[Foreword]

When it comes to Guilin, I'm afraid what impressed everyone is the primary school textbook "Guilin Mountains and Waters", the song "I Want to Go to Guilin", the sentence "Guilin's mountains and rivers are the best in the world", and the background picture of "20 yuan"...

However, this time when I came to Guilin, Guangxi, I did not go to the crowded Internet celebrity Yangshuo or see the shocking mountains and rivers of Guilin. Instead, I wanted to visit Guangnan Village, a Dong village in Longsheng County, to understand the culture here and feel the Dong New Year here.

As usual, show some trailers first.

[The world's first Changfa Village-Huangluo Yaozhai]

After a long two-hour drive from Guilin Airport, we came to Huangluo Yaozhai to experience the charm of Changfa Village of the Yao nationality.

Huangluo Yaozhai is backed by Longji Mountain and faces the Jinjiang River. It is located where the Longji terraces begin to spiral upwards. It is the only Yao village among the 13 Longji Villages, inhabited by all Red Yao people. The most famous thing about Huangluo Yaozhai is her long hair, which has won the "Guinness Group's Best Long Hair" and is praised by the outside world as the "No. 1 Long Hair Village in the World".

Only after crossing the small bridge did you enter the stockade. This residential house looks a little like the Diaojiao Building in Phoenix. The river passes through the stockade, and Pingping adds poetry to life to the stockade.

As soon as I entered the village, I saw several sisters-in-law chatting over the fire, and the chickens were free to forage for food. Suddenly, a fresh atmosphere of life came to your face. It makes people feel relaxed and relaxed, and they immediately forget their worries. Life in Yaozhai here is still relatively harsh. These Hongyao elderly women are chatting around charcoal fires.

These ethnic minority women are clever and put out handicrafts they made by themselves on the streets in exchange for a considerable part of their living income.

Young women of the Yao nationality usually wear bright pure red clothes with a black skirt and a pair of old-fashioned cloth shoes underneath. Married women are somewhere between unmarried women and elderly women, and their clothes are black mixed with red. Elderly women naturally wear pure black clothes, with only a red belt left. Without exception, every Yao woman, regardless of age, whether married or not, wears large silver earrings. Moreover, their bargaining methods are also different. Those who are unmarried, married, and have children each have their own bargaining methods.

If you want to further understand the various daily habits of the girls in Changfa Village, an authentic local performance should not be missed. Dance with the Yao girl who is good at singing and dancing, experience the wedding ceremony in Changfa Village of the Yao nationality, and take a closer look at the hair-tying process of a girl from Changfa Village... Come to the Changfa Village performance stage with curiosity, far more than you imagine. There are many more surprises.

The most exciting moment occurred when how to help my mother wash her long hair. Because their hair is very long, every time they wash their hair, it has always been an extremely important project for them. Helping your mother wash her hair once has become a common way for children to respect their parents.

After watching the superb folk performances of the long-haired girls, I also learned a lot about long hair from their introductions.

"Long hair" not only brings honor here, but also becomes an unexpected source of economic income for villagers. The women used their long hair to make up and combine local folk customs and folk performances to receive many tourists from all over the world.

The clothes the Yao people wear are sewn up by themselves. Women have always been skillful in their hands, and every needle and thread are made by their own hands. Yao Nv is no exception. Until now, the colorful and exquisite knitwear sold in these stockades are still woven by them themselves.

The path of Yaozhai is very tight. It's the same as the ethnic minority residential areas I knew before. But I like it. I like to walk slowly in this path and think slowly.

[Jinzhu Zhuangzhai, reborn from the fire]

Jinzhu Zhuangzhai has a long history and is also located in the Terrace Scenic Area of Longji Town, ten minutes 'drive from Huangluo Yaozhai. Jinzhu Zhuang Village is named after its golden bamboo forest and is the "first village" of the thirteen villages in Longji.

Nearby mountains and rivers, it is built on the steep slope at the foot of the Longji Terrace, forming a spectacular "ladder house". Many film and television films such as "Hero and Tiger Gallbladder" have set Jinzhu Zhuangzhai as a shooting base.

