Langde Shang Village
Langde Shang village is 37 km from Kaili, a typical Miao village with well protected traditional Miao style houses, bridges in a beautiful surrounding river valley.
The village is like an open-air museum of nationality culture and customs, there are about 100 families and over 500 people, who are all of Miao Ethnic.
Like all Miao villages, there is a big rain and wind roof covered bridge crossing the river in front of the village, the bridge is a covered walkways with railings and benches for people to sit on and enjoy the scenes around.
Because timber resources are plentiful in Langde Shang area, houses in this village are usually built of wood, and roofed with fir bark or tiles or are thatched. Some of the houses are roofed with stone slabs.
History of the Langde Shang Village
The village is the hometown of Yang Daliu, the leader of the Miao Rebel in Chinese Qing Dynasty. The fighting relics, the walls and trenches etc., which he used for resisting the Qing armies and protecting the village, still remains.
When visitors come to the village, the villagers accord them a very special but grand reception - to "obstruct" visitors from entering the village. With wine and Miao songs, they obstruct guests in the way, singing toast songs and urging them to drink "Obstacle Wine", which is 3-5 courses at least or 12 courses at most.
Langde Shang villagers belong to the Long Skirt Miao as the women here are traditionally dressed in their long skirts. (The people of Miao can be identified by their different costumes, the long skirt Miao, short skirt Miao, Red Miao, Black Miao, Flowery Miao and Long Horned Miao, etc. )
What can we see in Langde Shang Village
When delegations visit Langde Shang village, you will be welcomed by the twelve courses of "block-the-way" rice wine ended up with firecrackers and sweet Miao folk songs. This is a traditional Miao welcome ceremony to their honored guests and the most ceremonious etiquette in Miao villages.
A show will be organized to performance in the center of village, ask your tour guide for more detials. Usually you need to reserve the show one day prior. The actor and actress are local villagers. Women bring are weaving and sewing, children are playing everywhere, farmers are on the way back from rice paddies, grand parents are dressing up to enjoy the party....It looks like words have passed out the whole village, everyone knows you are coming....It is not for free, the total cost is about RMB 600. One big delegation reserved this show by telephone, and individous traveller buy ticket on RMB 20 perperson. Please do not complain, people have put down their job to cheer you up, need to make everyone happy.
In the show, you will be entertained by dances and songs accompanied with Lusheng as well as a traditional drum. Ladies young and old are in their traditional skirts and headwear, ready to dance on the grounds while the men play Lushengs ranging in size from quite short to over three meters in length. Few of us can resist the temptation to dance when the Lusheng sound sonorously echoes around the village.
The clothing of Miao people has distinctive features which vary from other Miaos. Men wear short jackets buttoned down the front or to the left, long trousers with wide belts and long black scarves, with decorations embroidered on collars, sleeves and trouser legs.
On the hills, there are lush old trees reaching the sky, which are infallible "Village Guards". The preservation of trees is an old custom of the Miao.
The lanes in the villages are all made of stones. A brook named Wangfeng River flows in front of the village in an S-shape, and at its banks, there are tens of water mills made of bamboo tube, depicting a typical view of the Miao village.
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