Peach Blossom Garden, Crown Cave, Guilin, China

Region Where Minority is the Majority. Strong As Zhuang.

                       

Our first stop this morning is a ethnic cultural theme park. This kinda ethnic park almost always included in a Guangxi province tour package. After all, Guangxi official name is Guangxi Zhang Autonomous Region. China has 5 autonomous regions. 

All yellow shaded provinces are autonomous regions
with Guanxi (where Guilin is located) being the southernmost

A casual glance at the map of China would have detected that all these autonomous regions are on the landlocked fringes of China, bordering with other countries, naturally. Because once upon a time, some of them were other countries. Except for Ningxia, which in a sense borders with another country as Inner Mongolia was not part of China before Gengis Khan.

Another Chinese ethnic minority was the Manchu (or Manchurian) who ruled China, and are absorbed into China like Inner Mongolia. Where's Manchuria Autonomous Region? The Manchuria 'autonomous region' is composed of three dumplings-eating provinces that sits at the north east corner of China, which border Inner Mongolia, Russia, and Korea. It's a cultural diverse region.

Another province that inhabited by a large population of ethnic minority group is Yunnan and it borders with Thailand, Myama, Loas and Vietnam. So why Yunnan and the provinces in the north east most of China aren't autonomous regions? They should be. But they are not. I could only speculate that it's due to the complex Chinese historical and political background. With the Manchu, its people and culture are being assimilated into China. Or to be precise, when the Manchus conquered China, they desperately wanted to be integrated themselves into Chinese culture to bring harmony (and to avoid rebellion) to the Qing Dynasty (and the policy worked out well).

Think of Catherine The Great who was a German princess. In the funny days of old, she didn't have to learn Russian to rule Russia. But she chose to teach herself the Russian language, and even joined the Russian Orthodox Church to go an extra mile to show her faith (in God and country). This won her brownie points with the Russian people.


Where was I? Oh yeah, back to Yangshou Guangxi. This ethnic cultural park, Peach Blossom Garden (桃花源), showcases the cultural architectures, artefacts and peoples of various major ethnic minority groups in Guangxi. If you ask me, I would prefer to see one real ethnic village than a dozen ethnic tourist display villages. I think the name for this park in the similar westerner tour packages might have been called "Peach Blossom Shangri-la", but I'm not sure.

Just like my yesterday's trip to Fengyu Cave, and Silver Cave the day before that, the passing scenery on our way there is as good as the destination, if not better. Below is a small sample.

In fact, yesterday, i visited the Yao minority in Fengyu Cave. So the Autonomous Region of Guangxi has a share share of minority communities.

As we were free to explore the park, the tour guide didn't accompany us to do running commentaries (like a tennis match). So we were left clueless about the various minority groups roaming around the park. I took this photo and left to my own device to find out who these lovely gals were. The research can be a formidable task when you considering how many minority groups there are in China. Officially there 55 minority groups in China, give or take. This number is a very broad stroke, and the actually number can be a lot higher depending on the classification criteria.

Sailing into the Crown Cave

Is this the peach blossoms that give this place its name?
probably not as it's not the right season...

Take Taiwan, it has approx 26 known Taiwanese Aborigines languages, which implies the Formosa Island has at least 26 ethnic groups, and the number should likely be higher. But PRC government count all Taiwanese Aborigines as one group. Think of a country like Vietnam, which has only a fraction the size of China has recognized 54 distinct ethnic groups. Some of the groups like the Yao that you met in my last diary entry, and the Miao, etc live in both countries. If Chinese authority sorts its ethnic groupings the way the Vietnamese or Taiwanese government does, the figure would get bumped up several times over. Indeed, there are many sub-divisions within the Yao people that Chinese authority simply lumps them into as one. Maybe it's a good thing because the diversity simply boggles the mind.

