Advertisement
Dear friends,
Yesterday, early morning, we left Lugu Lake and went by 4-wheel car to an other very beautiful place called Xi'Chang, Sichuan Province.
We have to say goodbye to our new friend and tourguide James and met our new tourguide for the coming few days: Sophy.
This part of our trip was very good organized by our travelagent in Holland {url=http:www.discoverchina.nl/] and the local travelagent in Sichuan.
Again we promote DiscoverChina because everything is so personal and perfect that when you want to go to mainland China contact DiscoverChina and ask for Gary. He makes the trip you dream about.
And all this is free of charge, because we have the time of our lives!!!!!
We have to leave Lugu Lake very early because we must passed a part of the road before eight in the morning, after eight the road will be closed until 15.00 hours due to a reconstruction.
It was a very long ride today. About twelve hours and the road was in bad condition. Around 18.00 hours we arrived in Xi'Chang.
The weather was very good today, so our hope was to see the sun again the next day. But: the next day the weather was dull and it was raining. So we decided not to go high in the mountains. We changed our plans and went to the holy mountain Mt. Hushan and we also learned today a lot about the Yi Minority People.
Information about the Yi Minority People: Many thanks to www.travelguidechina.com Population and Distribution:
Living mainly in the hillside and basin areas in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou Provinces together with the northwestern part of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Prefecture, the Yi ethnic minority is reputed as a nation with a long history and splendid culture within South Western China. According to the fifth national census shown in 2000, the Yi ethnic minority has a population of 7,762,286. It also has several branches.
Language:
Divided into six dialects, the Yi language derives from the Zang-Mian Austronesian family of Sino-Tibetan Phylum. With regard to its characters, the Yi ethnic minority is proud to have created the earliest syllable letters in China in the 13th century. Historically, great contributions have been made owing to the recording of chronometer, literature, medicine etc. in Yi language.
Religion:
Various beliefs are treasured by the Yi people, such as the
belief of the spirit, the worship of their ancestors, and the adoration of nature, along with the cherishing of Catholicism, Christianity, and Buddhism. Amongst all these beliefs, the power of the spirit is regarded as the most magical one. Some heirlooms left to the Yi people by their ancestors are endowed with magic that can bring good will to their owners. Therefore, these highly valued possessions are carefully kept and passed down through generations.
Food and Food Culture:
The Yi people's diets vary according to different regional conditions. However, because most of the Yi people live in mountainous areas, buckwheat, corn, potatoes are suitable for planting and are regarded as their staple food. Some of the ethnic groups do eat rice as their staple food. Pork, mutton, and beef are the main meats consumed. As for their beverages, tea and wines are regarded as the most superior ones to serve to their honoured guests.
When drinking, the Yi people prefer to sit around a circle and drink one by one, without eating dishes. And during the festivals, numerous kinds of wines can be seen and tasted while some others play flutes or sing and dance. The goblets they
use while drinking are also unique. Some of them are made of wood, some from sheep or ox horns, some are even made of eagle's claws.
Drinking tea is the Yi people's daily must. In some regions, 'Sandao Tea' is a popular way of drinking; this is divided into 'Yingbin Tea' (the tea for welcoming guests), 'XukuTea' (the tea for confiding hopeless things), and 'Sanmen Tea' (teas for dispelling boring moods).
Crafts:
The Yi people are quite skilled at painting, sculpture, embroidery, and drawing with lacquer. The women are quite adept at embroidery. We can admire and appreciate their skills on their beautiful waistbands, handkerchiefs, and hanging strips. The women's reputations are greatly influenced by their level of embroidery competence.
Clothes:
Mainly six types of clothes are scattered in six different regions of Yi ethnic minority. However, women usually wear clothes with beautiful flowers embroidered on them and, long trousers with exquisite lace or skirts with numerous pleats. Men like to wear black narrow sleeved clothes, and loose pants. Both men and women wear head-handkerchiefs on their heads, while the women's are made with beautiful pictures embroidered on them.
