Kaili – Scenery, Music and Southern Charm

FOR poets, she is an ancient bal-

lad passed down through the ages,

For scholars, she conquers suffering with beauty,

But for me, her mysteries overwhelm all.

She is Kaili, Kaili, Kaili.

Kaili is the Chinese-language rendering of the Miao peoples toponym for the area and means “to plough a field.” Kaili City and its surroundings lie deep within the Miao Mountain Range of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and it was here that one subgroup of the Miao ethnic group finally settled down after a long period of semi-nomadic wandering to a sedentary lifestyle .

Nowadays, Kaili is the capital city of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province. The city boasts one of the highest proportions of ethnic minority inhabitants anywhere in the country.

Settlement of the Kaili region can be traced back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 B.C.). By the Yuan Dynasty(1271-1368), it had adopted its present name, and “Kaili” has been synonymous with rugged beauty for 700 years since. The regions nature and culture have been well preserved and are relatively untouched by modernity, which is why it is gaining favor as a unique tourism destination.

The Bala River: a Flowing Gallery

On the banks of the meandering Bala River are countless Miao villages. Residents have adopted the habit of singing to each other to communicate across long distances, and the river echoes with resonant melodies. The villages themselves bring to mind shining pearls bejeweling the effervescent necklace of the river, and the scenery forms a splendid outdoor art gallery overflowing with memorable facades.

Heading out from Kaili city proper, we reached our first destination in 20 minutes – Nanhua, one of the many villages along the river.

Nanhua Miao Village is halfway up a hill covered in pine trees and bamboo. The crepuscular glow cast red hues across the rows of wooden houses clinging to the hill at different heights. Houses here were built starting from the banks of the river and have gone on to hang higher and higher up the hilly backdrop.Mostly constructed of cedar, when appreciated from afar the abodes blend into their surroundings to resemble a landscape painting.

The village center is nestled between the hill on one side and the Bala River on the other. Walking toward the riparian residences, a plaque with “Nanhua Miao Village” inscribed in golden characters greets us from overhead, and a quaint bridge with twin towers and pavilions on opposing banks comes into view.

For a local history lesson, we dropped in to see the old headmaster of the village school, but met only his wife.She was eager to tell us of the renowned beauty of the local Miao womenfolk. Indeed, despite her being over 60 years old, we could still detect a healthy glint of youthful charm in her aging features. She had a full head of shining, naturally jet-black hair, and revealed she had been imbibing the essences of various local plants picked from the hillside from a young age.

Like many local women, her pierced ear holes had dilated sufficient for my middle finger to fit clean through. Seeing my surprise, she told me that at age five or six her parents had used a needle to make the holes and used straw to gradually widen them.

For us, the most attractive feature of the village was the hanging houses, and especially the strings of corn and hot peppers slung from their eaves to drape over their windows. It seemed to us that every child growing up in Nanhua Village, should they head to bigger cities for university or work, would cherish the images of these houses in all their bucolic glory long into adulthood.

Departing Nanhua, a stroll of one or two kilometers brought us to neighboring Jidao Miao Village. On that short walk, the grand old trees towering above us imbued us with a sense of our own fleeting mortality, and the century-old footpaths we trod, granaries we passed and folk songs heard attested to the depth and ingenuity of Miao culture and history. We were humbled.

The Kaili people describe the beauty of their culture and natural surroundings as immeasurable and uncountable, just like the individual droplets that form the perennial torrent of the Bala River along whose banks their villages sit. The beauty of the valley and the river compelled us to walk on and on.

Xianglu Mountain

“In haze of rain, mountains hide; Xianglu rises where Kaili City lies; a portrait of somber houses hanging in the skies.”

This stirring poem was written by the first governor of Kaili and evokes the magnificence of Xianglu Mountain, found 13 kilometers west of Kaili City. Literally meaning “Censer” or “Incense Burner,”the peak is the highest in the area and its summit is 1,233.8 meters above sea level. It towers above nearby hills, most of which barely reach 500 meters. Xianglus slopes are precipitous and only one brazen path winds its way to the top.

In centuries past, Xianglu was the spot of many a sanguine battle, and few people climbed its slopes. Nowadays things are different. On June 19 and 20 each year, thousands of people stride up the slopes for the annual mountain climbing festival. On these days the mountain is welcoming, and those climbers with the brio to make it to the top are treated to spectacular views.

Xianglu and its foothills are set in sylvan splendor, dotted with rugged boulder regions and boast fertile soil. Tealeaves harvested here used to constitute the tribute paid to Ming and Qing emperors.

Xianglu Mountain is also the site of the Yaozi Caves, which are so deep as to appear almost bottomless, and Yuhuangge, the campsite of Zhang Xiumei, a leading warrior of Miao insurrectionist forces that waged war against the Qing Dynasty. In addition to the breathtaking scenery and the legends surrounding the peak itself, these features heighten the mystery of the mountain.

On the whole, the Miao people enjoy the quiet life, and their most prized mountain is no different. It remains off the beaten track of most tour companies in China. But there are plans to bring greater numbers of sightseers to the area. One project is to erect a statue of Chi You, a mythical warrior who fought with the Yellow Emperor, on the mountains summit to guard over the surrounding lands as well as to entice visitors to scale the peak.

