【Preface】
The Miao nationality is an ancient nation with a very rich and unique national culture. When it comes to the Miao nationality, the first thing that comes to mind is Guizhou Province, because about half of the Miao population in our country lives here, and Xijiang, which is located in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Qianhu Miao Village is the largest Miao Village in my country and even in the world. It can be said that it is an open-air museum that preserves the complete "primitive ecology" culture of the Miao people. It is the first choice for experiencing the culture and customs of the Miao people.
【Travel strategy】
1. Traffic
1) aircraft
The nearest airport to Xijiang Miao Village is Kaili Airport, and there is a direct bus to Xijiang from the airport.
2) Train (Chengdu has a direct high-speed train to Kaili South Station, which takes about 4 and a half hours)
Usually go to Kaili South Station or transfer from Guiyang to high-speed rail to Kaili South Station. Kaili South Station can choose bus, carpool or chartered car to Xijiang Miao Village.
3) Self-driving
Self-driving is definitely the most convenient. This time we chose to drive from Chengdu to Xijiang Miao Village, more than 800 kilometers, which lasted about 10 hours.
2. Accommodation
Generally, they live in Miao villages, and they are mainly inns. Miao villages are full of stone roads, with slopes and ridges. Some inns are at high places. If there are old people or children, if you have more luggage, you must contact the inn first. The boss asks about the situation before making a reservation.
3 tickets
90 yuan/person (free admission for over 60 years old), 20 yuan/person for sightseeing car (can take 4 times, enter and exit the scenic spot and go up and down the viewing platform)
The original ecological performances in the scenic area during the day can be watched free of charge with the tickets you purchased, and the beautiful Xijiang large-scale song and dance party at night requires an additional charge (A zone: 130 yuan, B zone: 110 yuan)
[Beautiful Xijiang, starting from the gate wine]
Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village is backed by green hills, with jade belts on its feet, and surrounded by water. This is the main gathering place of the five major migrations in the history of the Miao people in China, and the base camp of the Miao people in China. The people living on this land are descendants of Chiyou, the ancestor of the Miao nationality, and his Jiuli tribe. If Yingong and Maogong, who migrated south, settled here, Xijiang has a history of more than 2,000 years. At present, there are more than 1,380 households and more than 6,000 people living in Xijiang, 99.5% of whom are Miao, so it is called Qianhu Miao Village.
In the Miao family village, every important exit from the village has a gate. The gate of the village is beautiful in shape, fine in workmanship, all wooden structure, no nails or rivets are needed, and it is all made by skilled craftsmen who drilled holes and tenons. Zhaimen is also a gathering place for villagers to greet and send off, sing roadblock songs and toast roadblock wine to guests. Whenever a distinguished guest enters the village, the villagers will hold a grand entrance ceremony here, playing a sheng toast, singing and dancing to show their welcome.
When you come to the gate of the village, the first thing that catches your eyes is the magnificent "mountain and flowing water". This is the best performance of the Miao people's hospitality. Folk song, raised the sea of wine in his hand, and slowly poured the rice wine from high to low into the wine bowls of distinguished guests who came from afar, "When you come to Miao Township, taste the wine first, drink it if you like it, drink it if you don't like it, Whether you like it or not, you have to drink, you like to drink one cup, and you don't like to drink three cups."
In fact, there is no need to be intimidated by the enthusiastic sister of the Miao family. Looking at so many wine seas, there is not much wine. The purpose is just to let friends who are new to Xijiang Miao Village feel the enthusiasm of the Miao family. Just go there with confidence. The experience is good, but you must remember that you must not touch the bowl with your hands during the drinking process, or you will be really miserable, hahahaha.
After the "high mountains and flowing water", there are twelve gate wines. This is also the highest etiquette for welcoming guests in Xijiang Miao Village. Each gate wine has its name and meaning. "Heroes" can start with the first gate wine. Go through one by one, and you will get a small gift if you don't pass a level. Of course, you can choose only one or a few of them to challenge.
The door-blocking wine uses ox horns as a container. The ox horns are sacred objects and worship objects in the hearts of the Miao people. Therefore, ox horns are used to ride wine for guests to show their dignity. When drinking ox horn wine, do not touch the ox horns with your hands. If you touch the horn with your hand, you must finish drinking the wine in the horn.
Walking into the Xijiang Miao Village, and sighing at the size of the Miao Village, the first impression of the Miao Village is that the two sides of the Miao Village are built on both sides of the mountain, row upon row, and the stilted buildings are patchwork. Diaojiaolou is a very distinctive building of the Miao nationality, so why is this form of building built? Because the Miao people migrated continuously in the past, in order to avoid conflicts with the local people and set aside more flat land for farming, most of them chose to build their houses on the hills, and most of the houses built on the hills had to be suspended in the air for safety reasons. The clever and wise Miao people used big wooden pillars to support the suspended part. The pillars are like hanging feet, so they are called Diaojiaolou.
