肇兴   Zhaoxing                                             Eastern Guizhou

Zhaoxing is a Dong Ethnicity village in the far southeast of Guzhou Province. It is a large central village surrounded by a lot of smaller villages. Dong Ethnicity is known for it's architecture: drum towers, wind and rain bridges and traditional wood houses. They are also know for their traditional folk music and dance. We just missed the major New Year festival but were able to get to know the local villagers in a an everyday life type of setting: very friendly and laidback. There are no restaurants and you eat with the locals for lunch and dinner at the big round tables throughout the village. We saw a goat be slaughtered (probably 1 of about 20 animals I saw slaughtered in Eastern Guizhou) and we were invited to a goat dinner later that evening (see pictures below).  The ride into Zhaoxing in the back of a tiny truck (L-R Taotao, local villager, Anika, Ken) Local Map Just outside Zhaoxing, walking the last mile. View from above, pointed structures are the tops of the drum towers. View from the ridge Spring Blooms here in February! Drum tower, flowering trees, and a meat market. . . Freshly dyed Batik cloth. . . Lunch with the locals, was soooo good. . . Building a new house. Lusheng of various sized lined up under a drum tower, used for daily/weekly folk dances. . . Suona players in a procession of villagers from Jilun. They are walking to visit the graves of their relatives. . . Click here to hear some of the music Suddenly a bullfight! Two bulls randomly walking through the main street from opposite directions decided to challenge each other. Villagers standing and cheering them on. The one on the right eventually pushed the one on the left down the entire length of the main street (about 1km), then it was over. . . Ahhhhh! Our Dinner! This is a just-slaughtered goat. They are burning it to remove the hair and will roast it after. We asked and they told us about it, then invited us to dinner that night. . . .and here's the dinner. Anika is the only female at the table (usually the women eat together separately). There is goat on the table - man it tasted NASTY! And some chicken too. You may think the pink cups are full of water, but no, some of the most powerful and nasty white alcohol I ever had. Probably had over 6 cups! Was close to falling down afterwards. But I had to do it because: 1. it's considered rude not to drink (especially when one of the women come out and sing for a minute in front of you and then tell you to 'ganbei' (bottoms up). 2. drink enough Baijiu and you no longer taste the nastiness of the goat! . . . it was one of the best experiences on the trip. . .  Weaving fabric to make Batik. . . Drying rice in the sun. . . Rice baskets . . . different varieties of colored rice. . .  top