China's last tribe of gunners prepare for tourism boom

A group of men carrying long rifles greet visitors to Basha village in Guizhou province's Congjiang county. They may look intimidating but they are harmless.

A small community of ethnic Miao people live in Basha village, which runs very similarly to how it did 4,000 years ago.

The village is perched on a hill 7.5 kilometers from Congjiang, where a high-speed railway, which started operating on Dec 26, 2014, passes by.

Congjiang is located in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong ethnic groups' autonomous prefecture in Guizhou.

The community is different from other Miao groups in terms of clothing and daily life. The men in the village dress like ancient warriors and carry guns and knives. Their hair is mostly shaved except in the middle, where it is twisted and knotted. The villagers are the country's only civilians allowed to own firearms so they have been dubbed "the last tribe of gunners in China".

"Our ancestors would never have thought that people from thousands of miles away would get here within only a few hours train ride," said Gun Yuanliang, who was born and raised in the Miao minority village.

Basha is considered one of the top tourism areas in the province as well as the Qiandongnan prefecture. It attracts domestic and foreign travelers looking to experience the group's authentic lifestyle.

"The blooming tourism industry has brought us change time after time," said Gun. He added that the road connecting his village to the outside world changed from mud to cement and now, eventually high-speed railway.

Gun and his fellow villagers used to get up early in the morning and take their rifles down to the bus station to showcase their traditional clothes and attract more visitors. He said they would no longer have to do that as the visitors will come to them.

Gun said traveling from the closest major city to the village used to take more than 10 hours but now takes less than 45 minutes. The shortened travel time is expected to bring more tourists and improve the lives of the villagers.

Gun said the new railway has given him the chance to see the world outside his village for the first time. "I would love to get on the train and travel to Guangzhou, or even to overseas countries to spread our traditional Miao culture," he said.

Although Gun hopes the once isolated tribe will receive more visitors, he wants the village culture and traditional lifestyle to remain the same.

"We will keep on living our life, but I believe the story for the tribe of gunners will definitely travel far away, as the train does," he said.

The high-speed railway is expected to put Qiandongnan on the tourist map as a popular destination for travelers from nearby regions who are interested in the colorful ethnic culture and abundant natural landscapes.

Statistics showed that during the New Year holiday, from Jan 1 to 3, revenue generated from tourism in the province hit 3 billion yuan ($491.8 million). This was a 25.6 percent increase compared to the previous year. Almost 1 million tourists visited Qiandongnan and the revenue was 584 million yuan.

zhaokai@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/27/2015 page10)