Unfortunately, a fire in 2017 burned a large part of Jinzhu Zhuang Village. After two years of construction, in 2019, Jinzhu Zhuang Village welcomed everyone with a new side.

We stayed at a B & B in Jinzhu Zhuangzhai. The more than 20 B & Bs here all have different themes. Standard room, queen bed, family room, view room with balcony. Prices range from 300 to 2,000. The room was very comfortable and the bed was very comfortable. The room is big enough.

The old locks on the doors of the simple wooden building, the old wooden boxes, the ancient embroidery full of maternal love on the walls, the old teapot printed with red culture, the festive celebrations on the dragon and phoenix quilts... these old objects with special significance, maybe something can move the feelings in your heart, let you travel through time and space, and return to the place you yearn for in your dreams. This place has both the solidity and warmth of home, and a life and lifestyle that you cannot experience at home.

I like to stay in B & Bs, especially those that are relatively quiet in the mountains. B & Bs may be the best place to find a sense of belonging. Here, you can get rid of the pressures of various work and life in the city, and provide valuable comfort to your already exhausted soul., more importantly, you can find the long-lost sense of belonging and find the most beautiful self in your memory.

In a B & B, a cup of tea is a slow time of "stealing a life and a half of a day's leisure". As long as you sit quietly, your heart will float with the mist of tea soup in front of you, and you will be in a cup of tea. Spend the entire dusk and see the stars in the sky in half a dream.

[Traditional Chinese Village-Guangnan Village]

On the way from Longji Terrace to Guangnan Village, we passed Jiangkou Village in Lejiang Town. It was very lively here. It turned out that Dong compatriots from Hunan and Guizhou and local Dong people gathered together with the Dong people to celebrate the annual "Dong New Year Festival".

The elders and sisters of the Dong family from Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi dressed in national costumes, held a "Hundred Banquet" in front of the Dong Village Drum Tower, singing and dancing to celebrate the Dong Year.

A pipa song playing, singing and performance competition was also held here. Dong compatriots used their pipa in their hands to play touching Dong music and hymns for poverty alleviation.

Due to time constraints, I did not stay here too long and continued to Guangnan Village.

Walking into Guangnan Village, Pingding Town, Longsheng County, Guilin City, this is a Dong ethnic area that was listed as the fifth batch of traditional Chinese villages in 2019. With the continuous deepening of the construction of beautiful villages, more and more villages have been renovated, and Guangnan Village has become more and more charming. Every family has three or four floors. Folk customs have not been changed, and the traditional Dong customs and habits are still preserved in the village.

Dong brocade and grass dragon are intangible cultural heritage. There are not many people in Guangnan Village who can make these handicrafts. These very traditional crafts should be preserved and passed down.

The most distinctive features of the Dong Village surrounded by mountains and rivers are the three buildings of Fengyu Bridge, Drum Tower and Zhaimen; listen to an authentic Dong welcome song and feel the simplicity and hospitality of the Dong Village compatriots.

Because there are corridors and pavilions built on the bridge, which can not only be pedestrians but also avoid wind and rain, it is called the Wind and Rain Bridge.

There are also some hanging wooden buildings worth tasting in the village. Most of them have a typical three-story structure. One floor has pigs and cattle, the second floor houses people, and the third floor houses grains and sundries.

Huotang culture is still preserved. The local Huotang is usually used for cooking, heating and lighting. People in the village sit around the Huotang and chat and talk about things. If you are interested in Huotang culture, when you arrive in Guangnan Village, you must go to the Dong Brother's home to sit around Huotang, taste the local specialties, and feel the Dong culture.

[Dong New Year, a grand ceremony in ethnic villages]

The Dong Year is the Dong New Year for the Dong people. It is as lively as the Spring Festival as we know it. On this day, people in Guangnan Village got up early, regardless of men, women and old, dressed in costumes and came to the Drum Tower in the center of the village. Drum Tower is an important place for discussion, leisure, and festival gatherings in the village.