Some stage performance as we glided along the river

Undaunted, I thought I do the research by narrowly the research with some deliberation. First, not all ethnic minorities in China live in Guangxi. Duh. Even then, there still left with quite a number of minority groups (probably more than 20). I further narrowed it to the largest and most familiar groups - the Zhuangs (壮族), Yaos (瑶族), Miaos (苗族), and Dongs (侗族). I actually heard about the Miao people of Vietnam way back when I was still in my primary school in Vietnam, but didn't know that they also live in China. Starting with my first search of Zhuang, I hit the jackpot right away - I was able to identify costumes of the girls in the photo as the Zhuang people. After all, the official name for this province is "Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region". The Zhuang is not only the largest group in this province, but in fact, the largest in China - some 16 millions strong (Zhuang = 'Strong' in Chinese).

Most minorities have very colourful and flamboyant costumes, the Zhuang traditional dresses are quite simple, typically black and blue. The top looks like a top half of a short-sleeved qipao that are ever so popular in the West.

The unique wooden architecture is the famous Drum Tower of the Dong people. If you have already read my diary entry on "Guilin - Day 2", you would have thought this is a Yao costume (with slight variation), but in fact a Dong costume. That's the thing about this sort of ethnic park, there're different ethnic people walking around different places leaving the tourists like me can't make heads or tails - actually Yaos or Dongs - out of this place. This tower has 5 tiers of roofs, some have many more - as many as 20.

We headed for yet another cave in the arvo. 3 caves in 3 days in a row. I have never been so caved out, especially that I'm not a cave man - I mean a cave person (a civilised cave man). Don't bore me with another set of calcium carbonate formations, I said to myself. This one called the Crown Cave. Having seen Silver Cave 2 days ago, it takes a great deal to win me over.

The Crown Cave didn't top Silver Cave, but it has its own charm. I wasn't as disappointed as I have with Fengyu Cave that I went yesterday. Instead of trekking the cave in more or less horizontally, we ascend as we proceed deep into the cave. As we entered the cave's centre piece, standing at the bottom, the steep stairs led our eyes skyward towards the tall and impressive limestone columns on top of the stairs. It reached the top of a very high cave ceiling, with its limestones structures adorn the columns like intricate, exquisite carvings of some Renaissance genius sculptors. For an European, this probably reminds them of a cathedral with soaring columns and vaults. To me, it looks almost exactly like the underwater palace of the Dragon King of the East Sea (東海龍王) that I remember from Chinese movies. Quite spooky and stunning.

Embroidery session

We finished the night with the watching of "Impression Liu Sanjie" ("Liu's 3rd Sister" 刘三姐). The show takes place in the open with the backdrop of the picturesque Guilin limestone karsts. The 'stage' is an inlet surrounded by seven limestone hills. Because it takes place at night, several karsts were light up with flood lights. They took on an eerily magical and translucent quality - imagine shine a torch light onto your face from below your chin in the dark. Yep, that same eerily ambience of a ghost story telling writ large provides the backdrop for the show. Most of the dancers perform in water, and I was told they do this all year round. My guide told me that one of his Harbin tourist member told him that winter here is colder than Harbin - the famous City of Ice Festival in the North (in 'Manchuria'). I find it hard to swallow, but what is even more incredible is that the actors do their performances in water scantily clad. Many performers are fishermen by day, which explains their constitution of an ox that we mere mortals can only admire them from afar in quiet awe, followed by some loud applause. As impressive as these feats of physical endurance, these kinda things come natural to them, what is impressive is asking the farmers and fishermen to turn into performers, which is not something that come natural to them. Isn't this the developing story of China today? While China is trying to turn farmers into factory hands, Zhang turn them into stage performers.

Because the show was done in open air, the audience is susceptible to weather elements and other not so pleasant random Acts of God. It showered before the show started and we were given raincoats at the entrance. Our spirits weren't dampened. Our guide cheered us up by saying that the light rain adds atmosphere. He wasn't too far off the mark.

