Qiandongnan Miao Village: Listen to a song of flying songs in a stilted house

Qiandongnan, Guizhou hides China's most authentic ethnic villages. Five days and four nights, from the lights of thousands of homes in Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village to the mirror-like surfaces of the Jiabang terraces, you hear the lively world of Miao and Dong songs.

As night falls, Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village is the largest Miao village in the world. Over a thousand stilted houses rise layer upon layer along the hillside, their lights shining one after another, like a river of stars scattered in the valley. Standing on the viewing platform and looking into the distance, the entire Miao village sparkles in the night.

The early morning in the Miao village is even more enchanting. Morning mist rises from the Baishui River; an old woman at the bridgehead sets up a sour soup fish stall, and the silver jewelry shop owner hammers freshly minted Miao silver. Go to a household for a bowl of rice wine, listen to an elder singing a flying song in Miao language, its tone high and distant.

Turning to Zhaoxing Dong Village, there is the most complete cluster of Dong drum towers. Each of the five drum towers represents a clan, with layers of flying eaves. In the evening, there are often rehearsals of Dong folk songs in front of the drum towers, with multi-part a cappella choruses, their voices seeming to grow out of the valley.

Visiting the Jiabang Terraces in autumn is the best. The terraces wind along the mountainside, and the water-filled fields resemble shattered mirrors, reflecting the light and clouds of the sky. In the early morning, when mist lingers, Miao wooden houses are scattered throughout, creating a dream scene for photographers.

What Qiandongnan gives is a gentleness forgotten by time. By the hearth of the stilted house, in the morning mist over the terraced fields, you will understand that the meaning of travel is sometimes not about how many views you see, but about encountering another way of living.