Director's Note: Melodious Miao songs under the cliff-Zhou Xiaoxiao

Zhou Xiaoxiao, director of the column group, remembers homesickness.

Representative works: Zunyi-a city that will always be loyal at the turning point of the revolution, Cuomai Village-the fragrance of highland barley under Bihu Lake, etc.

"Homecoming is like a dream, I'm worried about the ink waves. A thousand miles of countryside is in the lens frame.

-Zhou Xiaoxiao "

Miao songs are melodious under the cliff.

1,1In February, 2002, we first walked into this small village hidden under the cliff. The first sigh at that time was "It's good to live here!"

If there is one word to describe Huawu Village, it is beauty! The scenery is picturesque, and we seem to be in a painting. Along the spacious village road along the river, we came to the resettlement site for ex situ poverty alleviation. Thirty-four neat and exquisite houses in northern Guizhou are strewn at random beside clear water and green mountains, and the imaginary paradise is just like this. If we just glance at it in such a hurry, many people can't help sighing how happy the Miao people living here are.

But as we get to know this village bit by bit and walk into these cliffs step by step, we gradually feel the real situation of people here-hardship!

Today, the scene of peace and tranquility in front of us is the result of the hard work of generations of building builders and local poverty alleviation cadres. In the long years, in the replacement of the sun and the moon, they constantly challenged the precipice and kept moving forward on the dangerous road, which made the beauty here have soul and body.

In the ten-day shooting, we walked through the muddy and rugged mountain road, climbed the dangerous road less than one meter wide on the cliff, and climbed the rock wall where almost all limbs had to lean against stones to climb, and experienced a series of problems such as fear, collapse and fatigue. However, this is only about ten days of shooting. In the past 300 years, the Miao people who have lived here for generations have been facing such difficulties and obstacles.

Tracing back to the village history, it is found that the relevant records and documents are not very detailed. How did the newly arrived Miao people build their homes under such difficult circumstances? We don't know the detailed process. But we found that they have silent records, and the flowers, birds, fish and insects embroidered on their clothes are the nature in which they live; The folds in the skirt recorded every mountain they climbed. Although these are not as detailed as words, they have been worn on the body and engraved into life, which is unforgettable.

In 1970s, in order to irrigate Shan Ye, villagers had to open a canal on the cliff. Someone died because of the difficulty of the project. In order to tell the story better, we ran to the place where the story happened and filmed it in the most dangerous tunnel in the middle of the cliff. Shooting on the cliff is far more difficult than we thought. On one side is a vertical cliff, and on the other side is the thousands of feet abyss. The narrowest part of the road at the foot is less than one meter wide, rugged and overgrown with weeds.

Before we finally came to the tunnel, we met a new problem before relaxing. The tunnel is particularly narrow, the shortest place is only about half a meter high, and the narrowest place can only be squeezed sideways. Several "XXXL" camera teachers and recording teachers in the film crew can only climb over on their knees.

After filming this scene, on the way back, I looked back from a height and saw the beautiful scene of "a thousand miles without footprints". This unique scene is also the desperate situation for the Miao people to go back and forth for five years, desperately digging canals.

Back to the nearby villages and towns, it's already five o'clock in the afternoon. Along the way, our film crew admired Yang Siyu, the hero of the story. The old man is 80 years old, and we are more worried about his physical condition and whether he can finish filming. But in order to tell this story well, the old man simply walked on the cliff for a whole trip and kept saying, "I have no problem." There is nothing wrong with taking this road. " The old man concealed his fatigue, and his face was full of perseverance and tenacity. From him, what we see is the blood of the Miao family, which is shaped by accumulated natural dangers.

Another story that deeply touched us is the story of ex situ poverty alleviation and relocation. More than 30 local villagers live in a ravine called Mawozhai. When rural tourism rose, more than 30 villagers in Mawozhai still lived without water, electricity and access. When we first walked into Mawozhai, it was hard to believe that this was the place where they lived five years ago.

However, when the spacious new houses in ex situ poverty alleviation resettlement sites were completed, many people who lived here at that time were reluctant to move out and live in beautiful new houses. Why don't they want to live in a beautiful two-story building and live a convenient life with water, electricity, roads and facilities? At first, we expected whether this would be a shocking reason.

In the process of filming the old site of Mawozhai, we found the answer to the question. When entering and leaving Mawozhai, we met many villagers carrying baskets in and out of Mawozhai. In the process of greeting, we learned that although all the villagers in Mawozhai have moved out now, some villagers still grow vegetables, raise chickens, cattle and keep watchdog in their original homes.

In this process, we gradually understand that people who live here are born with this mountain from generation to generation. This is their own home, no matter how hard the environment is, it is home.

After filming this program, the deepest feeling is that as the creators of documentaries, we sometimes have to put aside some personal thinking and judgment and learn to let go of the inherent logic. I often joke with myself that I should empty my soul first, then put myself in the scenery, in the country, in the group of people I want to walk into, and see, think and understand through their eyes.

Edit | Li Yuting