This show was created and directed by the ever so popular Zhang Yimou. Anyone who had sampled his movies and watched the 2008 Beijing Opening Ceremony last year knows about his handiworks. I watched the Opening Ceremony and nearly all his subsequent movies starting from "Raise The Red Lantern" (Gong Li gave a commanding performance), which introduced me to his cinemas. So I held high expectation of this show, and it was was met with resounding success; it delivered one visually stunning images after another of the highest caliber. Stylish, visual poetry. You don't have to be a part-time stock photographer turned casual shutterbug like me to appreciate the sumptuous feast for the eyes, and an awe matched only by the physical fortitude of the performers. Not surprisingly it was photography that save Zhang from slipping into oblivion. Truth be told, as a short-attention-span movie watcher, I found the absence of narrative a bit slow going. But this is just me, and it also explains my general boredom with staged performances of several kinds. Overall, the show is a must-see (despite my attention deficit). If you can stay focus, the performance is quite captivating and magical, the atmosphere dreamy, transporting you to another world. It costs $50 SGD/AUD if my memory serves. It's a China price.
This Chinese tourist operator website should offer clues on what I was talking about. Open the images on the left hand side of the webpage to get a better view. http://www.yxlsj.com/chinese/dt_first.asp?id=媒体

Zhang also created 3 other similar shows at 3 other Chinese tourist icons. According to the guide, "Impression Liu Sanjie" is the first and still the best. This show reminds me of the Light and Sound show at the Pyramid of Giza. Perhaps, Zhang got the idea from there. The Pyramid and the Sphinx was light up with multicolored light and given it that translucent feel, not dissimilar to the limestone karst. The light-up of these Egyptian icons was spectacular and impressive, but the rest of the 'show' consisted of a giant video screen showing some dramatised doco. This part is a bit passe and when compare the Liu Sanjie performances, it's quite lame. The narrator of the video sounded too 1930's with its over-the-top theatrical voice. Sorry! It was quite embarrassing. Replace the narrator with a Shakespearean actor and it would tone down its theatrical decibels by a few notches. Providing some live performances like Impression Liu Sanjie would have been better. Of course, you don't go to Egypt to see this lame show. But as some world tourism official suggest, if there's one show you should fly there to see, it would be "Impression Liu Sanjie". I wouldn't. But then stage performance isn't my cup of tea.

Fengyu Cave, Yao Minority, Yangshuo, Guilin, China

A picture that worth 20 Yuan

Fengyu Cave 丰鱼岩

When we say we're going to Guilin to see the world renown limestone karst landscapes, we actually mean Yangshuo where most of these geological wonders are heavily jostled one another for attention of wide-eyed, mouth-gaping admirers. The coach trip allowed us to have a whirlwind view of these amazing landscape as we entered deep into the Yangshuo country 陽朔縣 and finally to the Li River for a trip on the bamboo raft. The trip can't be considered complete without being floated across the Lijiang on a bamboo raft.

The 2005 edition of RMB banknotes contain heads of people on one side, and famous scenic spots on the reverse side. The drawing of Guilin karsts with its mirror reflections on Li River (don't forget the fisherman on the raft) is on the reverse side of a 20 Yuan banknote. The picture of the national treasure of Guilin worth 20 Yuan multiplies by the number of issued notes in circulation = a few billion Yuans. Bill Clinton once commented that the scenery of Guilin reminded him of the Chinese brush painting the most while he dropped into this place (by Air Force One) during his premature presidency.

Speaking of RMB banknotes, it has been few months since I heard the news about the counterfeit 100 Yuan notes with serial numbers beginning with HD90. It was said to have first appeared in Yangjiang and Guangdong and was suspected that they made their way from Taiwan. 

When we bought some souvenirs in Yangshuo, our 100 Yuan note get a free forensic treatment: it was held up in the sky to check for watermarks and looked at from different angles for the holograms and other built-in counterfeit measures. And the vendor didn't show any favouritism, every note from a 100 down to 5 Yuan get a thorough strip search with her detective eyes.


Back to my trip. As more and more local villagers in China are migrating to the cities - the largest human migration in history - for a better living, they are leaving their traditional ways of life behind. Many traditional way of life is surviving because of tourism. The Guilin cormorant fisherman of is an example. They now perform for the tourists as they fish (or as their file of cormorant soldiers fish). Some people say this kind of survival is superficial. You either put the tradition on artificial life support or let it die. Most people prefer the drips ("Pull the plug and let me RIP, come on papa!", "Over my cold dead body, sorry my lil'uns! Over my cryogenic body...")

