Home Makers

Given the current high real estate prices in cities, for most urban residents a 300-square-meter house is an unattainable dream. But, for rural households like the Yus, that amount of space is a necessity. Here, the Yus store grain and farm equipment, eat, sleep and relax.

On cold days, the family gathers round the sunk-in fireplace to discuss family affairs or just chat, and often receive visits from neighbors. They also like to join other villagers in dancing and singing around a bonfire in the central square of the village, a common traditional pastime for minorities in southwest China.

Yu Fuyan's home didn't cost much. In total, he spent RM 30,000 on the materials. The land itself required no funds, as the state allows rural families each a plot of land for home building. The timber that makes up the main body of the house is from the family's farm, and no labor was paid for, as his immediate and extended family all lent a hand.

In Caijiazhai, a few hundred meters away from Yujiazhai, 36-year-old Ou Chaodong paid a lot more for his home, which stands out in the neighborhood. "We built the house in 2008, with a total expenditure of RMB 240,000," Yu Chunmei, Ou's wife, told China Today. "The wood carving alone cost us nearly RMB 8,000," she added as she pointed out the elaborate patterns on the window and door frames.

Free Education

The sound of laughter filled Ou's courtyard, where several children played. Two of them, a boy and a girl both in elementary school, were Ou's. His oldest daughter attends the middle school in town. Now that term had started, she boards in the school dormitory to avoid the long commute to and from class.

Inside, we found Ou's 68-year-old father, Bu Yucai, chewing on a local herb said to protect the teeth, and watching the children frolic outside. Like most of the older generation in Lisu communities, Bu was dressed in the baggy pants that the men traditionally wear.

Born into a period of conflict, Bu's early life was never going to be easy. As an infant he suffered from ill health. As local tradition demanded, he was taken from his family and given a new father and family name, in the hope that the change would bring him better health and new life. This is how he got the surname Bu.

Growing up during the devastation and destitution of the civil war, Bu Yucai never attended school. His son, Ou, however, has completed primary school education, but his wife, Yu Chunmei, did not as she was needed at home to help out in the house. For most Lisu families at that time, teenagers were usually an important part of the labor force.

Yu Chunmei and her husband are the only earners in a family of eight. In addition to their three children and Ou's parents, the couple also takes care of Ou's 37-year-old brother afflicted with severe learning disabilities. As well as selling tsaoko and grain that they grow on the farm, the family gets extra income from driving villagers into town. Very few people in the village can drive a car – Yu Chunmei had to travel to the city of Baoshan for the first time in her life in order to learn to drive. Now, every two days, Yu Chunmei takes villagers to the town to shop, charging RMB 20 for a return trip.

Yu Chunmei has hopes that her children will receive more education than she did and be able to go beyond the border region to seek their fortunes. The prospects for this look good. Her three children currently enjoy free education, free meals and accommodation. This is part of China's "Three Frees" program, which covers students in the nine compulsory years of education in minority regions, and extends to 12 years of education in rural areas of Tibet and Xin-jiang. The policy greatly relieves the financial burden on families like the Ous.

Colorful Cultural Life

Although neither Ou nor Yu has ever been to the provincial capital, last year they made the trip to Myitkyina, Myanmar's third largest city. Last spring, the couple joined other young adults from the village to participate in the Knife Climbing Festival, riding motorcycles more than 100 km to get there.

The festival is a tradition of the Lisu minority, of which several hundred thousand live in Myanmar. It involves two displays of daring, referred to in Chinese as "climbing a knife mountain and diving into a sea of fire." This "knife mountain" is in fact a knife-mounted wooden ladder, along which participants climb barefoot and return to the ground with their feet unscathed. They then have to navigate around fires, still barefoot, and perform several challenging movements. Every participant must finish the task unharmed.

In Myitkyina, Ou and Chunmei didn't take part in these demanding activities themselves, instead dancing around the flaming fires. To remind themselves of the excitement they experienced on their first trip abroad, the couple mounted a blown-up photograph of themselves at the festival.

In Houqiao Residential Community, on specific days in the first three months of the lunar year almost every village holds a celebration where the villagers gather to dance around bonfires. As well as these ethnic traditions, the people here also enjoy more modern cultural activities, such as watching films, an activity subsidized and run by the local government. "A film team visits each village in Houqiao Town twice a month to screen movies for the villagers," said Liu Zufang, head of the Cultural Center of Houqiao Town, herself of the Lisu minority.

Technology is bringing the outside world closer to local Lisu villagers, and even into their living rooms. The TV set at the Ous' home can receive as many channels as urban areas. Yu Chunmei longs to have a computer with access to the Internet, but the village does not have the facilities yet. This should all change soon, however, as a government project is underway to link every village up to the Internet. It won't be long before Yu Chunmei's dream comes true and their world expands even further than just over the border to Myanmar.