Scenic beauty adds to Guizhou town’s charm
Attractions from scenic beauty to bullfights lure visitors to this multiethnic community
Rich ethnic culture, a primitive natural landscape and exotic gourmet food never fail to draw in visitors to Kaili. The city sits in the southeast of Guizhou and is capital of the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture. Ethnic Miao people are in the majority in a community with 33 ethnic groups that account for 75 percent of the local population of 1 million.
The diverse peoples have given the city a strong ethnic ambience.
Roughly 135 folk festivals are staged throughout the year for locals to express their various traditions, according to the Kaili tourism authority.
These include exotic ethnic song and dances, thrilling bullfights and exquisite art, such as embroidery, batik and silver ornaments, says Zhang Miao, Party secretary of Kaili.
One could stop by the Qiandongnan prefecture museum in downtown Kaili to get a working knowledge of local ethnic culture before exploring further afield.
The museum was founded in 1988 and covers an area of 11,000 square meters. It preserves daily objects and artifacts made by locals that tell the stories of local history.
Be sure to visit the museum’s biggest treasure, a Miao costume traditionally embroidered with tin wires. Free guide service is usually offered to a group of four to five people in Mandarin.
From there, local villages are the best way to savor ethnic culture.
Nanhua village is roughly 20 minutes’ drive from downtown Kaili and has enjoyed a history of more than 400 years. All residents are of Miao ethnicity and surnamed Pan.
The village is tucked away in a green forest, with towering trees and chirping birds. A gallery lies halfway up the mountain and can serve as a resting point. A moss-covered stone path down from the gallery leads to the Bala River.
Most of residential buildings in the village are diaojiaolou, suspended wooden houses featuring stone foundations and green-tiled roof. Some buildings have been a century long.
A pebble-paved lane connects every household.
Locals are hospitable and would serve wines to arriving guests. On major holidays, they would play a lusheng, a reed-pipe wind instrument and dance to greet visitors.
Girls will wear pleated skirts, with the longest being 0.8 meters long, and one-meter-long silver ornaments resembling ox horn.
Convenient transport has enabled relatively good tourism development in the village.
Wooden inns have been built along the river, and bonfire parties are often held to spice up the visitor experience.
Jidao village is another site that shouldn’t be missed. Just several kilometers away from Nanhua, it offers a century-old pedestrian lane, granary and plaza, as well as mystic animal footprints and caves along the way.
The village sits on the river bank and is home to 500 Miao people. A wood of ancient trees stand in the back; a paddy field and the river stretch out in front.
Compared with Nanhua, Jidao is less developed and thus presents more primitive local elements.
Diaojiaolou can be spotted from afar, surrounded by clouds of cooking smoke. Most of them are of two stories, with the lower level being used to raise livestock or for storage.
The old pedestrian lane starts off at the entrance of the village and winds into its depths. The lane looks like golden bricks under the sun while resembling oily black jade when it rains.
The lane leads to the granary, which is a rare public facility in a village. It was built out of the concern for theft back in the old days, when all households put their food together under guard. Now, the granary has been out of use but one could get a sense of ancient people’s wisdom by looking at the granary structure.
All is quiet and extramundane inside the village. Small lanes crisscross it.
When a holiday or a visitor comes, locals perform ancient songs that reflect the history and beliefs of the Miao group.
In addition to the villages, one could visit the Miao and Dong Ethnic Customs Park, where one can shop for distinctive local food, silver ornaments, embroideries and other handmade art products.
Modern farm pleasures including fruit picking, a playground for children and outdoor exercises can be enjoyed in Weco Park.
The Huakai bullfight city claims to be the first of its kind in China. Visitors can get a taste of Chinese bullfighting culture on weekends.
The city is now going all out to woo visitors from far and wide.
Kaili signed deals with several major travel agencies at a tourism road show in Beijing on April 2.
Those agencies, including China National Travel Service (HK) Group Corporation and China Ocean International Travel Service, will plan travel routes and send tourists to Kaili.
The city is now accelerating development to keep up with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
At the Beijing road show, Kaili also signed 24 deals covering real estate, internet technology, traditional Chinese medicine and folk art and culture, with a total investment of 21.1 billion yuan ($3.1 billion).
To spice up travelers’ experience, there have been various shows and events.
The international 100-km race around the Leigong Mountain and the Chinese music instrument contests have been hits among travelers, according to Li Mengqun, deputy director of the Kaili tourism authority.
The grand Silver Show is a visual feast. It tells the life and the love story of the Miao and Dong boys and girls. The show features traditional Miao and Dong dances and songs with 3-D and other dazzling effects.
Those activities have helped Kaili to pack in 30 million visitors in 2016, up 35.38 percent over the previous year, according to the tourism authority.
Tourism income surged 42.3 percent to 28.6 billion yuan.
Improved transportation has also helped tourists get to Kaili easier.
It now takes three hours by air from Beijing to the city and roughly 10 hours by high-speed rail.
Local authority is planning to integrate health preservation, expedition and sport elements in future. The goal is to achieve a 15 percent growth annually during 2017-2020 period, and ultimately draw in 45.3 million visits, according to Li.