Lusheng Minority Festival Tour

Day 1

Place & Transport: Arrive in Guiyang, Flight not included
Today's Activities: Airport to Hotel Transfer (Guiyang)
Meals: Chinese Dinner

Day 2

Place & Transport: Guiyang to Anshun
Today's Activities: Huangguoshu Waterfall & Tianxing Qiao Scenic Area, Tianxingqiao Scenic Area
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch, Chinese Dinner

- Huangguoshu Waterfall & Tianxing Qiao Scenic Area: Located 43 km southwest of Anshun of Guizhou Province, the Huangguoshu Waterfalls are one of the largest waterfall groups in China. They have been found out that the falls in this area consist of 18 falls on the ground and 4 underground falls. Among them Huangguoshu Waterfalls, which is the largest one in the groups and in Asia as well, is 68 meters high and 8l meters wide with a flow of more than 700 cubic meters of water per second, huge amounts of water seem like pouring from the sky. Turbulent waters throw into a pool at the bottom of a valley, sending foams up by 100 meters. And roars can be heard kilometers away. When the sun rises rainbows appear, adding a touch of beauty to the majesty of the cataract.

Tianxing Qiao Scenic Area:Featuring the perfect combination of stones, trees and water, the Tianxing Bridge Scenic Zone is a natural miniascape evolving from the growing stone forests in water. Compared with the grandness of the Huangguoshu Waterfalls, it is more bijou and beautiful. A couplet generalizing its verve goes like that: “It is compared to a gigantic miniature garden created by wind knife and water sword; also an ancient painting painted by root pen and vine ink.”
- Tianxingqiao Scenic Area: Featuring the perfect combination of stones, trees and water, the Tianxing Bridge Scenic Zone is a natural miniascape evolving from the growing stone forests in water. Compared with the grandness of the Huangguoshu Waterfalls, it is more bijou and beautiful. A couplet generalizing its verve goes like that: “It is compared to a gigantic miniature garden created by wind knife and water sword; also an ancient painting painted by root pen and vine ink.”

Day 3

Place & Transport: Anshun to Guiyang
Today's Activities: Cultural Village in Tianlong, Qingyan Ancient Town
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch, Chinese Dinner

- Cultural Village in Tianlong: Tunpu People settle in the middle of Guizhou Province. According to the historical literature and narrated materials, the ancestors of Tunbao People are the soldiers who were stationed in Guizhou Province about 600 years ago in the Ming Dynasty. Even now, Tunbao People still live in forts and keep a simple and peculiar army style. Stone foundations, stone walls, flagstone roofs, watchtowers, wall crenels and even dogholes upstairs characterize their buildings. They (especially women) dress in the ancient Ming and Qing style, speak with the accent of their native regions on the south of Yangtze River and eat food of army flavor. Dixi, which they perform at festivals and celebrations, is the continuation of the ancient "Martial Nuoxi" and renowned as "the living fossil of the ancient shows".
- Qingyan Ancient Town: Established as a town in 1738 in the Ming Dyanasty, it is 29 kilometres from Guiyang.As the historic and cultural town in the province, there are 9 temples,2 shrines, one palace and other well preserved ancient constructions, which shows the excellent skills of ancient architecture.It was designated as a national cultural relic in 1995.


　　

Day 4

Place & Transport: Guiyang to KaiLi
Today's Activities: Kaili Ethnic Minorities Museum, Nanhua Miao village, Datang short skirt Miao village
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch, Chinese Dinner

- Kaili Ethnic Minorities Museum: In the museum there has a quite detailed introduction to human culture, geography, and the national minorities'customs of the southeastern areas of Guizhou Province. Some writing, pictures, and material objects are displayed here. Minority Customs hall and Dragon Boat hall are the main exhibits which are worth watching.
- Nanhua Miao village: It is the counterpart of Langde, about twenty kilometers from Kaili. Either will bring visitors unexpected pleasant surprise.
The Miao style houses "Diaojiaolou" and its featured and creative festivals are fascinating. The Miao Village is considered small. Members of the Miao Ethnic Minority, they adopt common habits and costumes. Entering the village, visitors would find themselves literarily immersed in works of art.
- Datang short skirt Miao village: The village situated at the foot of Leigong Mountain. You will be greeted by its friendly villagers and drink the block way wines before entering the village. Its silver ornaments will leave you a deep impression.