Festivals:
Traditional festivals of the Yi ethnic
minority include the Torch and Chahua festivals. Among them, the Torch festival is the grandest traditional festival, held on the 24th day of the lunar month of June. It is held to celebrate the victory of a rebellion against a tyrannical landlord. It lasts for three days, where families assemble together and hold rich and colourful activities. Wearing the traditional Yi clothes, the Yi people enjoy themselves with wrestling, horse racing, bull fighting, tug-of-wars and so on. When night comes, large bonfires are lit, with people sitting around, singing and dancing for the whole night.
Chahua festival is another characteristic festival which is held to commemorate the hero, Mi Yinu, who helped the Yi people overcome the tyrannical ruler. When the Maying flowers blossom, people will wear them on their hairs or present them to each other and sing to their heart's content to celebrate their happy life.
Other festivals such as Saichuan festival (a festival during which people dress in beautiful clothes and enter into fashion competitions), and Shiyue Nian (the traditional spring festival for the Yi ethnic group held on October) are also well worth participating in.
Again it was a great experience to
learn about an other minority group and their habits in China.
See you next time and stay tuned for more Chinese adventures.
From Xi'Chang with love.
Monkey and Bear.
Beste vrienden en vriendinnen,
Vanmorgen in alle vroegte zijn wij vertrokken van het Lugu Meer richting Xi'Chang, een plaats in Sichuan provincie met een natuurrijke omgeving en vele schitterende bergen.
Wij hebben ook afscheid moeten nemen van onze nieuwe vriend en uitstekende gids James. Hij moet morgen vanuit Lijiang met een nieuwe groep mensen op stap. Onze 'driver mr. Ho' blijft bij ons. Gisterenavond is onze nieuwe gids in Lugu Lake aangekomen: de lieftallige Sophy.
De reden dat wij vanmorgen in alle vroegte moesten vertrekken is dat wij voor 8.00 uur met onze 4-wheel car over een bepaalde bergpas moeten zijn. Daarna wordt de weg, nou ja weg, afgesloten en gaat pas na 15.00 uur weer open.
Dit zijn nog allemaal nare gevolgen van de aarbeving van vorig jaar.
Het was het ritje wel vandaag. Zo'n beetje 12 uur hobbelen en bobbelen in een behoorlijke warmte. Rond 18.00 uur waren wij bij ons hotel in Xi'Chang, schitterend gelegen aan het
meer.
Gezien het schitterende weer van vandaag waren wij hoopvol gestemd voor het weer morgen.
Echter, de volgende ochtend was het miezerig en regenachtig weer. Wij zijn nog begonnen om richting de bergen te rijden, maar op 1500 meter was de temperatuur al gedaald naar 6 graden en dat terwijl wij ongeveer naar 2600 meter zouden gaan. Bovendien begon het steeds harder te regenen.
Wij besloten met elkaar om het programma voor vandaag te wijzigen en terug te gaan naar Xi'Chang. Van hieruit hebben wij de heilige berg Hushan bezocht en hebben wij kennis gemaakt met de leefstijl, gewoontes en festivals van de Yi Minority people.
Ondanks het matige weer was het een top dag waarin wij veel gedaan en gezien hebben. Ook onze kleine Sophy bleek weer een fantastische gids te zijn met een uitstekende kennis over de Yi people.
Zie overigens voor meer informatie over de Yi people de Engelse tekst.
Tot zover deze travelblog.
Stay tuned for more China adventures and reis een beetje met ons mee aan de hand van de foto's.
Hopen dat jullie er weer van kunnen genieten.
From Xi'Chang with love.
Monkey and
Bear.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.093s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0275s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
martina
non-member comment
leeuwen
Hoi Lieverds, Die leeuwen waar jullie tussen staan kunnen vast nog wel in jullie koffers. Vind ik wel een leuk huwelijks cadeau. Dat kleine beetje overgewicht zien ze wel door de vingers denk ik. Lief zijn voor Sophie, maar dat zal wel geen probleem zijn. En niet te hard knuffelen want dan breekt ze denk ik. Veel plezier nog, Dikke kussen Tinus en Danny