China Minority Peoples - May 2016

GuizhouGuangxiGuiyangMiaoDongYaoGejiaZhuangkarst. Li River valleycormorant fishermen

Beijing's parks are nicely maintained and well used by the city's many pensioners.

Beijing

Many more Chinese are able to travel these days. Real wages have increased 10% annually over the past 10 years. Here, a couple in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing poses for their friend; I joined in.

BeijingForbidden City

Playing cards at a teahouse.

Beijing

Posing for a pre or post nuptial photo in Beijing.

Beijing

Miao lady in Jidao village near Kaili in Guizhou province.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Another type of head dress worn by the Miao in Jidao.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Jidao village.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Miao lady in Jidao.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Miao women of Jidao perform with "silver horn" headpieces that honor the water buffalo.

siver hornMiao headpiecewater buffaloJidaoMiaoKaili

Another part of the performance which involves rice liquor - delicious!

rice winerice liquorMiaoJidaoKaili

Jidao.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

A reed flute player in Jidao village.

reedfluteJidaoMiaoKaili

Jidao village. It was very clear that performing for tourists was a big part of the village's livelihood.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Jidao.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Jidao lady and grandchild.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Jidao.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Jidao - returning home after the performance for the tourists.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Jidao village.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Unarranged (by me) still life. Plow used for rice paddy cultivation.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Han Chinese (the majority of Chinese) tourists seem to love to rent minority group costumes for photos. Our tour leader on the right.

MiaoJidaoGuizhouKaili

Minority villages have become tourism hot spots. In this village, the Miao minority property owners lease to Han Chinese shop keepers!

MiaoHan

Preparing a rice paddy for planting.

rice paddywater buffalo

Rosa chinensis mutabilis and a Chinese bee.

Rosa chinensisRosa chinensis mutabilisChinese bees

Miao produce sellers at a market in a town close to Kaili, Guizhou province.

MiaoMiao headpieceMiao market

Another vegetable seller.

MiaoMiao headpieceMiao market

These two Miao ladies with dogs foe sale.

MiaoMiao headpieceMiao marketdogs to eat

A Miao seamstress at the market near Kaili.

Miaoseamstress.

MiaoMiao headpieceMiao market

A Miao lady readying her scales at the market.

MiaoMiao headpieceMiao market

Miao mother and child (picture taken under red plastic).

MiaoMiao headpieceMiao market

Another Miao seller.

MiaoMiao headpieceMiao market

Mother and child at market in Kaili.

A fortune teller/diviner working with a client and her child.

A lady from the Gejia minority group in Matang town, Guizhou province.

A Gejia lady checking messages before the performance for the tourists.

GejiaMatang

Gejia lady and grandchild in Matang town.

GejiaMatang

Another Gejia lady waiting for the performance to begin. It was clear that much of the town turned out to perform for the tourists, this lady perhaps somewhat reluctantly.

GejiaMatang

Gejia women. Many consider the Gejia to be a subset of the Miao people.

GejiaMatang

Gejia lady in Matang.

GejiaMatang

Gejia man in Matang.

GejiaMatang

Gejia ladies.

GejiaMatang

The performance is about to begin in Matang!

GejiaMatang

Gejia dancer and reed flute player in Matang.

reed fluteGejia dancer

Gejia pollinators.

GejiaMatang

Matang town.

GejiaMatang

The chef and boss at the restaurant where we had lunch in Matang. The minority people in south China aided Mao Zedong and the Red Army in 1934-35 in their "Long March" escape from Chinese Nationalist forces, and were treated well during Mao's "cleansing" campaign of the 1950's and the Cultural Revolution in the '60s and '70s.

Mao GejiaMao minority tribeslong march

Young Miao lady from Qingman town, Guizhou province.

MiaoQingman