Huangshan Folk Culture Village

Xidi - China old village

Shanghai, Xidi, Old village, China, Yellow Mountain, huangshan

wun chun - china old village

...

Xi Shou Town Square, Yunnan, China

In the Bai village of Xi Shou, near Lake Erhai, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China. The SU Abroad Beijing group visited here to learn about sustainability, domestic tourism, ethnic minority challenges, and daily life in rural China. The Bai people are known for their architecture, and this video shows a sample of that.

Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui -- Xidi and Hongcun

See The quiet villages in Anhui appear to be a vivid Chinese painting right under the eyes of their tourists. Hongcun and Xidi show us the ancient dwellings of ordinary citizens. Read more at

Villages in Dali: Deep in the mountains

After heading north for more than two hours on a bumpy mountain road from Dali city, I finally arrived at Changtou village, home to nearly 130 families of the Bai ethnic group.

Upon my arrival, villagers were gathering in front of an old stage to see a performance; many of the women were wearing identical hats. A villager told me it's the symbol for married women in the Bai culture, meaning,I'm not available.

Located in the central part of western Yunnan province, Dali is the only autonomous prefecture in China that the Bai ethnic group calls home. As many of the villages were built on the flatlands amid the mountains, people don't have much connection with the outside world; they live a simple and traditional life.

The Bai people love traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. They paint on the walls outside of their houses as decoration, and write Chinese characters in brush calligraphy representing the family name of the inhabitants.

They also have very devout beliefs, not in some specific religion, but in the local god. People in different villages worship different gods, whether it's a hero, a figure from a legend, or even an enemy.

When the villagers noticed me taking photos of them, they became so cooperative that some even kept motionless for almost an entire minute. But there are also the shy ones, who were completely helpless facing my lens.

Video: Christie Lee
Producer: Flora Yue

Beautiful Guilin, Guangxi

Beautiful Guilin.mpg

CHINE - ZHAOXING (Chants Polyphoniques)

Dans le Guizhou visite des villages de Bacha de Zhaoxing et ses chants polyphoniques.
(route des Bonsaï 2006)
In Guizhou visit the villages of Bacha and Zhaoxing and polyphonic songs.

PART 4 DOUBLE DUTCH WORLD SAFARI ICELAND TO CAMBODIA 2011-2013

Europe is a continent which attracts over 480 million international visitors per year. This is more than 50% of the global market. 7 of the 10 most visited countries in the world are in Europe. Sure, I am biased, being born in Europe (Holland). However, a well-preserved heritage, open borders and a very good infrastructure makes visiting Europe very easy. A few hours travel will get you into a new culture and another country. Europe is also the smallest continent in land surface.

The Moscow Kremlin has played a dominant role in Russian life for over eight hundred years. Right in the middle of Moscow we found a perfect campsite in Sokolniki Park very close to the centre of the city. Leaving Moscow, the long haul along the Trans-Siberian Railway started. The highway stretches 11000km from St Petersburg to Vladivostok; we joined in Moscow and followed the highway to Ulan Ude.
Mongolia, a land of majestic clear-watered lakes and mountains. Reindeer herders sharing respect and sustaining their livelihoods for centuries. Bush camping at its best. We visited The Amarbayasgalant monas­teries considered the second most important in Mongolia after Erdene Zuu Khiid in Kharkhorin and the most intact architectural complex in Mon­golia located in a valley 360 km from Ulaanbaatar, Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, The Przewalski’s horse or takhi, the last wild horse in the world has been successfully reintroduced into the wild in the Hustai National Park in Tuv aimag. The landscape ranges from grassland steppe to forest steppe. We visited the Gobi Desert and the 100 km long Khongoriin Elsor the Singing Dunes reach as high as 800 m and create the largest accumulation of sand in the Gobi Desert. But the highlight of our visit was the Nadaam festival around Ulan Bataar. This is the biggest festival of the Mongolian year celebrated nationwide. Nadaam is properly known as “Eryn gurvan naadam”, after the three manly games of wrestling, horse racing, and archery making up the core activities of the National Festival.
China, we travelled through the middle North to South visiting Ancient towns and villages where traditions are well-preserved in terms of architectures, lifestyles, folk songs and crafts. We visited Tunxi, Hongcun and Xidi at the foot of Mountain Huangshan. Zhouzhuang, Wuzhen and Zhujiajiao are representatives of South China water towns, while, Pingyao is a typical Chinese town in Northern China. Ancient villages in the southwest of China are the best places to see the traditional lifestyle of ethnic minorities, such as the Lijiang ancient town in Yunnan. Yangtze River, yellow river and we camped in some interesting riverside towns. In Xian we visited the Terracotta Warriors and the Qin Emperor’s tombs with thousands of year’s history. China has many famous ancient cities and counties with diverse features.
Laos was our entry point into South East Asia. What a difference 100 meters make, smiling friendly people and so cheap. Laos is a country yet untouched by the modern demands, stress and peace of life. Its beauty lays in the Lao people, century-old traditions and heritage, and its lush, pristine landscape. Laos is one of the few truly exotic destinations left in the world. Explore the country where beautiful nature and traditional life encounter. Lao has a variety of hidden charms: beautiful countryside and pristine rainforests, organic cuisine and unique handicrafts. You can also join various festivals and traditional ceremonies. Lao people are frank, open and friendly, and they possess a strongly developed sense of courtesy and respect.
Cambodia. Ancient temples, empty beaches, mighty rivers, remote forests… and (outside Angkor) only a handful of tourists. At Angkor Wat over 5000 people fly in every day to explore the complex; from the splendour of Angkor Wat to the enigmatic faces of the Bayon and the haunting Ta Prohm temple, enveloped in the clutches of the jungle. We travelled off-the-beaten-track” visiting remote villages, We also saw Cambodia’s dark site when we visited the killing fields and the Tuol Sleng prison. Up to 20,000 people were tortured into giving false confessions at Tuol Sleng, a school in Phnom Penh which had been converted into a jail. Elsewhere, suspects were often shot on the spot before any questioning. Fifty percent of the estimated 425,000 Chinese living in Cambodia in 1975 perished. Khmer Rouge also forced Muslims to eat pork and shot those who refused. The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, killed close to 1.7 million people in the mid- to late 1970s. Human bones and skulls fill a museum in Cambodia that had been used as a prison and torture centre during Pol Pot’s reign. During Pol Pot’s (Khmer Rouge’s) regime over twenty percent of Cambodia’s population was murdered.