The Longest New Year, the Oldest Songs: What Wonders Await in a 6-Day, 5-Night Guizhou Adventure?

On the bustling city streets, pedestrians hurry by, all striving for their livelihoods. You might be anxiously tracking stock market curves or agonizing over the fluctuations of gold prices. Just then—

Ethnic culture, Tunpu culture, red culture, prehistoric culture

Four extraordinary cultural journeys will together unveil the diversity and splendor of Guizhou.

Photos by Chen Weihong, Wu Xuewen, Zhang Ting

This autumn, a window to a cultural odyssey has been opened. The "Cultural Odyssey · Local Wanderings" journey, jointly launched by the Publicity Department of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the CPC and China National Geographic · Authentic Flavors, commenced on October 26.

The six-day, five-night quest for wonders traversed Dong, Miao, Buyi, and Shui villages, spanning Qiannan, Qiandongnan, Guiyang, Anshun, and Qianxinan. Short-video creators from Douyin—@FlyingPiggy, @WangXiaochao, @YeZhiqing—joined hands with knowledge-focused Weibo influencers—@DippingSalt, @BioGuyAquarium—to embark on a journey delving into authentic daily life and uncovering cultural marvels.

Duan Festival feasts, horse racing, mysterious Shui script...

How many more wonders lie in the festive revelry?

The Shui New Year is uniquely "extended."

How long does the Shui Duan Festival, known as the world's longest New Year celebration, last?—49 to 62 days. The festival rotates in seven batches across Shui regions, stretching from the 12th month of the Shui calendar to the second month of the following year (August to October in the lunar calendar). In the Shui language, it means "eating the year," symbolizing harvest celebrations and ancestral worship.

After drinking the welcoming wine and joining the long-table feast to savor fish stuffed with leeks, Douyin influencer @FlyingPiggy raised cups of glutinous rice wine with Shui villagers, cheering "Yo-yo-yo!" The Duan Festival is a dazzling stage for Shui cultural spectacles—women's世代传承horsehair embroidery, the Shui "double songs" for courtship, culinary delights, and festive traditions all converge here. The thunderous bronze drums and galloping horses elevate the celebrations to a crescendo.

Shui script, used to record astronomy, geography, religion, and folklore, holds a character specifically depicting "hungry as a horse"—reflecting the Shui people's equestrian love.

At the Shui Culture Museum, Weibo influencers @DippingSalt and @BioGuyAquarium engaged netizens in "no-prize quizzes" about the script's quirks. For instance, its pictographic "person" character has variants: what does lying down signify? Or hanging upside down? This enigmatic script, embedding ancient Shui calendars and astrology, became their lever to spark curiosity about ethnic culture.

As sunset painted the sky, jubilation lingered at Qiannan's Shui Duan slopes, while bonfires lit up the "Qiansan Drum Tower" in Diping Dong Village, Qiandongnan. Villagers in splendid attire greeted guests with Dong grand songs—harmonies so pure they seemed to blend with starlit birdsong and streams. Douyin's @WangXiaochao danced into nature's embrace, lulled to sleep by rain tapping on stilt-house roofs.

In Diping's drum tower, invited creator @WangXiaochao swayed to Dong grand songs.

At dawn, guests strolled past elders feeding ducks with floating weeds, spotted black-spectacled toads and marsh frogs by streams, foraged peculiar拐枣fruit, and joined villagers gathering medicinal herbs like fleeceflower root and wild buckwheat. This eco-village thrives in harmony with nature—its people raised on红豆杉-shaded springs, revering mountains and forests.

Harvests fill 400+ granaries outside the village; newborns prompt celebratory door couplets. "Lost rituals survive in the wilds," mused @DippingSalt. "Many Han urban traditions fade, but minorities preserve them."

Today, the "Diping Eco-Museum" cluster—centered on Diping and Dengcen—preserves traditional layouts (flower bridges, drum towers, granaries) while injecting vitality with村史馆and libraries. As @BioGuyAquarium noted, "It showcases rural evolution, helping urbanites understand minority aspirations for better lives."

Ethnic attire is a dazzling cultural spectacle. Douyin's @YeZhiqing donned four sets: a flowing horsehair-embellished Shui princess gown; a Miao skirt tracing migration routes; and finally, an elegant sky-blue Buyi ensemble. In Yan鱼Village, Qianxinan, she tried hand-weaving on looms—a 600-year-old Buyi tradition where indigo, batik, and maple-dyeing thrive.

