charming Miao family. Ms Wu was waiting and had even alerted two young neighbour girls of my arrival so they could prepare themselves.
This took some time as the girls had to get dressed in typical costumes and jewellery. The two girls who greeted me were adorned virtually from head to foot in silver adornments.
The silverware – ornate crowns, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and most unusual aprons with silver tassels – had been accumulated, I learned, over at least a century.
The hand crafting of silver jewellery is an art form that continues today. While Ms Wu prepared the mid day meal I watched her husband carefully transform hunks of ‘raw’ silver into delicate works of art.
Silver used to be brought in by the boat load and though the Qingshui River still flows behind the tiny village of Shidong, river transport these days has been replaced by road transport.
While the hard surfaced road that winds through fertile agricultural farmlands – when Mr Wu isn’t crafting silver into jewellery he toils in the fields – connects this quiet community with the outside world there are very few vehicles carrying culture-keen visitors. During three hours in Shidong I only saw one other tourist.
Spectacular Waterfalls
Even at Guizhou Province’s single most noted scenic attraction, the Huangguoshu Waterfalls, I didn’t see any other foreign visitors. The scene was instead animated with visitors from all over China converging on this scenic spot.
Formed so a local legend relates when part of the Milky Way crashed to earth, the waterfalls are the largest in China.
There are, in fact, not one but a series of 10 cascades that punctuate the eroded karst limestone landscape.
The largest and longest of these spans 81 metres and plunges 74 metres to the easily accessible Xi Niu (Rhinoceros Pool).
I scrambled down a leafy walkway passing visitors posing in local costume and stopped before the lovely pool.
Standing by thundering waters and gazing at mist shrouded trees flecked with the first of autumn’s striking colours I felt as if I had been absorbed into a classic painting of old China.
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