Fisherman lifts a cormorant from water after its catch

This fisherman has 4 sidekicks. He lifted one of the foot soldier that just caught a fish in its throat with his bamboo pole. Cormorants - several species - are quite common in Sydney (probably a common bird around the world). You can find them anywhere near water in Sydney. I even spotted a few of them in the artificial pond just outside Sega World building in Darling Harbour. But I've never seen a white one. When I spotted this white one on the left of the raft, I jumped the gun and thought it's a lazy, sitting duck getting a free ride on the raft. A zooming in of the photo revealed that it's a cormorant. If I'm not wrong, this is a youngling, and after moulting its white feathers (as seen by the snow flakes all over its feet) it would turn into a black adult. Some speckles of black feather already appear on its neck.

Fisherman removing a fish from the cormorant's throat

A fish is being removed from the cormorant's throat. He then put the fish back into water, not his basket. He's not fishing, but performing. In fact, no basket on his raft to be seen.

As we on our way to the Frengyu Cave, we passed some nice scenery that made Guiling world famous. Although these are not as good as those i saw yesterday when we made our way to the Silver Cave. This is because we got to the Silver Cave by boat, and so we saw from the perspective of water. This is still is nice. But yesterday's are gooder.

The passing scenery

We arrived Fengyu ("Abundant Fish") Cave, about 95km from Guilin in the afternoon. The cave was nice, but it didn't top what I saw yesterday in Silver Cave. Far from it. So you get fed a dose of anti-climax. 

A Yao's traditional building

You can enjoy the sightseeing of the lake on a bamboo raft

Or you can do the rafting yourself if you're keen.
I hope you all propel the raft in the same direction.
Yeah, looking like one of those team building exercise that your office send you.

Fengyu Cave with disco lights

Just in case you want to see more of the cave.
I promise this is the last one

Since the cave spans 9 hills, I didn't think we were going to cover its whole length on foot (for the sake of a few of elderlies in our tour group. OK, for my sake, I was overtaken by few sexagenarians and even a septuagenarian on more than one occasions. Should have tailed them closely to take advantage of their slipstream. Swoosh). After an hour or so of spelunking on foot, we arrived at a cave harbour to board a canoe, which traversed a subterranean river for the rest of the trip. There was no light and we were given torches to shine on the cave walls as we cruised along. The darkness adds some mystery and thrill. Some parts of the cave are so low that if we didn't have the torches we would suffer severe headaches several times before we exited the cave. Only kowtowing to these million years old stalactites saved us from having freshly bruised heads.

You can always play dress up in the Yao's traditional costume

I won't do it because i think the the Yao female costume, especially the headgear, is far more over the top. If you know what i mean. 😉 Besides, i done my touristy duty yesterday when i visited Jingjiang Palace. Go look and laugh. Or read and weep.

Buffalo and Bill

After dinner, our hotel provide some evening entertainment performed by the Yao (瑤族) minority people. Numbered in 2.6 million, they are mountain people, tree lovers.

Yao women performing their traditional dance, Yangshuo

The Yaos' costume is quite diverse, but the blue and black is quite popular. These little black numbers that these girls are wearing consists of collarless jackets with plaited skirts, fringed by beautiful Yao's traditional silk embroidery and brocades. These dresses are good for dancing, knitting, sewing, working, shopping, dating or simply for a leisurely walk in the English countryside, available at all good Yao households.

Speaking of dating, a lot of these Yao gals (and a few other minorities) get dates (boys, not fruits) by singing, usually across the river. The tourists would get to see these in action as mountain songs are being sung while we floated gently across the river. Other times, we were asked to belt our these folk ballads ourselves, killing the songs and the tranquil ambience the same time - 2 birds with 1 stone (or the equivalent Chinese expression "2 condors with 1 arrow". Hang on a cotton picking minute, they're both Chinese expressions!).

Most Yao people live in the south west regions of China spanning Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong, but heavily concentrated in Guangxi. They also live in Vietnam, Thailand, and Loas, not surprisingly as these countries bordering south and south west China where Yao people dwell. In Vietnam, the Yao is called Dao (and pronounced the same as Yao. 'D' in Vietnamese is pronounced identically to 'y' in English). As the consequences of the Vietname War (meself is one such inconsequential individual in such historical consequence), some Yaos are now living in USA. Most live in the west coast of the U.S. in the states of Washington (not D.C.), Oregon and California, making California more diverse than one can possibly imagine.