In addition to Diaojiaolou, two special buildings in the Xijiang Miao Village are the Fengyu Bridge. There are seven Fengyu Bridges in the entire Miao Village, spanning the Baishui River that flows through the Miao Village. The seven bridges are all made of fir as the main building material, and they also pay attention to the connection of wood with tenons, crossing and standing vertically. They are usually composed of bridges, buildings, towers, pavilions and gates. In addition to being used for people to walk and rest, it can also shelter from wind and rain, so it is called Fengyu Bridge.
Each wind and rain bridge has its own name, which is a transliteration of Miao language, and many characters are unknown. Later, I learned that "僦" means bridge in Miao language.
The costumes of the Miao Village have always been very popular and concerned by everyone. It has a wide variety, exquisite craftsmanship, gorgeous colors and rich colors. It is the nation with the most abundant types and styles of costumes in my country. According to statistics, there are 173 styles of Miao costumes. There are so many kinds. The girls we saw toasting everyone at the gate of the village are all dressed up to attend. It is also a common Miao costume. In addition, because it has the function of exorcising evil and avoiding evil spirits, Miao girls wear silver crowns, necklaces, silver clothes, bracelets on hands, and silver chains on feet when they dress up.
After entering the gate of the village, what is more common is their casual clothes. Their long black hair is put into a big bun on the top of their heads, and a big red flower is inserted. The clothes on their bodies are also very simple, with black as the base, only simple Embroidery, even plain black, but still beautiful.
There are many renters of Miao costumes in the village. Beautiful young ladies or aunts like to choose a set of clothes they like, shuttle in the village, and leave their beautiful figures in the Xijiang Miao Village and the camera.
There is a small alley in Xijiang Miao Village called Gage Ancient Alley, where you can personally experience many Miao folk customs and some intangible cultural heritage items, such as Miao embroidery, batik, and ancient songs. . .
The real Miao embroidery and batik are very complex technical tasks, and it is definitely impossible to understand and master them in a short period of time. However, I can simply learn a little knowledge of Miao embroidery and batik with my grandma, and then try it myself. It is definitely a lot of harvest, and you can also leave yourself a small souvenir full of memories.
Finally, let’s talk about the food of the Miao nationality, which is also one of the most interesting points for everyone to come to Miao Village. When it comes to Miao village food, we have to mention the long table banquet. The long table banquet is the most solemn Miao banquet in Xijiang Miao Village. It is usually used for weddings, major festivals, and welcoming distinguished guests. The size of the long table banquet depends on the size of the banquet. Small long-table banquets can generally be held at home, while large long-table banquets can be held in Youfang Street or Ancient Street.
Miao people like to eat fish and sour, so fish in sour soup must become their favorite. The most important thing about sour soup fish is this pot of sour soup. The sour soup is divided into white sour and red sour. The white sour is fermented with rice soup for about half a month. fermentation. The sour soup of authentic sour soup fish is not so red, and it tastes very refreshing.
In addition to the fish in sour soup, Xijiang also has a very famous dish called "Zang Pork", which uses the meat from the chest of the pig. The most traditional way to eat it is actually a big lump. It is the so-called eating meat and drinking alcohol, but Now in order to be more beautiful, it has gradually become the current appearance. The meat is fat but not greasy. After dipping in water, it is eaten whole. It is super delicious.
This bowl of crystal clear glutinous rice is also the favorite of the Miao family. It is one of their daily staple foods. This glutinous rice can really be eaten without any dishes at all, and it is very delicious.
From gate wine, high mountains and flowing water to stilted buildings, wind and rain bridges, Miao costumes, Miao embroidery, batik and other folk customs to Miao specialties, I feel that I have fallen in love with Miao culture and Xijiang Miao Village. When the lanterns first come on, wait for the viewing platform of Xijiang Miao Village. This is a must-see for every tourist, and it is also the best place to visit Xijiang Miao Village.
The whole Miao village is full of stars, bright lights, bright scenery, Qionglou Yuyuxian Pavilion, just like heaven and earth. It complements each other with flowing water and green trees, ancient street wooden bridges, and wooden buildings on stilts. From a distance, the entire Xijiang Miao Village looks like a silver butterfly fluttering its wings, which cleverly coincides with the butterfly mother in the ancient songs of the Miao people. I couldn't help but marvel, it was so beautiful.