Many tourists come to Guangnan Village, Pingding Township, and join the people here in a happy "spring season". Dong villagers dressed in festive costumes, danced dragons and grass lions, danced doye dances, and sang pipa songs, creating a lively and cheerful festive atmosphere.

Today is also the annual ancestor worship ceremony. In Guangnan Village, the Meng family, the Long family, the Lan family, the Liang family, the Hu family, the Tang family, and the Wang family all came to pay homage to their ancestors. It was very lively.

Making glutinous rice cake is also a must-do for the Dong people during the New Year. The glutinous rice cake, which symbolizes a bumper harvest of grain, is made of glutinous rice and mixed with slices of sugar and sesame seeds. It is soft and sweet. It is probably the most delicious food for the New Year. When making glutinous rice cakes, you must take out the slices of sugar or ginseng sugar black sesame powder prepared in advance for the people present to taste together to celebrate the harvest.

The sky was getting dark, and the performances were over. People held wine jars and carried burdens, and began a unique Baijia banquet in Gulou Square. People in the village gathered together to eat hundreds of dishes, drink hundreds of wines, and enjoy hundreds of blessings. At the Baijia Banquet, you came and drank, and everyone chatted happily, singing wine songs, and enjoying the happy gathering time.

Baijia Banquet is a way for the Dong people to entertain guests and celebrate. Each household takes out their best food and places it together to eat it. Celebrating the Dong Year is not only an entertainment celebration, but also a feast of food. Pickled fish, glutinous rice cake, and Camellia oleifera are indispensable delicacies on holiday tables.

As night fell, the past of the old year floated away with the melodious Dong songs. People lit bonfires, sang and danced, celebrated the happy gathering, and looked forward to the new year.

Living in the hospitable and simple Guangnan Village, we don't feel like we are a tourist in a foreign country at all. It's as if our family is one of their mid-level members, cheering and lively together with the men, women and children in the stockade.

[Special cuisine]

Every time I travel, what attracts me is not only the beautiful scenery here, but also the delicious Longsheng cuisine and Guangnan cuisine.

There is a saying: "In this world, only food and beautiful scenery cannot be disappointed." And all good "food" light is always on the road.

For many travelers, the beautiful food and beauty cannot be disappointed, and travel without food is imperfect.

Taste delicious food while traveling is really something to be happy about.

Three unique delicacies in Longsheng: bamboo rice, bamboo chicken, and oil tea! Camellia oleifera is made with ginger and onions, and the ingredients are fried into fried rice from local grains. The bamboo tube is fresh bamboo cut that day, slowly burn it and straighten it!

Bamboo tube chicken was originally thought to be similar to chicken stewed with potatoes and had more ingredients. In fact, it was chicken soup. The so-called ingredients were a few red dates and wolfberry berries. Fortunately, the soup tasted very good and the price was also very good. 78/half.

Bamboo tube rice is the most authentic delicacy in Longji Terrace. Cut off a bamboo tube, put in a suitable amount of wild orchid rice, water, radish, and bacon, and place it in the fire to roast it. When the surface of the bamboo tube is charred, the rice will be cooked. Split the bamboo tube, and the rice is wrapped in bamboo film. It is soft and delicious, with the fragrance of fragrant bamboo and the fragrance of rice. When eating, break open the bamboo tube and take out the rice. This is the famous "bamboo tube fragrant rice".

Camellia oleifera is made from tea, rice flowers, crisp soybeans, and fried peanuts, soaked in Camellia oleifera water, and then mixed with pork water, chopped green onion and other ingredients to create a unique taste. It is a unique tea drink for guests of the Dong family.

There are also very sweet rice wine here, as well as Longsheng sour water sashimi, bacon, wild vegetable fern, miserable rice cake, braised pork, and tirenhua pig. All kinds of local specialties are worth tasting and will never let you down!

