[Explanation] The Yugu nationality is the only ethnic minority in the country and unique to Gansu.
Recently, in a characteristic ethnic village in Sunan Yugu Autonomous County, Gansu Province, there is a private Yugu museum covering nearly a thousand square meters. The exhibition hall is full of Yugu elderly people, Ke Cuiling, who has discovered and discovered for decades. Collect and study ethnic cultural relics scattered among the people.
From the teapots, pipes, and knife sets for making tea on horsebacks, to complete saddles, household wardrobes, and special costumes, there are more than a thousand pieces in the collection. It can be seen in the museum.
[Contemporary] Ke Cuiling Yugu Collector
These are all production and daily necessities. The saddles I have more precious here are the saddles. Why do I think these saddles are so precious? Because we are nomads, we were all nomads before.
Now we are basically connected to each village. The original saying was to ride a horse and go from one house to the next, and that would have to go over mountains and mountains, so it was a means of transportation at that time.
Like this stirrup, and those are all shelves, and those are in our nomadic life. For example, what kind of shelves are used to carry wolves and what kind of shelves are used to hunt.
There are also these wooden boxes. These boxes are called kang boxes. Even the Han people have kang boxes. The Han nationality kang boxes are settled. They are relatively long and wide boxes, and we have borrowed from the Han culture. It's narrower and shorter, and it's more convenient to hump on cows and horses. It's all one-on-one. Nowadays herders don't need these things.
[Explanation] When she was 14 years old, with the support of her family, Ke Cuiling first "scoured" objects from the Yugurs. A moment of curiosity opened her way to collection.
Going to the countryside and entering the village has become one of Ke Cuiling's favorite places. He visits folk artists everywhere, selects objects that others don't want, and is called "scavengers" by everyone.
She said that the Yugu people are nomadic people. With the end of the nomadic life, some things are gradually lost.
[Contemporary] Ke Cuiling Yugu Collector
This is for pounding tea leaves. We are a tea-drinking nation. Our earliest spoons were all teas that could be decanted. You can see that they can be folded. These are all products of nomadic culture.
Look at this scale, its leather weighing pan, leather weighing pan, this weighs a stone to make it into a weighing tool, these are the most primitive measuring tools.
You can see that it can be folded, so when you fold it up and put it in the coat, you can carry it away. Wherever you go, the nomads stop and take this out to be the dining table and tea table.
There is a silver-rimmed bowl inside, which is the three treasures of our Yugu men. One treasure must have this bowl, which is called a lock, and must be hung on the body.
You see, these shoes have different patterns, different tribes, and different patterns.
[Explanation] As she grows older and feels unwell, Ke Cuiling has undergone 4 major operations.
During the most difficult period, overseas merchants paid millions of dollars to buy cultural relics, but she also refused.
In order for more people to experience and perceive Yugu culture, Ke Cuiling insists that Yugu villages do not accept tickets, only to retain ethnic memories.
Yin Chunyong, Gao Ying, Shi Jingjing reports from Zhangye, Gansu
Editor in charge: [Wang Kai]