"Diverse, mystical, rich," @FlyingPiggy summarized the journey's cultural allure. Conveying this via短视频platforms—where viewers swipe past clips in seconds—required meticulous framing and transitions. The creators aimed to share ethnic mysteries and rustic charm with the短视频masses.

@BioAquariumMan has visited Guizhou for 15 consecutive years. When discussing how to share new travel insights via Weibo, he hopes to "uncover unique county-level folk customs and traditional architecture, bridging local residents with those eager to explore and develop ancient village landscapes."

In the Fenglin Buyi Scenic Area, young women dance the enthusiastic Kangbao Dance.

Weicheng Town, located in Qingzhen City, Guiyang, is an ancient town in the heart of central Guizhou.

As guests stroll through the tranquil ancient Weicheng, the Tunpu culture unfolds its unique historical tapestry. Originally a military garrison established by the Ming Dynasty to control the Shuixi Yi people, it was named Zhenxiwei and built in 1630. The 3.2-kilometer-long city wall, following the mountainous terrain, created a defensive structure—steep outside and gentle inside, easy to defend but hard to attack. Today, the remaining ruins stand as relics of Guizhou's Tunpu culture, witnessing the large-scale Ming-era development of Guizhou, shifts in ethnic dynamics, and the formation of the Chinese national community.

Qingzhen City is the western gateway of Guiyang.

Weicheng Town has largely retained its layout since the Ming Dynasty.

Through the Ming, Qing, and Republican eras, Weicheng evolved from a military garrison into a bustling trade hub in central Guizhou. The "Eight Great Bowls of Weicheng" (featuring dishes like salted pork with pickled vegetables, spicy squid soup, and steamed chicken) blend spicy, numbing, sweet, and sour flavors, epitomizing Guizhou cuisine's diversity and inclusivity. These dishes reflect Guizhou's multicultural harmony, earning Weicheng the nickname "City of Flavors."

The Eight Great Bowls of Weicheng are light and fresh, reminiscent of Huaiyang cuisine.

The town's medicinal heritage adds another layer of charm. The old pharmacy Changputang, built by the Tan family in 1870, features a courtyard with dual skylights and Jiangxi-Anhui architectural influences, adorned with carvings reflecting Han agrarian and Confucian culture. The 80-year-old traditional doctor Zhong Jiarong still practices, often advising patients to "stay calm" (local dialect: "bai dan") for health. A calligraphic poem hanging inside—"If my friends in Luoyang should ask of me, / Tell them my heart is as pure as ice in a jade vessel"—comes from Wang Changling's "Farewell at Hibiscus Tower," written when the Tang poet was exiled to Guizhou. The Tunpu culture's fusion of traits quietly shines in this humble pharmacy.

Traditional doctor Zhong Jiarong attends to patients.

Today, the town is peaceful. In the afternoon, elders gather at Helong Square to chat and bask in the sun. The square commemorates the 1936 encampment of He Long and Xiao Ke's Red Army units, where they held mass rallies to promote anti-Japanese resistance and revolution, inspiring 29 Qingzhen youths to enlist. Modern Guizhou has long been a hotbed of revolutionary fervor. Deng Enming, a Shui ethnic revolutionary martyr from Libo County, followed the Duliu River beyond southern Guizhou to join the early Communist cause.

Marvelous mountains, waters, lights, poems, people, and food...

How many more wonders lie hidden in these radiant landscapes?

At 9 a.m., the Getu River is still veiled in mist and greenery. @YeZhiqing, dressed in white, rows a boat slowly forward. As it reaches the river's center, the "Light of the Gods" descends—piercing the towering Great Arch Cave, illuminating the water and the figure aboard. The silent mountains and waters come alive under this celestial glow. This phenomenon occurs only during October mornings on the Getu River, lasting about 20 minutes before vanishing.

The Getu River in Ziyun County, Anshun, is a mystical and enchanting waterway. Alternating between surface and subterranean flows across the Guizhou Plateau, its underground reaches remain unexplored, while its visible course threads through mountains, caves, rocks, and forests, uniting wonder, peril, serenity, and grandeur. Over time, it has sculpted natural bridges, sinkholes, underground halls, and arch caves.

