Disun Miao Village

Disun Miao Village is located in Sanqiao Township, 38 kilometres away from the county seat. It is a settlement for the Hau Miao, one of the five major branches of China’s Miao ethnic group, and a key inheritance site for Miao Ge-teng, one of China’s first batches of intangible cultural heritage.

The village now has 120 households with a total population of 670. Besides Miao Ge-teng singing, the village preserves distinctive marriage customs including mountain courtship, matchmaking in tea sheds and bride snatching, as well as sacrificial rituals and traditional festivals. Famous TV programs such as A Bite of China and Where Are We Going, Dad? were filmed here. It is now a national 3A-level scenic spot, a National Ecological and Cultural Village, a Famous Tourism Village of Hunan Province, and one of Hunan’s Most Beautiful Ethnic Minority Villages.

Whenever guests arrive at the Miao village, young Miao girls stretch red silk ribbons across the welcoming bridge, hold up wine cups and sing folk songs to host a welcoming ceremony. No visitor may enter Disun Miao Village without drinking the gate-blocking wine.

The wine follows three strict rules: First, you cannot clink cups; Second, your hands must not touch the girls’ hands; Third, you have to drain the cup completely.

If a girl takes a fancy to you, she will gently pull your ear, a gesture meaning she has fallen for you.

To make oil tea: first steam glutinous rice and dye it red, green and black with special leaves. Deep-fry the dried rice grains to make fried rice kernels. Then stir-fry soybeans and peanuts with a little cooking oil, and fry rice grains until they turn brown. Add water, tea leaves and salt to brew strong tea. Finally sprinkle in the fried rice kernels, together with stir-fried soybeans, peanuts, chili and chopped green onions. The finished Miao oil tea boasts great colour and flavour. It can relieve summer heat, dispel dampness and cold, boost vitality and invigorate the stomach, and is an essential morning drink for Miao people.

Oil tea also follows a set of drinking etiquette. Locals also call it “Shaking Tea”, because you must shake the bowl while drinking. Only one chopstick is provided. Finishing the tea with one chopstick means you are an amateur; drinking it without any chopstick proves you are a master.

Long ago, a poor Miao family received unexpected guests. They had no fancy food to serve, only a little rice and tea leaves. The old husband told his wife: “Brew tea for our guests first, and I will find some dishes.”

The husband left home to look for food. The wife kept waiting, but he did not return. Feeling embarrassed, she poured all the remaining rice into the tea to make the guests full. By the time the tea and rice boiled, the husband was still nowhere to be seen, so she served the rice tea to the guests. The visitors tasted it and praised it repeatedly. Only then did the husband step out shyly. In fact, he had come back long before. Unable to find good dishes and only managing to get two eggs, he hid behind the door out of embarrassment.

The guests understood his awkwardness and kept complimenting the rice tea. Moved by their kindness, the old man shared the recipe. Soon this oil tea spread across the Sanqiao area and became the most important treat for receiving guests.

Walking along this path, you can clearly observe the unique layout of Miao dwellings. People first settled here more than a thousand years ago, and concentrated in village clusters during the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty. The village has 120 households and over 670 residents. The stilt houses cling to mountain slopes, built side by side and staggered front and rear. They strictly follow the Miao building principles: build against mountains, hills, streams and ponds. This layout embodies the Miao people’s good wishes of harmony between heaven and earth.

The peak opposite looks just like a bamboo shoot. Hence the village among these mountains is named Disun (Earth Bamboo Shoot) Miao Village. The settlement sits between two mountains with a small mound rising right in the middle. In geomancy, this landform is known as “Two Dragons Competing for the Treasure”