A Trip to Enshi
One Tujia custom is to drink a bowl of liquor and then break the bowl. According to legend, two brothers argued, but put aside their quarrel for the sake of their people. They drank a bowl of liquor and hurled the bowl to the ground, showing that they had forgotten their quarrel. Today this tradition symbolizes friendship. The host and guests drink the liquor and smash the bowl, signifying the Chinese phrase sui sui ping an, safety and peace year after year. The first two characters are homophones for a Chinese phrase meaning “broken and smashed into pieces.” So by smashing the liquor bowl they symbolically erase their resentments.
As the guests continued to drink and break bowls, the deafening gongs and drums reminded us that the Tujia people were celebrating their “Valentine’s day,” with boys and girls dressed up and singing love songs.
The Tujia celebrate their “Valentine’s day” from 7 to 12 of the seventh lunar month. The occasion allows Tujia men and women to escape the feudal chains of arranged marriage and seek love freely. The holiday was originally popular in the Shihuiyao and Dashanding areas of Enshi, but now it is celebrated throughout the whole prefecture.
A waterfall in the Yunlong River Geo-fracture.
Discovering the Enshi Grand Canyon
Next we visited the Enshi Grand Canyon, 80 kilometers from the city. The canyon is very busy during festival and holidays. We arrived at 8:30 am, but the parking lot was already full.
Professor Zhang Lianggao says that the Enshi Grand Canyon is as marvelous as the Colorado Grand Canyon in the U.S. However, the Enshi Grand Canyon is matchless in terms of beauty. The 108-kilometer-long Enshi canyon features crystal-clear water and bold cliffs and peaks.
We quickly reached the Yunlong River Bridge. There we entered the first scenic spot — a geo-fracture under the bridge.
It is said the geo-fracture used to be a section of the Yunlong River, which was hidden underground for 20 to 30 million years. Later, erosion caused the roof to collapse, opening the fracture as one of the wonders along the Enshi canyon. According to geologists at China University of Geosciences, it is the only geo-fracture whose two banks were formed in different geological times.
