Miao Minority Guide

Travel to the southern part of China, you can get to know a lot about the Miao Minority. The Miao people lived in the western part of present day Hunan and Guizhou over 200 years ago, as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties. During the Tang and Song periods, these ancestors were called Miao. In China, their total population is around 9,000,000 and form one of the largest ethnic minorities in the southwestern China. They mainly live in Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunan and Guangzi. There are also a small number that live on Hainan Island, in Guangdong and Hubei. These people live close amongst each

other in small communities in whatever city they live in. The Miao minority has become dispersed across China over several centuries do their migrations all over the country. In the 3rd century they traveled to northwestern Guizhou and southern Sichuan, in the 5th century some went to eastern Sichuan and western Guizhou, in the 9th century, several were sent to Yunnan as captives and in the 16th century, many settled on Hainan Island. The culture of the Miao people is very diversified but all comes from one common root. Their songs are very popular amongst their own people and are very

unique in China. The Lusheng is the most popular instrument and they also play several others such as the drums, flutes and suona horn. Their traditional dances include the bench dance, drum dance among several others. The Miao have a highly diversified culture developed from a common root. They are fond of singing and dancing, and have a highly-developed folk literature. Their songs, which do not rhyme and vary greatly in length from a few lines to more than 15,000, are easy to understand and are very popular among the Miaos.

• Dadonghai
• End of the Earth
• West Island
• Yalong Bay of Sanya
• Buddha Culture of Nanshan
• Miao Minority
• The Xinglong Tropical Garden
• The Wanquan River
• Xinglong
• Nantian Hot Spring
• Hainan Volcano Park
• Dongpo Academy