Village of the De'Ang People

Last weekend in Mangshi instead of staying in the city, we went to a small village where my cofellow does research (she's doing a masters on the clothing of ethnic minorities). The inhabitants belong to the De'Ang ethnic minority, known in Burma as the Palaung people). It was wonderful to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, see the Milky Way (which I learned can be called "Silver River" or "Sky River" in Chinese), hear the crickets, and watch the bats emerge in the twilight. We were also lucky enough to watch them practicing for their Poshui Jie performance (in the city the next day).

We took a local bus to this gate and crossed over the highway.

Mangshi is really into peacocks (even some of the street lights are shaped like stylized peacocks).

I'm not sure what this extra little gate is for, but I thought it was cute.
The village is on top of the mountain, up the road to the right.

"The Chinese museum of DeAng nationality." (One of many trilingual signs in Mangshi.)

The museum itself was closed, but there was this beautiful wall out in the open. the following pictures show each part.

A traditional hut with sleeping quarters above and storage/eating area below.

The weaving of the hut's walls.

The roof of a gazebo-like structure.

A traditional house.

I love the old roofs in China.

Roof tiles.

Roof topper.

Our bathroom was right next to this pig's stall.

This was off to the side of the compound
we were staying in.

Some of the plants reminded me of Panama.
See the spikes?

The unique texture of Chinese farming.

A lone tree.

There were lots of pretty flowers. It made it really feel like spring!

And animals!

 Every time I'm still surprised by how cute baby water buffalo are.

Piglets!

Bananas.

Papayas.

Unfortunately, by the time we walked past this woman weaving on her porch, she was packing up for the evening.

Street sign.

Bamboo.

Another interesting roof.

Can you find the bat?

Bats are really hard to photograph! But the result is not dissimilar to real life: a quick blur of black.

After dinner, we walked with the villagers to the top of the mountain where there meeting area is. It was already dark and the Milky Way was in full evidence. Once everyone had gathered, they began practicing for their performance.

Drums and baskets piled on a ping pong table in the meeting area.

The instruments.

There were two dances. The first was a circular line dance with the women on the outside, the men on the inside, accompanied by a large drum and cymbals. The second was much more complicated. They must have practiced it at least five times. The dancers each had an instrument: drums, cymbals, and gongs. Each instrument's dancers moved together. There was movement in and out of a circle, in lines, each instrument on their own, and all together. There was leaping straight up into the air and dashing side to side.

The next morning, the villagers had to go into the city to perform at the festival. So we got up early to be driven down the mountain (there weren't enough cars for us to go all at once), jumped on the first bus with space into the city, and returned to the chaos of water throwing for a few hours before heading back to school.