Day 5

Place & Transport: KaiLi to Huangping to KaiLi
Today's Activities: Qingman Miao Village, Lusheng Festival, Shiqiao Miao village
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch

- Qingman Miao Village: Located 23 kilometers southwest away from Kaili city. One of the biggest characteristics here is that a guest who visits a household at will may have witnessed the entire process of traditional Miao clothes-making. The main traditional clothing material is the homemade cloth span, woven, and dyed all by the Miaos. The widespread local song "Cotton Song" states the entire process of looking for the cotton seed, seed selection, land reclamation, sowing, harvesting cotton, getting rid of seed, bowing cotton, spinning, reeling thread, dyeing, and sewing. In each household you can see dye vats used for dying cotton material. This kind of dye vat is made of the cedar plank, approximately 2 and half feet high, one meter in diameter. The dye vat must be raised because it takes about one month to finish dying a bolt of cloth by indigo dying water and this process is called "aising vat".
- Lusheng Festival: The heart stirring sounds of massed Lusheng instruments, the colors of Miao costume and many other festive activities such as dancing, singing, watching bull-fights, bird-fights and horse races, are features of Lusheng Festival held in Southeast Guizhou. This tour will give you an opportunity to join this large annual celebration which is one of the biggest donkey roasts of Miao ethnic minority.
- Shiqiao Miao village: Visit Shiqiao Miao village to see its traditional way of making paper from the bark of mulberry tree. This method of making paper has a history of more than one thousand years, local people still keep it and extend to make color paper using different plants.

Day 6

Place & Transport: KaiLi to Rongjiang
Today's Activities: Sanbao Dong village, Jidao Miao Village
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch, Chinese Dinner

- Sanbao Dong village: It is located among mountains and rivers,in the center of Banyan tree scenic area.Surrounded by more than 40 trees that are hundreds of years old.There are several hundred families in the village, most people surnamed Yang,and has a singing tradition. Almost all people in village can sing folk songs.
- Jidao Miao Village: Located in China's poor southwestern province of Guizhou, Jidao Miao village is set in idyllic surroundings and populated by ethnic Miao people. Village life is simple and children play as their parents tend fields of lush, organically grown vegetables surrounded by towering pine forests. Elderly women stoke fires in traditional wooden houses, some hundreds of years old. It is so poor, mountainous and remote that the tranquility here is not yet broken by a flood of rich Chinese tourists and foreign visitors.

Day 7

Place & Transport: Rongjiang to Congjiang to Zhaoxing
Today's Activities: Basha Miao Village, Yintan Dong village
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch, Chinese Dinner

- Basha Miao Village: Only 5 kilometers away from Congjiang and with a highway running right across。Basha is a very special and old Miao Ethnic village. The villagers still practice their unique traditions dating to Qing Dynasty ( about 2200 years ago. Basha village is very little touched by violent modernization. Residents there still live in their wooden houses, practicing centuries-long custom and have their own unique belief.
- Yintan Dong village: It is located on the top of the mountain with a brook winding through.Green trees surround the village, lots of precious yew trees can be found here. They are also known for their architecture, particularly their drum towers, and wind and rain bridges, which just like pavilions for sheltering people during bad weather.

Day 8

Place & Transport: Zhaoxing
Today's Activities: Zhaoxing Dong Village, Tangan Dong Village
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch, Chinese Dinner

- Zhaoxing Dong Village: It is the largest and oldest Dong village in China and the world. There are five Drum Towers, Wind & Rain Bridges and traditional stages in the village.
- Tangan Dong Village: Hailed by some as the "most primitive Dong village in China", Tang'an Dong village offers a harmonious scene balancing nature and humanity. The village was built on a steep mountain slope overlooking terraced paddy fields. The village contains ancient wooden buildings, a traditional drum tower, theater stage, and gravel yard adjacent to some residential houses, and a well provided water supply.

Day 9

Place & Transport: Zhaoxing to Liping to Guiyang,
Today's Activities: Airport Transfer (Guiyang)
Meals: Breakfast