After spending time in a small rural village Huanggang (黃崗), we went to a small city called Kaili (凱里). It has a population of only about six hundred and fifty thousand people. My first impression of the city was that it has many slopes and the roads are bumpy. I booked a two-bedroom apartment but upon arrival, the landlady informed me that the person who stayed the night before wanted to extend and asked if I would consider renting a bigger apartment.
The landlady has a few apartments and I chose a three-bedroom flat which is more spacious and has a much better view overlooking terraced fields for the same price of a two-bedroom. Life is full of unexpected changes and going with the flow does have its perks.
China’s property market went bust in 2021 and many big property developers such as Evergrande and Country Garden went into serious financial difficulties. There were unfinished property projects all over China. Our rented apartment is built by Evergrande and our block is in fact the last block that is completed before the developer went into trouble.
There were blocks of concrete and exposed rusty metal beams not far from our block and building materials scattered all over the ground outside the rear entrance. We were lucky that our apartment is on 15/F and the ugly lumps of concrete were just beneath our line of vision. Our van was parked at the rear entrance which was still a dirt path. We had to drive 200 metres of bumpy dirt trail before rejoining proper concrete road.
We rented numerous apartments over the past three years of travel and I must say our landlady in Kaili is the most helpful and friendliest we have encountered. She and her husband came to change bedsheets the day we moved into the flat. She is very bubbly and talkative. She mentioned that we could buy fresh vegetables in front of our estate as many old ladies from nearby villages bring their produce to sell in the morning. She told us to not to hesitate asking her if there’s anything we needed as we are friends. I thought that she was just being amiable but oh my she really meant it.
On the third day around lunch time, she showed up at our door out of the blue. Apparently, she texted me that morning to ask if we were able to find the spot where the old ladies sold vegetables. As I didn’t check my phone all morning, I missed her message. She decided to come over during her lunch break to make sure we were ok.
She also gave us lots of tips of where to visit around Kaili. But given our slow pace, we spent lots of time walking around in the city the first few days just to get a feel of it and check out the various coffee shops. We went to the weekly market and it was like going to an exotic fair with so many stalls – people from nearby villages selling all kinds of vegetables, livestock and local food. We also stumbled into a street dedicated to selling all the dress-making materials, headpieces and silver jewelry.
One evening, when we were having dinner at a restaurant near our flat, our landlady called us. We invited her to join us. She told us that a father and daughter from Beijing were staying at one of her flats. They planned to visit a village to see the festive parade and the landlady wanted to hook us up so that we could go together.
So the next morning, we met with Zhijia (之嘉) and her father downstairs and the four of us set off to a village called Huangping (黃平). Zhijia is a PhD student and she’s doing research for her dissertation on one of the Miao tribe’s traditional garbs. She acquainted a young guy from Huangping via Xiaohongshu (equivalent of Pinterest and Instragram combined) who is knowledgeable about the traditional costumes and fabrics of various ethnic minorities in Guizhou. He invited Zhijia to see the Lusheng (reed wind pipe) festival (蘆笙節) of his hometown. It was a three-day harvest celebration initiated with ancestral worship. Nearby villagers would gather together in their traditional costumes to take part in parade and performances.
Due to the pandemic, these annual festivities were suspended and only resumed for the first time in 2023. Thanks to our landlady’s hook up with Zhijia as our guide , we were able to witness it first hand. We arrived at Huangping about 10am. People were getting the carnival and food stalls ready. We met up with Zhijiang’s young friend Liangliang (亮亮) and his friend. Then we went to Liangliang’s uncle’s home for lunch. In the city, we never invite strangers to a meal at home. But people here are very hospitable and friendly.
After lunch, we walked to the town square and saw groups of women from different villages at the square getting ready for the parade. The town square was transformed into a sea of vivid colours with each group of women wearing beautiful dresses of striking embroidered patterns, silver jewelries and eye-catching headdresses.
The parade was led by a group of men playing the Lusheng, reed windpipes. They looked very smart in the traditional dark costumes and impressive headwear. The sound of Lusheng was monophonic and soothing. Everyone looked their best at the festive occasion.
We followed the parade and gradually moved to the amphitheatre to see the variety show. People from the nearby villages were invited to sing and dance. We watched briefly and decided to go back. Liangliang persuaded us to stay for dinner but we politely declined as we were worried about the road condition after dark as roads in Guizhou are not for the fainthearted. You could tell that he’s disheartened that we could not join dinner which shows how generous and hospitable the locals are.
The next two weeks, we joined Zhijia and her father to see a number of festive activities in the nearby Miao villages. We also went to a village market where the locals buy fabrics and materials to make their beautiful clothes. Zhijia told us about the different styles and the sewing details like how they sew the silver threads into the patterns.
Each village has their own style of patterns and headwear. The colours and specific patterns they wear also differ depending on age. Children and young adult women wear sharp colours and more elaborate stitchwork while the elderlies wear simpler style and more subtle darker colours. The elderlies often wear wrapped around headscarves instead of elaborate headdress. Each pattern tells a story or legend. It was fascinating to see how the history and heritage are vibrantly captured in their clothes. The women are all excellent at needlework and everywhere we went, we could see them sewing.
Unlike the Han Chinese who use the lunar calender, Miao people use the calendar of the sun. Each Miao village celebrates Guzang Festival (鼓藏節) every thirteen years to pay respect to their ancestors and bless the village safe and good harvest. There are various accounts of how this festival originated. According to one version, the ancestors were neglected over time and their spirits visited their descendents’ home. The descendents fell ill for a long time and the local priest discovered that the ancestors were unhappy. So the descendents made offering and that’s how it all started and evolved into a major event which involves buffalo fights, cow/pig killing and offering to the ancestors and consecutive celebrative activities.
Apparently, our landlady had never attended the Guzang festival and she invited us to join the pig killing lunch together at a nearby Miao village called Taoyao (陶堯村). The family had to pay respect to the ancestors by offering wine in silence. We were told that during the offering, we should not utter a sound and if we did not want to drink, we should turn down by gesturing without saying a word.
The meal was set on a long table and we sat among the family and relatives. A few hotpots of offals were served with vegetables and rice. The legs and meat were given to the relatives to take home after the meal.
After lunch, we took a stroll in the village. We were repeatedly invited by the locals to join them to eat. They were so eager to share their lives. They were very musical and loved to sing. It was so joyful and definitely a whole new experience for us city people who are way more reserved and keep to ourselves.
Our experience in Kaili had been one of its kind. It was almost unreal to be surrounded by all the vibrant traditions and rituals of the Miao and Dong people as if I had stepped back in time and transported into another world. But most of all, it’s the kindness of the people we met and the friendship that blossomed which made our time here most captivating and memorable. We certainly would not have stayed in Kaili for six weeks if we didn’t meet our landlady. She made us feel so welcome – she even came to se us when we came down with a flue and offered to buy food for us.
As it was getting colder, we felt it’s time to get back on the road and headed to somewhere warmer to spend the winter – Guizhou’s winter is known to be tough due to its high humidity and chilliness. So we headed westward to our next destination Anshun (安順).
