It was an early morning in a winter when I awaked in this strange but familiar little town. In this remote table land with countless mountains suffused by fog in winter, local people's life is centered in furnace and coal and they have to go through such long winter that is cold, mist, muddy and full of black coal powder.
At the inlet of the street, people start to busy early in the morning. Those peddlers of vegetable are called La Ba Miao named after their bugle design headwear. A man just passed by backpacking an half of slaughtered pig body. And coal cakes were loaded and piled on street for sale.
This little town is Hua Gong situated in the north corner of Qing Long County. The terrain is very stiff and up and down deeply cut by Nan Pan River with a fall of 2000m to 500m. Hua Gong just lie on this tableland faraway from all big cities where minority emerge very often and used to be the prison for Kuo Mingtang officials before new china. And now only tea field of thousands of acres and a farm for prisoners remained right there after new china. Actually it is a good place for war criminals in that its steep landscape and forgotten corner is as though a natural prison foggy whole winter.
Yesterday before dark, we together with two French left the warm valley of Bei Pan River and climbed up to this foggy town in accompany with a cotton peddler who showed us all guest houses. The situation of the best one seems led us back to early time of 80s and yet just from the family we sensed the enthusiasm and honesty of that time. The guest house is the beachhead for peddlers from other provinces.
In our guest house, some are cotton wool seller from Zhe Jiang Province and some are spice flavor seller from SiChuan Province. They went out for business in local township market in day time and chatted around furnace in evening. On the question for local situation, one peddler from Zhe Jiang gave us some examples he experienced in markets and concluded local people are rough and inelegant. The hostess added that it attribute to Miao people, La Ba, Side Comb and Red Miao, and you can see them at Hua Migu village several miles ahead of Ya Qi San town and it will be the marketing day tomorrow in Ya Qisan and you will see a lot of them in market.
On the map Yao Qisan is Hong Yin, a little town 20 Km away in the north of Hua Gong. Ya Qisan in Chinese is one seven three which is the name of mining team of geology engineering. In 50s, many such team across the county for the purposes to explore the minerals so as to meet economy development. So this team with a serial number of 173 is one of them and though, like the prison farm, has out of historic duty, they had made and supported the prosperous of this town so that it is still named 173 Yao Qisan.
And at present time, the preserved coal mine under ground in the west of Guizhou is the major economic source. Local people have learned how to make living with coal. On Guiyang streets it is easily to see many Miao with bugle-shape headwear who sell coal cakes through pulling coal vehicle to buyers. Years ago in a suburb of Guiyang I saw many simple shanties where they are out and in very often and I have thought it is their village till the present time that I realize where they are really from.
On the way to Yao Qisan, we saw many La Ba Miao villages. According to reference records of minority I read, La Ba Miao is the offspring of those who fled to the west of Guizhou as failed in uprising against Qing Dynasty in the years of Qian Long and Jia Qing, two emperors. And the architecture and house decoration in villages is very similar to those villages 500 miles away in Feng Huang county of Hu Lan province. From the garment, we can infer the shadows of Miao in the west of Hu Lan Province. In terms of the question where they are from, the answer is Shao Yang of Hu Lan.
Down to the valleys are the county of Buyi people and Red Miao calling self Hmong should have inhabited there before. La Ba Miao should be of cause very strong in that they were able to settle down amongst Buyi, native Guizhou people, and Yi people, regarding as tigers themselves hundreds years ago. La Ba Miao call self New Miao and Red Miao Old Miao properly because the fore one is advanced in terms of life and production.
This year for several times on the way to Hua Xi town ten mile from Guiyang, I saw one or two short women passing quickly across the road with nylon bags on a suburb area that is a typical combination of city and countryside. They are mostly thought as those women coming to city to make a living. I was curious if they take a wooden comb however their skirt revealed where they are from. Immediately I recalled the scenery of the forgotten corners and they just belong to one sub-group of Side-Comb Miao or Red Miao. I can't help think how Hua Migu village is now. Those in skirts which have carried forward their history and mystery have emerged in big city and eventually be immerged by it. After all they have stepped out, leaving their corners and marching in to city.
