Minority Villages of Guizhou, Photos by Yu Jiahua

Surrounding Guiyang, of Guizhou Province are minority peoples, whose culture has been preserved by the predominantly Han population of China. Here are some photos showing the “ancient” lifestyle of the local peoples.

 

Rita Willaert photos of Guizhou’s minorities, on Flickr; and debate about value of tourism / reality of the minorities a tourist sees

many, many good photos of Guizhou’s minorities, see www.flickr.com/photos/rietje/

But is it real? Or just for tourist dollars?

image from article “National Tourism Fair kicks off in China’s Guizhou,” 2013-04-19 , Xinhuanet,news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2013-04/19/c_132323642.htm )

Tourism in Guizhou: the legacy of internal colonialism.
Authors Oakes, T. S.; Lew, A. A., Editors Lew, A. A.;Yu, L.
Book Tourism in China: geographic, political, and economic perspectives. 1995 pp. 203-222, ISBN 0-8133-8874-0, Record Number 19951805070
Abstract:
This chapter explores the role of tourism as a development and modernization strategy in Guizhou Province, China. In particular, it examines how tourism is promoted as part of broader efforts to commercialize the rural economy in Guizhou. Although tourism-enhanced commercial development in remote rural areas offers a practical solution to rural Guizhou’s lack of economic integration, a lingering political economy of internal colonialism is, in many ways, being reinforced by tourism development. This is illustrated on two levels. At one level, the geographical concentration of tourism income in urban areas is being encouraged. The tourism industry in Guizhou is state owned, and locally initiated commercialism, particularly in rural areas, remains undeveloped, due to powerful urban-bureaucratic control of tourism planning, investment and development. On another level tourism involves a process whereby particular images and experiences of places are constructed and sold to the tourist. This chapter traces the historical patterns of both the internal colonial legacy and the post-Mao reforms as they have affected Guizhou’s society and economy. It suggests that tourism, as a state sponsored modernization strategy is, in many ways, being channelled by the historical political economy of internal colonialism. For the state, modernization entails very specific and limited goals, ranging from a more civilized society to a stronger army. Yet, the representation of China’s non-Han periphery is very much implicated in this burgeoning discourse on Chinese modernity. Tourism development in non-Han regions of Guizhou should thus be viewed within a framework which perpetuates representation of China’s non-Han periphery as the antithesis of modernity. The state-controlled centralization of tourist investment, revenues and planning means that there are few opportunities for local engagement with tourism development, such that ethnic regions such as Guizhou are portrayed for tourists according to the dominant images expected of such regions: their remoteness, backwardness, and un-modern primitivism.

See: http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/19951805070.html;jsessionid=6CBAE06ABBC2BC4D6B4D7EC2F341D5F1;jsessionid=56DBAA00FE9179BF82CE102F387C45C9

typical tour itinerary of minority areas / scenic areas in Guizhou & Guangxi

Beijing- Guiyang – Kaili – Rongjiang – Zhaoxing – Sanjiang – Longsheng – Guilin – Shanghai

price:  2-5 persons: US$ 2604 per person

from http://www.topchinatravel.com/china-tours/14-days-southwest-experience-tour/

Tour Overview

Day Destination Highlights
01 Arrival Beijing Be transfer to hotel
02 Beijing Tian’anmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven
03 Beijing Mutianyu Great Wall, Summer Palace
04 Beijing – Guiyang Hutong Tour by rickshaw, Fly to Guiyang
05 Guiyang – Kaili Coach to Kaili, Kaili Folk Museum, Matang Ge Village
06 Kaili- Rongjiang Coach to Rongjiang, Langde Miao Village, Chejiang Drum Tower
07 Rongjiang – Zhaoxing Basha Miao Village, Zhaoxing Dong Village, Coach to Zhaoxing
08 Zhaoxing – Sanjiang Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge, Sanjiang Drum Tower
09 Sanjiang – Longsheng Coach to Longsheng, Longji Rice Terraces, Ping’an Zhuang Village
10 Longsheng – Guilin Coach to Guilin, Be transferred to the hotel
11 Guilin – Yangshuo – Guilin Li River Cruise, Coach to Guilin
12 Guilin – Shanghai Flight to Shanghai, Be transferred to the hotel
13 Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple, Yuyuan Garden, Oriental TV Tower, The Bund
14 Departure Shanghai Be transferred to the airport