Visit Pengshui, Chongqing: Based on the "Nine Miao" Culture to Create a "World Miao Township"

　　China News Service, Chongqing, March 28, Title: Visiting Pengshui, Chongqing: Building a "World Miao Township" Based on the "Nine Miao" Culture

　　Author Liang Qinqing

　　Recently, a reporter walked into a restaurant in Chiyou Jiulicheng, Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County, Chongqing City. Guests were sitting around the dining table, waiting for a Miao delicacy - Yushan Chicken Bean Flowers. Although this dish is called beancurd, it is made of chicken and egg white. Its characteristic is that "you can't see the chicken when you eat the chicken, and you can't see the beans when you eat the beans".

　　Pengshui is the only autonomous county in Chongqing that is dominated by the Miao ethnic group and has the largest Miao ethnic group population in the country. Miao food, Miao embroidery, Miao art, Miao songs, Miao dance, Miao medicine, Miao medicine, Miao village, Miao city, Pengshui has condensed into a characteristic cultural carrier represented by "Nine Miao", creating a high-level "World Miao Township" ·Nourish the heart and Peng Shui".

Pengshui's special Miao dish "Yushan Chicken Beans Flowers". Photo by Liao Wei

　　Miao cuisine is fragrant

　　The intersection of the Pengshui River and the developed water transportation laid the foundation for the development of food here and formed the unique Miao cuisine. In 2019, Pengshui released the "Miao Township Recipe", which included more than 100 Miao Township delicacies, such as Yushan Sanxiang, Heart and Lung Rice Noodles, Wuji Shaobai, Yushan Rolled Cake, and Tartary Buckwheat Cake dipped in honey.

　　Among the many Pengshui delicacies, chicken bean curd is the most famous. Luo Shiqiong is a native of Yushan and has learned to make chicken bean curd since she was a child. She said: "This dish is a special Miao dish that has been passed down to this day in Yushan. It is indispensable during local banquets during traditional festivals or happy events at home."

The picture shows an aerial photo of Jiuli City in Chiyou, Pengshui County. Photo by Zhao Yong

　　Miaocheng and Miao Village revitalized

　　After eating chicken bean curds, we walked on the ancient stone road of Chiyou Jiuli City. As we looked around, all the buildings were built with mortise and tenon structures. They were adapted to local conditions, built according to the mountains, and lived back from the mountains. This is a concentrated expression of the history, culture and architectural art of the Miao people. .

　　This national 4A-level tourist attraction integrates Miao culture, Miao architecture, and tourist reception. It has more than 40 individual landscape buildings and has become an important window for displaying and inheriting Miao culture.

On March 25, 2024, in Luojiatuo Miao Village, Anzi Town, Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County, Chongqing City, the blooming rapeseed flowers set off the eaves of the stilted building, looking particularly beautiful. Photo by Zhao Yong

　　In addition to Chiyou Jiuli City, Pengshui also has many distinctive Miao villages. Walking into the Luojiatuo Miao Village in Anzi Town, you will see the wooden stilt floors built on the mountain in a well-proportioned manner, with peach blossoms, plum blossoms, and rapeseed flowers blooming one after another. Four theme areas have been created in the village, including Miao culture, farming culture, pastoral culture and rice field culture, integrating sightseeing, entertainment and B&B.

　　In recent years, Pengshui has protected and developed many ancient Miao villages. There are 18 historical and cultural towns and villages, traditional villages, and ethnic minority characteristic villages in the county. These Miao villages have become a good place for many tourists to experience the traditional Miao culture and visit the beautiful countryside.

　　Miao family’s skills passed down by skillful hands

　　In Chiyou Jiuli City, you can see men, women and children wearing Miao costumes checking in and taking photos at any time. Behind this, we have to mention the two production techniques of Pengshui Miao embroidery and Miao silver jewelry.

　　Beating, quenching, trimming... Walk into the Miao Silver Jewelry Blacksmithing Skills Training Institute in Jiuli City, Chiyou. Tuo Junhe, the inheritor of Chongqing Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Miao Silver Jewelry Blacksmithing Skills, is making Miao silver jewelery. Under the familiar operation, a beautiful The bracelet took shape quickly.

The picture shows Pengshui embroidery lady learning to make Miao embroidery. Photo by Zhao Yong

　　Miao embroidery is a traditional handicraft of the Miao people. Pengshui Miao embroidery is famous for its fine workmanship and exquisite craftsmanship. Nowadays, under the promotion of a large number of inheritors represented by Li Shaoyu, the number of Pengshui embroidery ladies has exceeded 10,000, and the exquisite Miao embroidery produced by them has become a unique souvenir in Pengshui.

　　Pengshui attaches great importance to the protection and inheritance of Miao art, and conducts in-depth exploration, protection, inheritance, development and utilization of the rich and colorful national cultural heritage, so that the unique Miao art can be passed down from generation to generation.

On May 26, 2023, more than 10,000 Miao people in costumes sang and danced to celebrate the traditional Miao festival, the Huashan Festival. Photo by China News Service reporter He Penglai

　　Miao villagers singing and dancing

　　A song of Jiao Ayi conveys the charm of Miao countryside for thousands of years; a dance of stepping on the flower mountain brings out all kinds of Miao nostalgia. Every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, Pengshui holds the "Stepping on the Flower Mountain" festival in Jiuli City, Chiyou. Miao children in costumes sing Jiao Ayi and dance to step on the Flower Mountain.

　　In recent years, Pengshui has been actively popularizing Miao songs and dances. By holding dance festivals, folk song festivals, ethnic folk dance competitions, etc., it has created a strong atmosphere for all people to sing Miao songs and dances, so that Miao music and dance can be protected and passed on. At the same time, after years of excavation, sorting and refining, the local people have choreographed a set of Miao square dance "Stepping on the Flower Mountain" that integrates entertainment and fitness.

　　Miao medicine emerges from the mountains

　　In the modern production workshop of Pengshui Industrial Park, "Miaoshan Wuqing Tea" with Miao medicine as the main ingredient is continuously packaged and rolled off the production line. Marketization and commercialization are one of the important measures taken by Pengshui to protect and inherit Miao medicine and enhance the cultural connotation of the Miao people.

　　Pengshui is located in the Wuling Mountains, with complex landforms, rich species, and many endemic genera and species. Relying on the Pengshui Miao Medicine Research Institute, the local government established a Miao medicine experience center in Jiuli City, Chiyou, taking the first step towards the marketization and commercialization of Miao medicine. Currently, Pengshui Miao Medicine Research Institute is committed to researching and compiling Miao medicine tutorials, and has jointly launched Miao medicine courses with the county vocational education center.

　　Pengshui, a pearl embedded in the Wuling Mountains, is taking the opportunity of the construction of the Tujia and Miao Cultural and Ecological Reserve in Wuling Mountain (southeast of Chongqing) to pass on the long and splendid Miao culture based on the "Nine Miao" article. (over)