The province of GuiZhou is famous for its Miao and Dong minority villages. It was really interesting that only few hours of mini-bus ride made me feel I am venturing into different world. The biggest Miao village in China, surrounded by mountains, it seems so isolated from the outside world, see very little impact of industrialization.


A pleasant 30mins walk from the bus stop



















I spent the next three days staying in two different Miao family, in their hundred years old wooden house. The first family I stayed with is quite poor, with no furniture at all, and we were basically sitting on the floor to cook and having dinner. The woman was really nice though, we had a long chat, and it sounds she had a difficult time to make enough money for living.

"So how many kids do you have?". I asked this seemingly obvious question, when a young girl and a little boy sitting right next to me.
"I had four, but you see only two now". She responsed while stir-flying the fatty meat.
"So where are the other two?"
"Well, the one sat next to you is my first kid, I then had another two daughters after her. But both of them were death because I must have a boy as my second child. It is really important in our village otherwise other people will look me down."
"So how did you put them to death?"
"I didn't do it, my mother-in-law did it, she stroked the babies to death with excessive rice wine."

I heard this kind of story from the TV all the time but it is still shocking to hear it from a real person. I took a deep breath and continue the conversation.

"So where did you buried the babies?"
"Well, believe it or not, you are just sitting on one of them, my mother-in-law buried them one in the kitchen and one in the living room. I know it might sound freaky to you but really it is the way and it is still happening nowaday"
"Isn't it illegal?". I asked.
"It is okay to kill your own baby as long as she is still under one month old. And as long as you buried them in your own home, no one will care about it."
She continues, "I am not the worst case, there is another family that have nine girls in a row, and you know what happened to the eight of them..."

I moved on to another family the day after, I found a more upscale house and the family are already welcoming me to stay in their house. The Miao are generally very easy-going people and happy to see a foreigner visiting. We had dinner together with the traditional Miao food and rice wine. Their relatives all show up because of a new visitor. They are really keen to sing their Miao songs, and I drank a bowl after bowl of rice wine to thank you their courtesy...




















The life is so simple that they basically sit in around the fireplace (also a stove) for the whole day, smoking and chatting.