Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village: Beauty is no longer a legend, look at Xijiang and know the world’s Miao villages

As a result, the night and morning views of Qianhu Miao Village cannot be missed. More than 20 kilometers away from Xijiang, there is a place called Langde Miao Village. Compared with the Thousand Household Miao Village, there are only a hundred households here. It is quite niche, so it is little known and has fewer tourists. However, Guizhou can be regarded as the most populous village of the Miao people. Beautiful stilted buildings are built on the mountains. To this day, the people here still rely on primitive farming and making handicrafts to obtain income. The life of the Miao people in Langde is more like that of thousands of households in Xijiang. In microcosm, the original, simple and quiet Miao life has been preserved to this day. Compared with Xijiang, I think it is more beautiful and pure.

In fact, there is also a niche Miao village called Kongbai. When you walk into the village and look from a distance, you may see dozens of scattered families. The conditions here may be better than those in the previous two villages. The location is a little off, because it's far away, so you have to drive here if you want to come here, and you need to have food and accommodation at a local house, which is not very convenient.

As the saying goes: "Stand high and see far." From the observation deck, you can see the panoramic view of Xijiang Miao Village. You can see the Baishui River passing through the village and the stacked wooden floors. Stacked, at first glance it all gives people a shocking feeling! Many people are curious about why the Miao people like to build their houses halfway up the mountain. In fact, it’s not that the Miao people like to live in the mountains, but because the Miao people don’t build their houses on flat land at will. The Miao people are a farming people and can only survive by relying on cultivated land. In Guizhou, a mountainous area where "no land is even three feet flat", flat land is very precious. Therefore, in order to occupy less cultivated land, local people built stilted buildings on steep slopes where rice cannot be grown, which is why the scene we see today was formed.

Speaking of Diaojiaolou, I have to mention this treasure of national architectural art. Diaojiaolou is a form of residential architecture common to many ethnic minorities. The biggest feature of Miao Diaojiaolou is that there are benches in the spacious and bright corridor on the second floor. In Miao language, it is called "Daogangxi" or "Gangxizi". Outsiders gave it a name called Beauty Pavilion, because Miao women usually like to do embroidery on it. Generally speaking, the first floor of a stilted building is generally used to house livestock and place production equipment, while the second floor is for people to live in, and the third floor is basically used to store food. The Xijiang Miao Village has row upon row of stilted buildings, and its construction techniques have been listed as provincial intangible cultural heritage.

Fengyu Bridge, here is the Fengyu Bridge in the Xijiang Miao Village. It is different from the Dong Fengyu Bridge’s usual treasure gourd top, and it also highlights the characteristics of Miao architecture. You can see that there are benches on both sides of the bridge. This architectural form not only serves as a shelter from wind and rain, but also allows people to sit on it to relax and enjoy the cool air. In addition, it is also the first choice place for young Miao men and women to date. In fact, Fengyu Bridge also has a very important function. Can you see the words on the head of the bridge? This is the homophonic Chinese character for "Jiulang Hum" in Miao language. The literal translation is "Huilong Bridge", which means to stop the dragon in the river.

We have all heard the saying "If the mountain is not high, there will be immortals; if the water is not deep, there will be dragons." But we also know that dragons are not real creatures. In fact, dragons represent There are many meanings. Here, it is the name of Feng Shui. We have seen that the entire Xijiang Miao Village is surrounded by a river. The Miao people believe that the larger the water bay, the more spiritual energy can be gathered in the place, and the better the Feng Shui will be. In order to To prevent the spiritual energy from leaking out, it is necessary to build a bridge to contain the spiritual energy. This is the true meaning of "Huilong Bridge".

When visiting Fang Street, we can see many silver jewelry shops. Silver jewelry is an indispensable accessory for Miao women. Silver jewelry such as silver combs, silver flowers, silver birds, waist chains, earrings, bells, and silver horns are exquisite in craftsmanship, simple in shape, and fine in texture. They represent the highest level of Miao silver jewelry craftsmanship. . The parents of every Miao girl who is about to get married must prepare a complete set of attire. Strictly speaking, the silver jewelry that goes with the attire can weigh up to 6 kilograms!

What is in front of everyone is the Miao family’s long table banquet. The long table banquet is the highest form and solemn etiquette of the Miao banquet, and has a history of thousands of years. When the Miao compatriots celebrate the Miao New Year, receive married women, hold full-moon wine, and have village social banquets, the highest standard of hospitality is a long-table banquet. Whenever a "long table banquet" is held in the village, every household will move out tables and benches, and line up hundreds of meters along the streets of the village like a dragon. The formation is almost endless as far as the eye can see.

On the banquet table, the most distinctive local foods are usually placed, such as fish in sour soup, pickled fish, king fish, bacon, sausages, spicy chicken, chicken porridge, etc. These are the most sumptuous dishes for guests. , of course, if you think these big fish and meat are too greasy, I recommend you to try sour soup tofu or casserole noodles, which are also good! But in normal times, the Miao people’s daily diet consists of more vegetarian dishes, as well as some wild vegetables, home-cooked dishes, etc.

There is a song circulating in Leishan, Guizhou, "When you come to Miao Township, you should taste wine first. If you like it, you should drink it. If you don't like it, you should drink it. Whether you like it or not, you should drink it. If you like it, you should drink it. If you don't like it, you should drink it. Like three drinks...". This is the famous "Mountain Flowing Water" wine of Miao Village.

terraces. People understand the connotation of this nation from this accumulation of calm aesthetics.