Becoming a Guest at a Traditional Miao Tribe Wedding at a Heritage Village in the Fenghuang Region OF China

As we were strolling around the ancient city of Fenghuang, China, one of the representatives from a local tour company approached and chatted with us. Since we only had two full days in this region, we decided to take advantage of the time and bought a full day tour of the area close by. FOR our third day in Fenghuang, we went on a tour and visited a few places.

Our tour started bright and early with a local lady tour guide giving us some very good information about the area. Unfortunately, we couldn't understand her due to our very limited Mandarin.

We arrived at a relatively new model village and we were given sometime to explore on our own. This Miao tribe village was modern, clean and very pretty but we didn't see a lot of residents or activities there. During our trip in China, we observed and saw that the Chinese government has been working hard to alleviate poverty from rural China by promoting tourism in smaller cities and towns. So far at every town we have visited there seemed to have a reasonable new ethnic hertiage village which showcase the traditions and cultures of a certain enthnic group in the area. The heritage village somehow becomes a tourist attraction bringing in visitors to the area.

At the same time, these heritage villages help to enpower the many ethnic groups making them feel proud of their own cultures and traditions. After lunch with our tour group, we visited such a heritage village. We were treated to a live interactive show introdcuing us to a traditional wedding ceremony and way of life of the Miao tribe people.

The show was lively with lots of audience participation as many were invited as guests of the wedding party performance.

The second part of our day tour afforded us the opportunity of visiting a real Miao village inhabited by local residents. We learned that before entering a Miao village, we needed to sing a song asking for permission and as a blessing to the village. Our tour guide taught us a traditional Miao song and we sang it at the gate before gaining entrance to the village. How interesting was that! At the real Miao tribe village, we could peek into some homes briefly and respectfully. Some residents were selling their arts, crafts and dry food items right outside their homes. Some stations were set up to introduce us to the Miao way of life and cultures. The tour was very interesting. However, one of the presentations was going on a bit too long.

The third part of the tour was a visit to a beautiful lake where we took a boat ride enjoying a nice scenery of the lake.

At the end of our 1 day tour of the Funghuang area, we had dinner at a local restaurant specialized in serving fish. A great culinary experience and we loved how healthy the dishes were. It was not easy getting a taxi in Funghuang at this time of the year as many taxi drivers went back to their hometowns for their annual holiday. We stood by the street corner trying to hail a taxi for more than 45 minutes before getting one. We also observed the street vendors creative idea in setting up some games for kids and making a business out of them during the Chinese New Year celebrations.

A busy day of touring of the region; we enjoyed the day and learned a lot about the Miao tribe people of China. Highly recommended to anyone visiting this area. RT, Fenghuang Area, China 022024