Guizhou province - time has stopped in the Middle Kingdom

Lying in southwest China, Guizhou Province is green and turquoise in color. Its remarkable character consists of water rivers and waterfalls, countless hills in a karst landscape, an abundance of green forests and bamboo thickets, and the cultural richness of various ethnic minorities. Guizhou Province (also called Kuejczou in Polish) borders Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guangxi and Hunan. The capital of the province is the nearly five-million-strong city of Guiyang.

The once hard-to-reach and impoverished province is well described by an old Chinese folk adage: "In Guizhou, there is no three feet of flat land, no three days without rain and no man with three yuan in his pocket." Although the province is landlocked, it more than makes up for this lack with a pleasant, mild mountain climate. The stunning views are reminiscent of old Chinese watercolors. The most common view of China presents the civilization established in the valleys of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, but this is a picture of only a fragment of the entire country.

We imagine modern China as overcrowded metropolises and smog-filled industrial regions. In this sense, Guizhou province is quite unusual - with the environment all right, no crowds of people or smog, birds singing - a real exotic for most of China. The Chinese themselves go there to see the Middle Kingdom as it seemed to have been preserved only in legends.

Climate and history of Guizhou province

Situated in a mountainous basin, the province has a subtropical-humid climate with hardly any distinct seasonal boundaries. The average annual temperature is +15°C, and the average rainfall ranges from 900 mm to 1,500 mm. In Guizhou, about 220 days a year are cloudy, a national record, and it's no wonder that the name of the province's capital city is Guiyang, or "Precious Ray of Sun."

As far as Chinese history goes, Guizhou province came under Chinese rule relatively recently - "only" 2,000 years ago. The Han Chinese initially migrated to the western part of today's province, and over time settled in the entire area. A peculiarity of the province is the presence of 17 different ethnic minorities, 14 of which can be described as indigenous. Incidentally, there are 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities living in China. Thus, in Guizhou one can find Bouyei, Miao and Dong, but also Bai, Gelao, Maonan, Mulam, Qiang, She, Sui, Tujia, Yao, Yi and Zhuang, as well as the later arriving Hui, Manchurians and Mongols. Minorities make up approx. 37% of the province's population, and the remaining 63% Han, or ethnic Chinese.

Culture and attractions

The minority and non-majority peoples living in Guizhou province are among the most artistically and musically talented in China. The Han people also have a long history and rich culture here. Each nation cultivates its traditions and customs; each praises its heroes in songs and legends. Folk art is richly developed.

All ethnic minorities have developed the art of embroidery and cut-outs. The Bouyei and Gelao are known for their decorations using the batik technique. Batik(mbatik = "to write in wax") is an Indonesian-originated art of fabric decoration. Designs are applied to silk, linen or cotton with melted wax. After the fabric is dipped into the paint, only the areas where there is no wax are dyed. Repeating these operations multiple times produces interesting results. Miao and Bouyei create intricate, colorful cross-stitch embroideries. The Miao, on the other hand, are famous for their heavy silver ornaments.

Miao ethnic minority

The Miao ethnic minority numbers about 10 million people in China, and in Guizhou province they make up 12% of the population. Outside China, the Miao, called H'Mong or Meo, live in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, among other countries. The ethnic roots of this nation date back more than 4,000 years. Pushed back by Han expansion, the ancestors of today's Miao moved further and further into inhospitable mountainous regions in the south. Numerous Miao uprisings to gain independence were suppressed by the Chinese, and it was only after the establishment of the PRC that they gained equal standing in society.

The Miao are divided into about 100 different subgroups, which differ externally primarily in traditional dress and adornment. For special ceremonial occasions, Miao women wear long colorful outfits, complete with very elaborate headdresses and heavy silver ornaments. For example, there are ethnic subgroups of Black, White, Green, Red and Flower Miao - according to the dominant color of the outfit.

Silver ornaments are handmade to a very high standard and are among the traditional Miao handicrafts. Depending on the region, their costumes can vary in appearance and weigh up to 20 kilograms. The amount of silver jewelry worn or owned by a Miao woman is indicative of her social standing.

Perhaps the most distinct subgroup are the Long Horn Miao of Guizhou and Hunan. Their traditional ceremonial attire includes a huge headdress of silver, resembling the horns of a water buffalo. Also, the silver earrings are so heavy that older women often have deformed earlobes.

Tourist attractions in Guizhou province

Yang-Asha goddess statue - taller than the Statue of Liberty

In 2017, a huge statue of Goddess Yang-Asha - the mythological grandmother of the Miao nation - was completed. The statue depicts a beautiful woman with a serene expression, dressed in traditional Miao garb with an iconic silver headdress.

From her feet to the top of her horned headdress, she measures 66 meters. She stands on a base 22 m high, bringing the total to 88 m. Yang-Asha is 20 m taller than the Statue of Liberty with torch in hand, although that one stands on a much stronger base.

According to local legend, Yang-Asha was a woman of extraordinary beauty who was forced by dark clouds to take out her husband for the Sun. After a while, however, she abandoned her husband, having fallen in love with the Sun's brother, the Moon. She had to fight to stay with her beloved.

Under Mao, as expected, Yang-Asha's story turned into a tale of class struggle: the girl fled from her estranged husband to a heroic simple worker. Today, China's state media is silent on Yang-Asha's marital infidelity and economic inequality, describing her as a beautiful woman fighting for her love.

Huangguoshu Waterfall - the largest in Asia

At the center of the 115-square-kilometer park full of karst rock formations is a waterfall 101 meters wide and nearly 78 meters high. The other 18 smaller waterfalls located in different parts of the area form a whole family. It is not only the largest waterfall in China, but also in all of Asia. Behind the waterfall is a cave system, so it can also be admired from behind a humming curtain.

Dragon King Cave

Not far from the Huangguoshu waterfall stretches the incredible size and beauty of the Dragon King Cave. It is one of the most beautiful and oldest caves in China, and the most visited place in the province. It covers an area of more than 60 square ^kilometers and forms a complex with a small lake and a stone forest. It is cool in the summer, during the greatest heat the temperature never rises above 22°C, and in winter it is still 4-5°C during the coolest season.

Xijiang - a large Miao village

For anyone interested in the history and culture of China's peoples, this village is a real find. On both slopes of the hill, wooden houses go down in rows. The Baishui River flows through the village and divides it into two parts. Looking from below, from the level of the river, one can see the massive walls of the houses. The central square in the village is used for Miao folklore performances. At night, the houses on both slopes and the illuminated bridges glow.

Maling River Canyon

A vast area with a huge rock fault reaching 280 meters deep. An exceptionally picturesque picture even for Guizhou province: turbulent streams, a whole network of waterfalls, caves and mountains. The average temperature here is 15-18°C, so even in summer it is not too hot.

Forest of a Thousand Peaks - Wanfenglin

In addition to the canyon and waterfalls there is an extremely attractive mountain area called the Forest of a Thousand Peaks. The huge area of about 2,000 square ^kilometers is covered with beautiful mountains, distinguished by their diversity and number of peaks. The Bouyei people live here, engaged in agriculture.