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Published: February 11th 2011
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06-02-2011
The 4th day of New Year set the starting point for minority festival, but first I need to find out where is the location. Tiao-hua is the Miao festival happen widely in Guizhou during Chinese new year. "Maodong" one bus driver told me, and he said it was only an hour away by bus, and off I went with his bus. A small town hidden within karst rock landscape. I saw people gathering at the end of the street, not the kind of festival scene I expected. still...it wasn't organized by the official, but sponsor mostly by the bank, so you could see the advertment on every desk front, the activity was villager performed whatever they are good at and there were judges decided the winners and prize(money) will be given. So...dance and dance and more dance, but none was anywhere near the traditional ethnic movement, and when the electric guitar show up I decided it was time to leave. Maodong lived mostly Miao and Gelao, but I had no idea what the Gelao costume was like as I had never seen one before. The Miao here call "Waishu Miao" as the women like to set a wooden comb on
the side of their head. they wear long sleeve small collar shirt with cotton buttons, open jacket with colours stripe pattern on arm area, thick plaited skirt in dark colour with square apron tied in front. I also saw couple of girls dressed like the Hua-Miao in Wenshan area too.
I also went to Zhangjiaping Tiao-hua, it was highly recommented by the locals, yes...it was far more busy, occuplied the whole hilltop, but it was kind of open picnic place, people came here to eat and play those little games. only the single tree pole on top symbolically reminded me of the Miao event. the festival ground was totally dominated by Han dressed people. it was rather disappointed and I began to had doubt about this Guizhou trip but...no turning back now, gonna accepted whatever they could offer! still...there was some dressed Miao women on the top of the hill, surrounded by many cameras, probably was arranged by the photographers, anyways...they are the Miao lived nearby Anshun, they call themselve Ba-Miao(but some say Hua-Miao), they set an up-turn wooden comb on the top of their head, coiled up with turban and silver chain, long open robe and indigo skirt, finally
tied up with front apron. there was another Miao tribe I saw, long sleeve clothes open from the right with wide colour stripes on arm area. long skirt tied with wide waist belt. but the most out standing was the head dress, I didn't know how to describe it...it was setup by a turban created a shape like the handle of a teapot on the back and with a small metal stick like an incense pointing skyward. they call themself Qing-Miao and said they lived in Longgong area near Anshun. and said they only put on costume in festival time, "you won't see anyone wear it in normal day" the woman told me.
07-02-2011
For a change...I went further to Liuzhi region for a festival, But I wasn't sure about the exact date and place. when the conductor asked me where I wanted to go after broading the local bus arrived Liuzhi, I said I didn't know and just before I tried to enquired, "to the tiao-hau, right?" a man said front behind, probably he saw my map and my camera bag. 'Yes, that's right" I said and he confirmed me that he is going there as well,
so...it was set, the man was an mobile-vendor, he making his life around market and festival ground, so I took the chance to squeezed him about market date and festival location on the bus journey. he said I should have come yesterday to attend the festival in Luobie(on every Lunar 4th day). and he also confirmed me that the Suoga festival is on the 9th and 10th, that is the festival I plan to see on this trip. so...an hour journey ended quick when he pointed to a hillside outside our window, "see the red banner?" he said, and that was the festival ground. I climbed the steps through the village while the man went setup his trade by the main road. It was a small flat landing on the top of a small hill, young Miao girls swarm at one corner, it was an make-shift photo studio with a printer, no wondered it was the most popular place there. They are the Siyin(four-stamps) Miao, because the embroidered patterns on their costume were mostly composed with 4 square figures, the costume was full of colourful patterns, the shirt is a long sleeve loose fit pullover with a huge collar, a
shoulder-bag object(it should be a shoulder bag) hang around the neck with the square piece hanging on the back, tied secured by a front waist apron in black colour, they all wore dark indigo plaited skirt, some women wear a head scarf. Soon the festiavl began and couple of man with their Lushen, lead it way around the festival ground followed by all the women, by this...they were invited the spirit of their ancestor back to celebrate the festival with them. Then again....the same kind of performance like those in Maodong yesterday. There was another Miao tribe came to dance, they call themselve Waishu Miao as well, but the costume is a little different from the Maodong Miao. here the jacket is open from the right side, long plaited skirt with front and back apron, the whole costume were totally covered with patterns. In the area also lived a tribe of White Miao, disc style headdress, long sleeve shirt with pattern on arm area, plaited skirt with row of embroidery at the bottom end, front apron and girdle hanging on the back. actually the performance was kind of fun with many little kids participated, but...enough was enough when the Hindie
music bombing out from the loudspeaker, I bite my farewell! beside...I still face a long trip back to Anshun.
08-02-2011
Langtang located few kilometer before Jiuzhou, the tiao-hua ground was right by the river surrounded by pretty landscape, but most of the river side had already laced with garbages, that was an normal scene for every Chinese outdoor event. by noon...people already crowd around the tiny open ground, waiting for their entertainment. No surprised...the same kind of performance, but everyone around were happy and much more people kept pouring in, perhaps that was the kind of entertainment they were looking for....why not then!
Here I saw the same tribal I had seen last year in Jiuzhou. only this time I could tell by their name, the Qing Miao were in light blue tone, open robe tied with front and back apron, knee lenght skirt and blue headdress with two upturn edges on the back.
The Waishu Miao was the same like the one I had seen in Maodong, open robe tied with front apron in square embroidered pattern.
There was also the Ba-Miao(or Hua-Miao), the kimono style robe and front apron, perhaps there was 2 sub-group of Ba-Miao,
as here they all dress in red colour, while in Zhangjiaping they were all in blue.
10-02-2011
The Ximen Tiaohua was big and crowded, it was right at the western end of Anshun town, same like the Zhangjiaping Tiaohua, it occupied a small hilltop, actually is a burial ground and you could see tomb stone pop up along the hillside. vendors carpeted the land with whatever their merchandises could covered, another huge outdoor picnic for the people! until 2pm some costume dressed women show up with lushen, leading by a guardian probably from the organizer, there wasn't any flat land up there where they could perform the dance and people the ring around including the TV crews and some local photographiers, what a chaos...and the dance just move with the flow. There was another group of young girls started dancing in a much wider field, and again...people surrounded them without much space left, I wondered why wouldn't they just sit on the hillside and everyone could enjoy the dance from each angle. locals said everyday there will be people come to day during this week, but I think there wouldn't be any surprised.
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Tiao Hua Festival
The pictures look good.