Where Is the Homeland of 11 Million Miao People?

But faced with repeated wars and conflicts

("The Ancient Songs of the Miao: Crossing Mountains and Rivers")

"Crossing mountains and rivers to the west, where countless peaks touch the sky"

(Basha Village on the Moon Mountain in Guizhou at sunrise, photographer @ Wang Wei)

Their houses are often built against the mountains

As if naturally growing from the slopes

Their villages are often surrounded by dense forests

Like a child nestled in a mother's embrace

A highly representative mountain village in China

(Basha Village in the high mountains and dense forests of Guizhou, photographer @ Wang Wei)

(Please view horizontally, the Changshanlong Lusheng team in Xingpu Township, Guiding, Guizhou at sunset, photographer @ Zhao Tianheng)

How did the Miao people gradually migrate to the high mountains?

And how did they survive in these highlands?

The history of the Miao people is written by migration

(The ancestral origins and migration routes of the Miao people remain academically debated; this article follows current mainstream scholarly views. The image below illustrates the migration of Miao ancestors, designed by @ Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute)

Defeated in conflicts with the Yan-Huang tribes over the Yellow River Basin

Their ancestors moved to the areas around Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake

(A sacrificial scene at the Chiyou Temple in Danzhai, Guizhou, image source @ Visual China)

Yet they were defeated again in subsequent wars

Forced to migrate a second time, south of Dongting and Poyang Lakes

(Please view horizontally, Junshan Island in Dongting Lake, Hunan, image source @ Huitu)

Entering the sparsely populated Wuling Mountain area at that time

(Lüdong Mountain in Baojing, western Hunan, remains a Miao settlement in the Wuling Mountains and is considered a sacred mountain by the local Miao people, image source @ Visual China)

They saw the raging waterfalls and perilous cliffs around Leigong Mountain, the main peak of the Miao Ridge

(Leigong Mountain, image source @ Visual China)

Those nearby migrated to northwestern and southwestern Guizhou

While others traveled farther to Sichuan, Yunnan, Hainan, and even overseas

(Wuzhi Mountain in Hainan Island, photographer @ Meng Zhijun)

Their dialects, customs, and clothing vary significantly

(Historically, Miao subgroups were often distinguished by clothing characteristics: for example, "Black Miao" or "Blue Miao" by color, and "Big Flower Miao" or "Small Flower Miao" by patterns. Please view horizontally, the image below shows a selection of Miao costumes, photographer @ Li Guiyun, design @ Du Rui/Planet Research Institute)

11 million Miao people are scattered across southwestern China

Forming a pattern of broad intermingling with small concentrated settlements

And establishing 6 ethnic autonomous prefectures and 20 ethnic autonomous counties

(Distribution of Miao dialects, the vast majority of Miao people speak Miao as their mother tongue, while some also use Chinese, Dong, or Yao languages, design @ Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute)

They inhabit the rugged Wuling Mountain area

(Please view horizontally, Dehang Miao Village in the Wuling Mountains of Hunan, image source @ Visual China)

And the mountainous regions of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan

(Shimenkan Village in Weining, deep in the Wumeng Mountains at the Guizhou-Yunnan border, photographer @ Li Guiyun)

While the humid Miao Ridge area of Guizhou

Forms one of the core heartlands of the Miao people

(Wudong Miao Village at the foot of Leigong Mountain, photographer: Fu Ding)

The Miao people who came to the mountainous regions of Southwest China

(Liangdeng Village, Fenghuang County, Hunan, meaning "where eagles perch" in Miao language, image source: @VCG)

(Qixin Village, Jishou City, Xiangxi Prefecture, Hunan, a stone-built Miao village, image source: @China Traditional Villages Digital Museum & VCG, please swipe to view)

(Please view horizontally, Ziyun Zhongdong Miao Village, Anshun, Guizhou, image source: @VCG)

In the most densely populated Miao Mountain region

The Miao people mostly adopt stilt-style architecture

(The earliest written record of "stilt houses" can be traced to the Book of Wei. Below is a reconstruction of stilt-style buildings at the Hemudu site, image source: @Tuchong Creative)

Best suited for the hot and rainy southern regions

(A pottery model of a Western Han stilt-style house, showing its early form, image source: @Guizhou Provincial Museum website, graphics by Du Rui/Planet Research Institute)

Evolving from purely elevated full stilt houses

To semi-stilt houses that are half elevated and half grounded

(Illustration of the evolution from full stilt to semi-stilt houses, graphics by Du Rui/Planet Research Institute)

Perfectly adapting to rugged and undulating mountainous terrain

(Half-houses are mainly found in the Miao settlements of southeastern Guizhou, differing from other Miao regions. Below is a typical half-house in Yangxian Miao Village, Paidiao, Danzhai, photographer: Huang Xiaohai)

Facing various irregular and fragmented terrains

The half-house moves like a martial arts master

"Gliding effortlessly" along steep mountain slopes

(Illustration of the half-house's post-and-lintel structure. Miao dwellings often use this flexible framework, where horizontal beams connect columns into frames, then vertical beams integrate them into a whole, graphics by Du Rui/Planet Research Institute)

Rows of half-houses clinging to the mountainside

It carries the daily lives of the Miao people.

The elevated bottom floor is used for raising livestock and handicraft production.

The top attic floor is used for storing grains and farming tools.

