Climate & Weather Report

Introduction

Guizhou province is situated in southwest China and covers 176,000 sq. km. It has a population of about 35 million, of which 65% is Han and the rest a mixture of minorities such as Miao, Bouyei, Dong, Yi, Shui, Hui, Gelao, Zhuang, Yao, Bai, Tujia, etc. Mountains and plateaus make up some 65% of Guizhou's topography. The terrain is rugged, with karst formations, underground rivers, jagged peaks, dramatic valleys, and terraced rice fields. Guizhou, with its rich historic heritage, has spectacular waterfalls, national forests, and awesome scenery. The major cities include capital city Guiyang, Zunyi, Anshun, Duyun, Kali, and Liupenshui.

Guizhou's No.1 attraction is Huangguoshu (Yellow Fruit Tree) Falls. The falls is the largest in China, measuring 74 meters tall and 81 meters wide. In the middle part of the falls, a cave arches into the cliff side and is fancifully curtained by a sheet of water. The thunder of the falls can be heard for some distance and the falls are at their most spectacular about five days after heavy rain between May and October. In addition, there are other falls in the area such as the Luositan Waterfall and the Yinlianzhui Waterfall.

Guizhou offers a diverse environment rich in natural resources and recreational opportunities. Within the "Park Province" are a variety of special places for you to explore, from Guiyang's Lake Qianling to the karst caves of Zhijin and the Miao villages and festivals in the southeast part of the province. The unique karst attractions include the Zhijin Daji Cave, the Rhino Cave in Zhenning, the Dragon's Palace in Anshun, and the Flying Dragon Cave in Xingyi.

Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province, has an area of 2,406 square km., and a population of 1.56 million. Lying in the central part of the Miaoling mountain range, most of Guiyang is hilly except the central area. It has a subtropical monsoon climate with an annual average temperature of 15.3'C, and 271 frost-free days. Annual rainfall averages 1,197 millimeters.

Guiyang is one of China's major producers of nonferrous metals and tobacco. Its major industries also include machinery, steel making, food processing, and chemicals. The chief farm products are rice, wheat, rape, tea, and Guiyang is a hub of railways in the southwest of China. The Chuanqian, Xiangqian, Guikun, and Qiangui railway lines converge here. Road and air transportation facilities are also good. Flights connect to more than twenty other major cities throughout China.

Guiyang has many beautiful mountains and rivers. The region's premier tourist attractions are Qianlingshan mountain, Lake Qianling, the Huaxi scenic area, the Huangguoshu falls, Lake Hongfeng, and the Dragon Palace. The special locally-made produces include Guiyang Daqu liquor, cigarettes, and Zhumaojiao liquor.         

Kaili

Around 195km almost directly east of Guiyang, Kaili is a fairly uninspiring kind of place, but it's the gateway to the minority areas of south-eastern Guizhou. The bus journey between here and Liping in the far southeast of Guizhou takes you through some of the most fascinating minority regions in this part of China. It should be possible to stop over in some of these towns without arousing the ire of local PSB agents as nearly all of Guizhou Province is now open to foreigners.

The major tourist attractions in Kaili consist of the villages of the Miao, Dong and other nationalities. Each nationality dresses its own gorgeous costumes and celebrates varieties of festival. The traditions and customs of the Miao and Dong nationalities in Kaili are most colorful in Guizhou province. Currently, the major tourist attractions in east Guizhou consist of the villages of the Miao, Dong and other nationalities, namely Qingman, Wengxiang, Matang, Upper Langde, Xijiang around Kaili, Shidong, Baojing, Fanpai and Tonggu. Each nationality dresses its own gorgeous costumes and celebrates various festivals. The Pile Dwelling of Miao and Dong, the drum tower, the roofed bridge and other traditional buildings are unique in style and structure. Paying a visit to these villages, one may enjoy watching the minority women making handicrafts, embroidering, weaving, spinning and wax-printing. There the tourists may buy the fantastic handicrafts, taste the local dishes and take part in the traditional entertainments specially organized for the guests.

Sunday MarketFor any visitors to Kaili, the Sunday market is worthy visiting. Because many Miao people lived nearby, walking on the streets, you can fully enjoy the beautiful traditional dresses worn by Miao girls and women. In recent years, more and more Miao girls prefer the trousers and jackets worn by Han Chinese girls to their black pleated skirts and embroidered jackets. However, they still wear their hair in a traditional manner piled high according to the style of their village and decorated with plastic combs, ribbons and even plastic flowers instead of silver.

The vegetable and fresh food section changes according the seasons. There are so many kinds of vegetables sell in the market that even make local European market too far behind to catch up with. In the herb section, different kinds of herb, such as root ginger, wood ginger and coriander, are on sale. Pork, beef, chicken, duck and frozen fish are sold in the meat section, where stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, head, lungs and ears of animals can be sold separately.

In the market, fresh fruits are never absent all the year round. Apples, pears, bananas, oranges, tangerines, pommels, monkey peach and so on can be found in this market. To satisfy the needs of the many local people who have traveled quite a distance to the market, there are many snack stalls. Various distinctive snacks are prepared for people, among them toasted bean curd is the most welcome.

A small part of area is distributed to birds. Men bring their favorite birds here and show off to their friends. Buying and selling also take place here.