[Travel tips]

1. Card type: Bring your ID card, bank card, and driver's license with you, as well as those with other certificates.

2. Ticket type: Determine the travel time and choose the means of transportation in advance, whether by plane or train. It is best to download a travel app.

3. Digital categories: SLR cameras, mobile phones, laptops, mobile hard disks, chargers, mobile power supplies, power strips.

4. Shoes and clothing: Check the weather forecast in advance and bring suitable clothes according to the actual situation. It is hot in summer, so pay attention to sun protection. Winter is relatively cold, so do a good job in keeping out the cold.

5. Drugs: equipped with medicines or granules to clear heat and detoxify, band-aids, etc.

6. Summer is the rainy season in Guilin. Remember to bring an umbrella when you go out, and you must wear thicker clothes when you come to the mountains in winter.

Best time to play Longji Terrace:

Irrigation begins one after another in mid-April; during the irrigation and transplanting season in mid-to-late June, there is usually water in the terraces of Ping 'an Village in April, and irrigation in Jinkeng Dazhai usually starts in mid-May.

The green scenery in the middle and early days of July to September

In mid-to-late September, and in mid-to-early November, the golden dragon ridge (yellow, Jinkeng terraces will start harvesting about a week after the National Day

Mid-to-late December; mid-to-early February is covered in silver (Jinkeng Terrace Scenic Area)

[Scenic Area Transportation]

As a tourist city, Guilin has very convenient transportation. Guilin has an airport and three railway stations.

Guilin Airport is located in Lingui County, Guilin City, about 28 kilometers away from the city center and about 40 minutes by car. The airport bus operates all day long, with a fare of 20 yuan. It runs between Liangjiang Airport, Swan Hotel (near the railway station), and Civil Aviation Building every day

Taxi price: The price of the express train from the city to the airport is between 80 and 100 yuan.

The three trains in Guilin are located in different districts and counties. The closest to the city center is Guilin Station, followed by Guilin North Railway Station, and finally Guilin West Railway Station. High-speed rail is still very convenient.

Longji terrace

Huangluo Yaozhai and Jinzhu Zhuangzhai are both in the Longji Terrace Scenic Area. Let me tell you how to get to the Longji Terrace Scenic Area.

The Longji Terrace is relatively far away. There are four routes below, which everyone can choose according to their own circumstances.

Method 1: Drive directly from Guilin to Baotou Expressway in the direction of Longsheng. It takes about an hour and a half to reach the scenic spot.

Method 2: Direct access from Guilin South Railway Station Square to Longji Jinkeng Terrace Dazhai Parking Lot 4 times a day! Guilin Railway Station Square departure times 8:30, 9:30, 11:30, 15:30

Method 3: Take the direct express bus at Guilin Qintan Bus Station (there is no pick-off and pick-off on the way) for about 27 yuan/person, which takes 2 hours; after arriving at Longsheng Bus Station, transfer to the special tourist line bus heading for Dazhai Jinkeng Terrace at the station. 9 yuan/person to the foot of the mountain parking lot, which takes about 90 minutes.

Method 4: Take a bus from Guilin North Railway Station to Longsheng, and then take a taxi to Longji Terrace.

Method 5: A one-day trip to Baolongji Terrace in Guilin is easy and labor-saving. It includes round-trip transportation tickets and lunch, which is very convenient.

Guangnan Village: Go by car

If you come to Guilin to travel, I suggest driving by yourself, because the scenic spots in Guilin are relatively far away. Driving by yourself can control the time and it is convenient to visit the scenic spots.

[Postscript]

Beijing time, 2 a.m.

After I just finished writing my travel notes, I still couldn't find any sleepiness. I still had those happy figures in the singing and dancing sound in my mind.

There are many mountains there, the food there is delicious, the people there are very beautiful, and every picture can make me hold a glass of wine and be in a daze.

There is no bustling city here with bright lights. There is only the unreplicable beauty in the shantyside. Sit down and feel the artistic power of dance and singing. However, what warms people's hearts most is the warm and simple treatment of people. There are just smiling faces and the humanistic brilliance that should exist universally.