"Getu" means "sacred jumping flower ground" in Miao. Historically, this landscape sheltered a secluded Miao village dwelling in caves. Today, the upstream Dahe Miao Village preserves the ancient King Yalu culture. "Donglang" (bards), wearing bamboo hats and wielding the Miao king's sword, chant King Yalu's epic by the mountains and streams, honoring the tribal leader who led his people here and guiding ancestral souls home.

"Genuo," also Miao for "spider," refers to the cliff-scaling "spider men." Their free-climbing skills originated from placing hanging coffins in caves—a unique burial tradition to avoid earth interment. The caves house Getu's swiftlets, whose eggs and guano were harvested for food and fertilizer. This extraordinary skill endures in modern performances, thrilling spectators. Guizhou's ancestors honed such survival wisdom through nature's trials—a true marvel.

The Miao "spider men" and their breathtaking climbing artistry.

The Miao describe Getu's divine light as "a sight even Xu Xiake never witnessed." The Ming traveler missed Getu's waters but praised Wanfenglin's peaks: "Countless mountains grace this world, / Yet only here do they form a forest."

Wanfenglin is the world's most典型ical example of cone-shaped karst peak forest terrain. Its圆锥 peaks and clusters are interspersed with karst caves, sinkholes, underground rivers, and other geological wonders. Archaeologists have also uncovered multiple paleontological and early human activity sites in the area.

Mountain life is vibrant and colorful. The Buyi ethnic group's "Bayin Zuochang," hailed as a "living fossil of sound," is passed down across the Nanpan and Beipan River basins in Guizhou. Its songs reflect the typical mountainous rice-farming culture of the Buyi people, known as the "rice-growing ethnic group," while its instruments—such as the ox-bone fiddle, bamboo drum, and wooden leaf—are crafted from mountain materials, exuding rustic elegance. Mountain cuisine, made from pristine, natural ingredients, shines with locally exclusive freshness, like the snack "Brush Head" made from bamboo shoots or the Buyi specialty dish of sour bamboo shoot beef.

Chongchong cake is a colorful and delicately sweet snack. Xingyi's Dafo Square was a bustling trade hub at the intersection of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi during the Qing Dynasty's Jiaqing era and is now a lively ethnic cultural district. Among its shops is one specializing in Chongchong cake. Dried honey-suckle flowers, a fragrant plant used as a natural dye for sticky rice, hang overhead. The cake is made with wild water chestnuts, purple vine leaves, and sweetgum leaves as main ingredients or dyes, and the rice cake is steamed using a unique method involving a bamboo tube placed on a kettle lid. Passed down since the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty, the ingenious techniques that amaze visitors have long become part of Xingyi locals' daily flavors.

Chongchong cake, Brush Head—Xingyi's deliciousness and diversity exceed your imagination.

Whether it's the cliff-scaling "spider men," the peculiar hanging coffins in caves, or the dazzlingly colorful Chongchong cake, these are all clever clues that help decipher the extraordinary ways Guizhou's mountain dwellers coexist with nature, revealing hidden cultural elements within the province's landscapes. Today, through mountain-themed cultural tourism projects like "Fenglin Buyi" and "Sunshine Valley," modern Guizhou tourism offers every visitor a chance to encounter this harmony between humanity and nature.

"Apart from lacking a coastline, Guizhou ranks among the top in China for its variety of tourist attractions and rich ethnic cultural heritage. After over a decade of infrastructure development, cultural refinement, and scenic upgrades, it excels in sights, activities, and cuisine," remarked @AquariumBiologist at the journey's end.

Invited to join the "Fengwu Journey," Douyin creator @YeZhiqing and Weibo creator @ZhanYan sampled Xingyi's local snacks.

In the current era of tourism recovery—even saturation—unearthing Guizhou's treasures requires multi-faceted efforts and collaboration. This "Fengwu Journey," a joint initiative by the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department, China National Geographic's "Authentic Fengwu," and leading short-video platform Douyin, along with cross-media integration, is both a pioneering exploration of innovative tourism and an upgrade to the "Fengwu Journey" series. When the "traffic king" and "cultural tourism adventurers" form a dynamic duo, helping Guizhou's tourism stand out, the province's colorful landscapes have even greater potential to captivate a broader audience.

The "Cultural Wonder Journey: Local Wanderings" Fengwu trip has concluded, but its magical moments linger. This treasure trove of Guizhou's wonders, ever-evolving, will spark more curiosity about the province's cultural tourism. More marvels hidden in Guizhou's mountains and waters await your discovery.

This article is original content from [Authentic Fengwu].