Hidden Guizhou

Arrive in Guiyang and meet your local guide • Drive to Kaili, the heart of Miao culture in Guizhou • Visit Wangba Village to learn about the Gejia people and see their intricate embroidery and batik work • Explore Chonganjiang Village, strolling along the river, crossing ancient bridges, and browsing the lively Fifth-Day Market if in session • Stay in Kaili for the night.

Drive 40 minutes to Leishan County, the heartland of the Miao people • Hike for three hours between Baibi, Gengan, Baiyan, and Taoyao villages, passing rice paddies, gorges, terraces, and waterfalls while meeting local residents • Visit Paika Village to see lusheng pipes crafted and played by Long-Skirt Miao artisans • Learn traditional pottery-making in Wangfeng from a local Miao family • Explore Datang Village, known for Short-Skirt Miao women’s distinctive dress and stilted water granaries • Return to Kaili for the remainder of the evening.

Learn Miao embroidery in Wengxiang Village with Miss Li, a master artisan who began stitching at age six and now preserves this cultural heritage, sharing how stories of her people are sewn into traditional costumes • Visit a private embroidery museum curated by Miss Xu, showcasing intricate works by Miao and other Guizhou ethnic groups • Try traditional papermaking in Shiqiao Village, from preparing tree bark to flattening sheets for use.

Drive 1.5 hours to Fan Pai, a Black Miao village known for its dark indigo clothing, minimal embroidery, and stilted wooden houses • Visit a local home to see traditional indigo dyeing before strolling the village • Continue four hours to Rongjiang, home to Dong, Miao, Yao, and Shui communities, and see Dong drum towers built without nails as social and cultural hubs • Check into your hotel.

Drive from Rongjiang to Dali Village, a UNESCO-listed Dong community where daily life has changed little over time • Continue to Zhanli Village to learn about its distinctive agricultural customs and the legend of its “magic wells,” or to Biasha Village to explore the gun-making traditions and hair-cutting ceremony of the Biasha Miao people • Arrive in Zhaoxing, the largest Dong village in the world, known for its five drum towers, wind and rain bridges, and traditional wooden architecture • Check in to your hotel. 

Visit Tang’an Village, home to the Dong Ethnic Eco-Museum, and learn about traditional cloth-making techniques that create a metallic sheen using egg whites, pig’s blood, and wooden mallets • Observe village life amid terraced rice paddies before hiking two hours back to Zhaoxing through fields and country lanes • Explore Zhaoxing’s covered bridges, wooden stilt houses, and five drum towers, each symbolizing a different virtue.

Meet your local guide and driver at the hotel lobby and drive to the airport/high speed train station of Guiyang for your departure flight back home.