Stalls sold embroidery silk, decorations, silver rings and earrings attract the attention of Miao girls and women. Chemical dyes are on sale since many of the Miao women spin, weave and dye their own cotton cloth. The Han Chinese dresses also enter this market. Besides, other things such as kites, pottery jars, paper money and incense are also on sell here.           

A Tourist's Experience

On our arrival at Langde, south-west of Kaili, visitors were already being conducted into the village to participate in its New Year festival. At each turn in the zig-zaging path that climbed to the hillside village's stone portal, children and beautifully bedecked local women were on hand to offer celadon-colored cups of the local wine. Their heads held rigid beneath ornate silver head-dresses, their bodies delicately poised in intricately embroidered, traditional costumes, they appeared like guardian angels at the gates of heaven. As I tipped one of the proffered ceramic cups back, glancing beyond its dark outer rim at the silver-framed, smiling child before me, I wondered how long this idyllic custom might continue.

My thoughts were interrupted by the warbling notes of lusheng pipes emanating from the stilted wooden homes. These hand-held, reed pipes, used by the Miao minority, have become the generic term for their courtship festivals. We hurried towards the music's source; its wavering melody, enlivening the still, damp air, teased us through the village's labyrinthine, stone-paved pathways. Skirting a moss-covered pond with a breath-taking view over the river, we eventually arrived at the main square.

Stepping onto the "Flower Ground", also translated as the "choosing a lover ground", we were overwhelmed by the bustling activity before us. This cobble-stone patterned courtyard, tucked in on three sides by beautiful, tiled houses and overlooking a low valley on the fourth, was a kaleidoscope of color and sound.

Dozens of elaborately clad girls and uniformed boys were crowding around each other. At a resolute, booming signal from a large bronze drum, the elderly folk, wearing dark robes with embroidered sleeves, guided their grand-children (ethnic minorities are exempt from the one child policy) to a nearby stone wall, clearing the square. They chattered amongst themselves as the boys, once more playing the Lusheng pipes, led the girls through a delicate, shuffling dance of graceful bows and dainty hops.

Although the mood is gay and the occasion light-hearted, there is little aimlessness about these courtship activities. Their goal is to bring together boys and girls of marriageable age for matchmaking. If a particular boy's looks and dancing make some maiden's heart palpitate and her knees go wobbly, tradition dictates that she should place a ribbon around his neck. If the boy is similarly smitten, he may show his interest by returning the talisman to her later in the day.

It appeared that the greatest risk to any ensuing relationship stemmed from the macho stunts the boys perform at the end of the festival to prove their mettle. Having walked across hot coals and lain on a bed of nails, one brave Miao youngster approached the tall pole in the center of the square. During the subsequent drum-roll, we noticed that the rungs punctured into this pole were actually comprised of up-turned, dagger blades - which the boy now circumspectly ascended. A villager informed us that the trick to doing this consists in not nudging your hands or feet sideways as you lay them on the blades. And if you do? In response, our interlocutor resignedly shrugged his shoulders.

As we were ambling out of this picture-book village, serenaded by the lilting tune of the pipes, we were loathe to acknowledge the undeniable influences of the modern world on this age-old festival. On a superficial level, many of the elaborate head dresses, used to differentiate women from various villages, were being replaced by a tacky assembly of bath towels held in check by plastic combs. More significantly perhaps, we observed a marked absence of young men in the crowd. A villager confirmed that many had left for the towns in search of work. The farms were barely surviving, he claimed, only kept going by the irregular remittances of these migrant workers.                                                                              

An inter-village bull-fight The very next day however, we drove by a terraced hill bedecked with such young men and their bulls. Leaping out of our minibus, we rushed past food stalls to see what was going on. It was an inter-village bull-fighting competition. And it was being conducted in deadly earnestness. While the men huddled excitedly around the bull-fighting ground, women and children sat disinterested, high on the hill.

Unlike their Spanish equivalent, these bullfights do not pit man against beast, but bull against bull. Having been drawn opposite each other, metal-tipped horn to metal-tipped horn, their oil-rubbed flanks glistening under the low, flat skies, it is a matter of seconds before the bulls' heads lower and, with a crack, they aggressively ram each other. With their horns locked and their muzzles scraping along the kicked up turf, the bulls embark on a titanic struggle. Since each bull's character is as varied as its physique, every fight, incorporating different fighting strategies, is absorbingly unique - the winner being decided in one of two ways. Either a team of judges selects a champion or else every so often one of the bulls flees, often into the nearby crowd, scattering exhilarated onlookers in all directions.

Ethnic Opera

More surprising perhaps, given the general disinterest of city dwellers, is the popularity of "dixi" or ground opera at a Bouyei village we visited. This local strain is derived from Han opera, brought to the region by soldiers from Nanjing during the Ming dynasty.

Glamorously dressed singers were surrounded by the whole village, who sat enraptured for the whole of the five hour performance. In fact, so enthusiastic was their reception, that the singers were called upon to repeat favorite arias for different sections of the crowd. For us, non-aficionados, it was as fun to watch the antics of the audience and chat with the villagers as it was to listen to the opera.

Guizhou's relative poverty continues to shield its indigenous peoples from the encroachment of China's predominantly coastal consumerism. Those travelers prepared to venture far from Guizhou's main roads can still be rewarded with cultures who seem to have escaped the claws of time. As the incipient Chinese tourist industry gathers momentum however, expect the innocent spirit of these fragile societies to be compromised by the easy lure of the tourist dollar.