The village gets its name from being surrounded by bamboo-shoot-shaped maintains. As the home of 670 people in 120 households, the village at Sanqiao Town, 38 kilometers away from the county seat of Jingzhou, is the residential area of Huayi Miao, one of the five branches of Miao ethnic groups, and also the main inheritance place of many local customs (such as teahouse matching and bride snatching) and cultural heritages, including Geteng songs (polyphonic folk songs) of Miao people, which was included on the First National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China. Famous TV shows such as “A Bite of China” and “Daddy, Where Are We Going?” are filmed at the village, which is rated as a national 3A tourist attraction, a national ecological and cultural village, and the most beautiful village with ethnic features in Hunan Province.
Door-blocking wine (a welcome ceremony): girls of the villager prepare homemade rice wine and block the way, singing toasting songs to the guests. Guests must drink the wine in response, and only then are allowed into the village. During the process, certain rules should be followed: guests should drink up the wine without touching the wine cup or the hands of girls who are making the toast.
Oil tea: It is consumed on a daily basis by Miao people, usually before their breakfast, but also plays a focal role in festivals and ceremonies. It is perhaps better described as a “tea soup”, since it is thicker than normal tea. Tea seeds are pressed to make tea oil. Sticky or glutinous rice is cooked and then dried out in the sun. After it has dried completely, it is fried in the tea oil until the rice grains puff up like popcorn. Additional ingredients, such as peanuts and soybeans, are then stir-fried. Finally, black or green tea leaves are quickly fried in the hot tea oil until they are crisp. The puffed rice, tea leaves and additional ingredients are added to individual bowls. Before the hot water is poured into the bowl, the host will normally add some extra ingredients to enhance the flavor of the tea, such as chopped garlic leaves, chili and salt. A chopstick is used when drinking the oil tea.
Pondside road: Walking on this road, it is easy to observe the unique layout of the residential area in the village, which takes into account geographical factors. Houses are built on slopes of mountains and organized around ponds or by streams of water.
Qiaoli Ancient Architectural Complex of Hua Miao: All residential houses in the village were listed on the 9th batch list of cultural relics protection units in Hunan Province. The village features houses with stilt-style architecture, reflecting local tradition of cherishing each bit of land and using it wisely.
Wooden warehouse: Since the village is filled with wooden stilt-style houses, it is no wonder that locals attach great importance fire safety. They build wooden warehouses by the side of a pond or a stream to store their grains without worrying about them being stolen, which reflects the harmonious relation among the villagers.
Rencai Well: There are three ancient wells distributed in the shape of Chinese character “品” in the village, which are called Tiancai Well, Dicai Well and Rencai Well respectively. Tiancai Well represents people’s hope for a fair weather, Dicai Well signifies people’s hope for a good crop yield, and Rencai well (the largest and the most ancient one) means the village will cultivate more talents.
Maple trees: In the bamboo forest near the village, there are two maple trees that are worshiped by villagers. People like to enjoy the view of the bamboo and maple leaves falling on the surface of the water of the pond and believe that areas surrounding the pond have the best feng shui as the firstborn of the villagers living in this area is girl.
Geteng stage: The stage is the most complete one for Geteng song performance in Jingzhou County.
Drum tower: The 17-story tower with a height of 27.2 meters and a floor area of 175 square meters is the tallest one of its kind in Jingzhou County. The four main pillars are 16 meters high, with a tail diameter of 30 centimeters. Drum tower is an important place of Miao people. As the heart of the Miao village, it is the political, cultural and activity center of the village. Village committee meetings and entertainment shows are organized on the ground floor of the tower.
(Translated by Yang Hong)