We made a simple and pleasant trip, we are 4 couples from Switzerland, and with a Dong ethnic tour leader, Bobby Wu. Now I am indulging in the Chorus of Dong Ethnic, looking at my pictures taken, trying to remember those friendly faces of our local friends, feeling like some part of my life has been left in those villages.

Zhaoxing is a Dong ethnic village in the far southeast of Guzhou Province. It is the largest Dong ethnic village in China. Dong Ethnicity is famous for its architecture: drum towers, wind and rain bridges and traditional wood houses. They are also known for their traditional folk music and dance. That was all what I knew about Zhaoxing before I set off, but it does attract me for the reason above.

Early in the morning, I went to meet the group, set off together as a trainee guide. At the beginning we were told, it would take us 9h to cover the trip, 318KM, we all felt surprise. After 10h driving derectly from Ginlin to Zhaoxing, we arrived there at 7:30PM. From sanjiang to Diping, that part we suffered really bumping road. Once, our coach trapped in the mud fortunelessly, couldn’t go any further, we were discussing whether it’s better to get off the coach, our driver made his decision immediately, backed to find a bulldozer working in a construction site nearby, smooth the muddy road,that was really successful!

When the day turned dark, we were still on the way, winding road, downslope, it seemed as if the road is endless. Suddenly there were some red color light decorated architectures came into sight in the distance, those are drum towers! Lucas and I sat in front, took up the camera and took pictures at the same time! It is so overwhelming to have a bird’s eye view of the village in the darkness. Then, we were told we were almost there. Zhaoxing, how lovely a town it is, surrounded by montains, so secluded, isolated. Maybe for those numerous tourists who were attracted to be here, it is a Shangrila they are looking for.

That night, we spent overnight in Zhaoxing hotel, which was built by the river, 3 storeys, also traditional railed leg-suspended architecture, how big a big contrast, well kept old buidings with modern facilities! Because there are no street lights, we went out with electric torchs. We had our chinese dinner in a local family, big round table, home products, and rice wine. The first cup of wine was for our excellent driver, of course. After Bobby sang a Dong ethnic  song, we all cheered, drunk, bottom up!

After dinner, we all went to a bar for fun, also for more interesting things and local pople too see, although there are a little bit tired, ordered local “maotai” beer, enjoy the 2000-years-old historic town in a moonlit night. I found 5 brilliant drum towers easily at night, so I asked bobby why, he told me in Zhaoxing, there are 5 natural villages dotted in the big village, they are name after the Confucius teaching : Ren, Yi, Zhi, Li, Xin, refers to the Benevolent, Propriety, Wisdom, Ritual, Truth respectively, so there are five drum towers, and where there is a drum tower, there is a wind-and-rain bridge.

The Drum Towers of the Dong Nationality, looking very like pyramids, are made of fine wood. With unique technology the Drum Towers are constructed without any nails or rivets. It is a public place for conference, domestic affairs. Their wind-and-rain Bridges, crossing over the flowing waters, are built by means of putting the bridge, corridor and pavilion together. They are both practical, pretty and convenient. Actually, it is a relax place for the villagers.

The following day had a nice weather, we wandering on the stone –paved street of the villages with bobby. The main street of the village is from east to west. Schools and government are all stand along this street. All the buildings are built with wood and tile, and without a single nail. The local people there still wear in traditional indigo blue. Some strong men were busy in building new house, old man smoking tobacco pipe, from time to time we greeted every family when we passed by, they were smiling or answering in Dong dialect which I can’t understand, but it doesn’t matter at all, smiling is the universal body language , isn’t it? The most interesting that we saw is some women do the dyeing of the fabric by the river, in order to making new cloth, and some were finished products, with one side laid on egg white to make it shiny. If you see some people beat the cloth with stick there, it is for make the cloth more durable. For me, those people wear in traditional Dong costume are more attractive, more special, more admirable. Beside, they still kept on the traditional way to make their living, man working in the field, woman weaving at home.

Two days trip to Zhaoxing is just a glance, it's a pity we couldn't stay any longer after a long drive, but every minute of the poor road is worth.  On the way back to Guilin, we stop at beautiful Chengyang Wind and River Bridge at Sanjiang.

Author: Cici          Date: April 22, 2007

Day by day itinerary of our trip to Zhaoxing        

Another story writen by Lina, a trip to a Dong village in Sanjiang