I am glad to welcome you, in english, to my blog. Shakespeare's language has given me so many good things that the least thing I could do is translate to English my posts, so my blog becomes truly international. The idea is that after this all my posts will be in both languages, so you can also find out how is China "seen from "not-so-almond-shaped eyes". Mmmm, I guess the tagline of my blog sounds better in Spanish, anyway, If you see things that are not properly written or don't sound so natural please let me know, ok?... So, here we go with Guizhou
No matter how much you like Shanghai, it is always nice to go out every now and then, even more if it is to a place with privileged natural surroundings. Guizhou lies in the hearth of southwestern China, next to the Chinese provinces that border Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The main attraction in this beautiful region, besides the landscape, is to discover the lifestyle of the minorities, mainly the Dong and the Miao are the most relevant. Let the images speak for themselves:
As a cultural brief, I can tell you that Beijing Government recognizes 56 nationalities in Chinese territory. The biggest one, with almost 90% of total population, are the Han, they represent the mainstream, what usually is considered “Chinese”. Even the Mandarin is also called “Han Language” in China. In practice, if it is not for the clothing or the language, it is kind of hard to distinguish which is which, but this is just to give a general idea. So, the nice thing about Guihzou is that many of these minorities live there. This are typical Miao clothes:
Obviously, on the left is not Miao, haha. So, now that you have a general idea, I'll tell you that the pics you see here is Langde, a traditional Miao village. It is funny because I start by the last place I visited on that trip, however, it is so nice that I thought it was a good introduction. I was really astonished in that place, all the buildings keep the common elements, so the architecture provided a feeling of harmony. It was raining a lot, but I guess that was also part of the moment. We had an exquisite meal, full Guizhou flavour, but with a home-made touch.
Here you can see the ritual when the guests drink 白酒 (bai jiu, rice spirit/liquor). That one in particular was quite good, less drunkening than the average. Besides, when they give it to you, they sing... Songs are very importat in the Miao culture, since they don't have a standarization for the written language, oral tradition becomes the main cultural manifestation. As a matter of fact, the Miao are among the few asian societies that have chorus and sing in group.
She was our host for the lunch:
The last minutes before going back to the airport we stayed at the bridge, central element in Miao Architecture.
Of course, Bruce Lee tribute pictures could not miss.
Jack and his girlfriend:
Blue water under the bridge,
No comments:
Post a Comment