Downstream

Gannangxiang is the Chinese transliteration of a phrase in the local Miao language, meaning “downstream of a charmed land.” The Wu clan, which traces its lineage far back into the annals of history, set up a reed pipe festival here 500 years ago. The festival continues to be celebrated today and is held annually from the 16th to 20th of the first month of the lunar year. The descendents of the Wu clan still take the lead in the festival, which takes place in an auditorium built by the clan. The occasion is the biggest annual event in the region.

Over several thousand years of migration, the Miao people have never abandoned the reed pipe – it is an integral part of their customs and they are consummate masters of the instrument. Pipe songs symbolizing different subgroups of the Miao are manifold and employ various thematic elements to allude to unique motifs. One subgroup, the “Short Skirt Miao,” ends its calling tune with a“mo” sound, meaning “go” – the whole song enacting a march along a slope. The“Black” Miaos emblematic song expresses the will for its people to stick together and wait for everyone before starting out on a trip.

The process of making the pipes themselves is just as intricate as the delightful songs the pipes produce. At Xinguang Village of Zhouxi Town, we were lucky enough to witness the whole process of making a reed pipe. Four steps are required – three of which involve assembling the instruments parts, with the fourth being pitch tuning. All are hand made, and we were told that the current master was an 18th-generation pipe maker. Instruments made in this village have been sold all across Guizhou Province as well as in the countries in Southeast Asia, America and Europe.

One trait the Miao people seem to share is unabashed optimism. The proof is in the farmers paintings. In Shiqing Village, we saw a painting by farmer Yang Zhenxing, now in his 50s. It portrays a young couple riding on a cow with oversized horns. Phoenixes, magpies, butterflies and bats symbolizing good fortune flutter in the sky above the cow. A phoenix is seen drinking the cows fresh milk from a nearby pail, in which fish can be spotted swimming. Yang has used bright and vibrant colors to highlight the happy, harmonious mood of the painting, which in turn cogently embodies the atmosphere of the Miao villages we visited.

Gejia and Xiajia

Matang Gejia Village is a mere 20 kilometers from Kaili City, but the cultural distance between the two locales is far greater than this short distance suggests. The Gejia people have their own language, ethnic customs and culture. It is still a pending question for ethnologists ifthey constitute another ethnic group in addition to the existing 56 in China.

Gejia womens traditional costumes differ considerably from those of Miao. Young girls wear hats with red tassels, and married women wear corolla kerchiefs, or huaguanpa. Women who have given birth wear headdresses featuring the moon, while women yet to have children sport bonnets displaying a sun. All women wear pleated short skirts with embroidered puttees. A red arrow and bow pattern can be found on mens and womens headdresses as well as on the back sections of their clothes. This represents the continued worship and immortal memory of their ancestor. Gejia believe they are the descendents of Houyi, a mythical marksman who shot down nine suns, leaving only the present one. His actions saved the worlds people from overheating and the drying up of all fresh water.

One cannot help but notice the warrior-type costumes worn among the Gejia. Costumes of both men and women display armor. Part of this tradition stems from a fable about a sister who fought to save her injured brother and saved his life. The brother gave her part of his armor as a gift of thanks.

Xijia Shilong Village is a stones throw from Matang Gejia Village. It boasts ten exquisite naturally formed stones: tiger stone, rocking stone, bowl rack stone, dragon mouth stone, buffalo stone, babycarrying stone, sisters stone, frog stone and bull horn stone. They are beautiful and truly resemble their creatively construed names.

We found ourselves absorbed in the tranquility of Xijia Shilong Village, which is encircled by foliaged mountains on all sides. The lotus pond at its entrance gate resembles dark jade and reminded us of a song about the poetic image of a moonlit lotus pond. On entering the village, a blossoming pear tree welcomed us.

A village cadre told me about the origin of the inhabitants of Xijia. He was quite sure they were descendents of the Western Xia Regime (1038-1227). These descendents were forced to settle in Jiangxi Province in the Song Dynasty and to Guizhou Province during the Ming. The population of these descendents in Qiandongnan now numbers 3,500. Whenever there are big events they all gather together and continue to share stories of their common history. Nowadays, the Xijia women don triangular handkerchiefs as headgear and men wear a kind of kilt to commemorate the arduous migration the former nomads made to their current hometown. They are immensely proud of their history.

The people of Xijia used to use one and only one bucket to carry water on their backs. This practice also finds its genesis in legend. In the Ming Dynasty, a local Xijia man Luo Saijun was promoted to work for the Ming royal palace as a minister. He performed his duties well and was envied by other officials. One day, a foreign envoy offered a pair of golden buckets as tribute to the emperor, and a particularly envious official broke one on purpose and blamed it on Luo Saijun. The emperor was furious with Luo, but Luo riposted that the two buckets were actually sent as a nefarious symbol of the envoys desire to separate the country into halves – Luo broke one bucket to secure the lasting unity of the country (The pronunciation of “one bucket” (yitong) in Chinese means the unity of the country.) The emperor was satisfied with this explanation and Luo evaded harsh punishment. Since then, Xijia people have only ever used one bucket to carry water. This custom has been passed down to the present day.

Walking out of Xijia village, I heard myself humming the lyrics of a wellknown tune: “I am a coy fish in your lotus pond; I await the brilliant white moonlight with you.”

Legend surrounds Kaili, but surely the most charming feature of this alluring land is the people themselves.