4 day Kaili Miao Ethnic Minority Villages Tour

Arrive in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. The city’s name is associated with its position south of the mountains, and the region is known for its bamboo and diverse cultural heritage.

After settling into your hotel, we will pay a visit to the old town of Qingyan. Dating back to the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368--1644), Qingyan town was built for military and strategic reasons. Because of its geographical location, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established it as a station to transfer military messages and to house a standing army. Due to the local geology, Qingyan Ancient Town was built entirely of stone.    

Explore Qingyan’s historic temples, courtyards, and traditional streets. Look for stone carvings at Ciyun Temple and wooden carvings at Shoufo Temple. Pause at a teahouse and sample regional snacks such as Qingyan tofu, rice tofu, and rose candy.

After breakfast, drive to Kaili to explore Miao villages and learn about the region’s cultural diversity. Local traditions vary in dialect, clothing, and customs. In Langde, residents are known for their long-skirt traditional dress. Discover wooden stilt houses, known as diaojiaolou, and learn about community festivals and crafts.

Visit local Miao families to learn about daily life and community traditions. Today’s activities and village visits in the Kaili area include:

Qingman Miao Village - Located about 14 miles to the southwest of Kaili, Qingman Miao Village is built along the mountain contours. Surrounded by green mountains and rivers, it is the sweet home to over 300 households and 1,600 Miao people. The unique wooden stilt houses put up range upon range are indeed a splendid scene to see!  

The Wooden Stilt House - By making use of steep hillside, the local people use wood to build their houses, whose structure is jointed by tenon and mortise, without a single snail or rivet. The layers of these houses look very much like a pyramid-shaped structure from afar, spectacular indeed!

Papermaking in Shiqiao Miao Village - Shiqiao paper is smooth, white, and challenging of bursting. It is said that the papermaking in Shiqiao Miao Village has a history of over 1,000 years. By using the Han Chinese people's experience, the local Miao people use high-quality spring water, tree roots, and bark to make papers. Their craft of papermaking is regarded as a "live fossil". Come to Shiqiao; you'll have a chance to witness how they make papers.  

Boji Miao Village - Shaped like a dustpan, Boji Miao Village is located in Danzhai County where the land is beautiful and fertile. Over 100 households live here generation after generation. The life in this old village is quite serene and bucolic.

Visit a local market in the morning to see traditional Miao arts and crafts. Then drive about two hours to Jidao, a Miao village known for its silver ornaments and peaceful surroundings.

Village life is simple, and children play as their parents tend fields of green, organically grown vegetables surrounded by towering pine forests. Older women stoke fires in traditional wooden houses, some hundreds of years past. No visitors have broken the peaceful life the local people enjoy here. 

Continue to Langde, a Miao village surrounded by green hills and streams. Explore its wooden stilt houses, winding paths, and traditional bridge, and learn about local clothing and musical traditions.

Following breakfast, you will go back to Guiyang. You’ll fly to your next destination