China Travel Tips

Reflections on Travel in China

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Visiting MInority Peoples in China



China has over 57 different minority peoples in China. Each has their own cultural ways and dress. The Han people consist of the majority or over 85% of the people in China. Above you see the Zhrung women sewing. The women all wear their hair in the same style as reflective of their culture. The Mosuo people seen rowing a dug out boat live around a fairy tale like lake called Lugu Lake about 7 hours drive from LiJiang in Yunnan province. The majority of the minority peoples live in south central China in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces. Tours can be arranged to visit many of the minority peoples in their villages to see how they live and learn about them. Sadly many of the young people are leaving the villages and going to the large cities shedding their native dress and culture. There are still many remote areas however where you can visit and learn about each one and I continue to visit these areas myself. I will write later about some of the unique customs of individual cultures such as the Hani people who when they marry, the man retires or one culture where the women only cut their hair once in their life time and then wrap it up in a large bun on top of their heads which I wrote about earlier. Click on the photos for a full screen view.

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