The middle living floor is for daily activities, resting, and hosting guests.

(Schematic diagram of the vertical spatial functional zoning of the half-side building, illustration by Du Rui/Planet Research Institute)

To keep the bedrooms away from the dampness of the mountain.

People place the bedrooms at the front and move the central hall to the rear.

The central hall is the heart of the living floor.

It also serves as a venue for banquets during important festivals.

(Please view horizontally, schematic floor plan of the half-side building’s living floor. Traditional dwellings often have the central hall at the front and bedrooms at the rear, but the half-side building adjusts this to ensure better lighting for the bedrooms, illustration by Du Rui/Planet Research Institute)

The hearth beside the central hall feels even cozier.

It is used not only for heating but also for cooking.

The whole family can gather around it to chat and share stories.

The iron tripod placed in the hearth year-round.

(The hearth room in a Miao home. The Miao people believe the iron tripod has divine properties and forbid stepping over it, photographer Li Guiyun)

The "balcony" in front of the central hall is called the retreat hall.

Here, Miao girls dress up and adorn themselves.

(A Miao girl from Paimo Village, Yangwu Town, Danzhai, dressing up in festive attire by the "beauty seat," photographer Huang Xiaohai)

(The graceful silhouette comes from the "drooping eaves" technique, where the roof curves upward at both ends, photographer Yang Zhaofu, illustration by Du Rui/Planet Research Institute)

(The staggered rooftops of Basha Miao Village, photographer Jiang Kuo)

A solitary dwelling cannot sustain long-term survival

Only by forming settlements with mutual aid among neighbors

Can one find a way to survive in the remote mountains

And create truly livable villages

Thus, the Miao people build their villages along mountains and live in clans

Village sites are either near valleys and rivers or close to mountain springs

Choosing to settle on higher-altitude slopes or mountaintops

(Illustration of Miao village site selection terrain: Western Hunan combines all three, while Southeast Guizhou mostly builds villages on hillsides or mountaintops above farmland, map by Du Rui/Planet Research Institute)

Living here requires solving the major issue of livelihood

First farmland and water management, then village housing

Became the consensus for settlement construction

To cultivate fields on steep slopes

The Miao people first level the land and then build retaining walls

Transforming the slopes into terraced fields for rice farming

(Jiabang Terraces in Jiache Village, Guizhou, photographer: Deng Fei)

(Valley farmland of Xiaodanjiang Miao Village, Rongjiang, Guizhou, photographer: Zhao Gaoxiang)

(Waterwheel at Xijiang Thousand Household Miao Village, photographer: AKZUI)

(Water millhouse in Xiaodanjiang Miao Village, Rongjiang County, Guizhou; water mills were used for rice milling and oil pressing, now mostly replaced by machines, image source: Visual China Group)

Mountain springs and wells hold life-sustaining significance for the Miao people

Therefore, they build well-sheltering pavilions to protect water sources

(The First Spring of Miao Territory in Lüdong Village, Baojing County, Hunan. The Miao people often refer to naturally exposed springs as "wells." Photographer: Zhu Li)

Rows of wooden frames are erected in the mountain villages

forming multi-level drying fields that follow the mountain's contours

(Hanging racks filled with glutinous rice in Dadai Village, Bingmei Town, Congjiang County, Guizhou. Image source: Visual China Group)

The Miao people specially build elevated granaries on four-legged stands

(Granaries in Kongshen Miao Village, Liangwang Township, Rongjiang County, Guizhou. Photographer: Li Guiyun)

(Water granaries in Xinqiao Village, Leishan County, Guizhou. Photographer: Li Heng)

As more and more forest land is reclaimed into fields

the paddies dry up, and people and livestock face water shortages

Serving as "feng shui forests" or "village-protecting trees"

(The King of Taiwania protects Getou Miao Village in Guizhou. The villagers erected a stele to preserve the Taiwania. Photographer: Tan Biao)

Whether in the orally transmitted ancient songs of the Miao

or in the legends recorded in Han Chinese texts

(Quoted from "Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Great Wilderness - South," meaning: After Chiyou was killed, his wooden shackles were discarded in the wilderness and transformed into maple trees)

"Maple trees are the shackles abandoned by Chiyou"

(Ancient maple trees in Dalinshu Miao Village, Cengong County, Guizhou. Image source: Tuchong Creative)

Still unable to support the ever-expanding population

As a result, one branch of the original village

would migrate with their families to other mountainous areas

gradually giving rise to one village after another

(Please view horizontally, the central village of Basha Village in Congjiang County, Guizhou, and Zaige Xinzhai in the distance, photographer @ Zhao Gaoxiang)

Known as the bronze drum ground or Lusheng field

(The bronze drum ground in Xijiang Miao Village, Guizhou, photographer @ Li Wenbo)

Larger villages may even have multiple bronze drum grounds

During ceremonies to worship distant clan ancestors

Bronze drums are played and Lusheng pipes are blown here

The drum symbolizes ancestors, the sun, and life

(A bronze drum hung at the center of the bronze drum ground during festivals in Langde Shangzhai, Guizhou, photographer @ Lao J)

It is a contest of strength and also a reverence for power

(Miao bullfighting is a manifestation of cattle worship, far from mere entertainment; a victorious bull king brings honor to the entire village. The image below shows Miao bullfighting in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan, photographer @ Bai Zhanglei)