China Tours & Private Packages - Discover the mistery of China with a Local China Travel Agency(ADT)
Xijiang Miao Village, the thousand-household village, is the largest Miao village in China. Travelers can see wooden stilted houses, wind and rain bridges and experience colorful Miao’s performance and festivals.
As the largest Miao ethnic group inhabited area in the world, Xijiang Miao Village in Guizhou province is an excellent place to study and explore Miao culture. Xijiang Thousand Households Miao Village includes more than ten small villages, and more than 6,000 villagers live here. Every year during the Spring Festival, Xijiang Miao Village will hold ethnic performances with Miao characteristics, attracting many tourists to experience and watch.
Type: Ethnic Minority Village, largest Miao Ethnic Village
Best Seasons: all the year round; every month has some festivals
Popular Activities: ethnic festival, hiking, photography
Recommended Visiting Time: about one day
Open Hours: all the day
Tickets: 100 Yuan/person; 20 Yuan for sightseeing bus for four rides
Address: 36 km from Leishan County, the Southeast of Guizhou Province
Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village (西江千户苗寨) is the largest Miao village in China and even in the world. It bears the title “thousand-household village” and now has 1432 households, which amounts to a population of over 5000, of which 99.5% are Miao ethnic group.
Xijiang Village is superbly picturesque, set in a natural basin and bordered paddy fields drenched in green, with wooden houses rising in the hillside. It should be the fantastic “Miao Capital” and the “Open Air Museum” to experience Miao’s primitive culture, including Miao’s festivals, singing and dancing, art, architecture, language, costumes, silverwork, and food.
Taking a trip to this traditional Miao village near Kaili, travelers will enjoy the beautiful Miao village scenery, taste some authentic Miao cuisine, experience different way of living, escape from the hustle and bustle city life and gain the peace and love in your inner heart.
The main architecture of Xijiang Miao Village is the wooden stilted buildings, called in Diao Jiao Lou in Chinese. In this area, the wooden stilted houses are usually built one next to another on a 30-70 degree mountain slope, which forms a magnificent view. All these wooden architectures are without any nails and rivets. The buildings usually have three storeys, with different use. The first floor is used for storing tools and manure, raising poultry and livestock, etc. The second floor is used for living room, central room, bedroom and kitchen and out of the central room is the special place for resting and embroidery. The third floor is mainly used for storing grain, fodder and other living goods. A visit to Xijiang Miao Village, travelers should spend one night here and have a stay in the special wooden stilted house.
There are several Wind and Rain Bridges in Xijiang Village. They are built in order to improve “Feng Shui” and bring convenience to the villagers. In the past time, the Wind and Rain Bridges were wooden structure without any nails and now they are rebuilt in the structure of concrete and wooden. Every visitor entering to Xijiang Miao Village should pass through one of the Wind and Rain Bridge and you can take a rest under the bridge and appreciate some elegant design…
You should never miss the panoramic view of Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village and you can enjoy it either in the daytime or at night. There are viewing decks on the opposite hill of Xijiang Miao Village and electric car can take you there. Standing on the viewing deck, you’ll enjoy picturesque and peaceful panoramic view of the whole village in the daytime. And when night falls and every household turns lights on, you’ll find the village is brilliantly illuminated like the stars hanging in the sky. And the Wind and Rain Bridges across the Bai River is dazzling and shining. You can never imagine that in this remote ethnic village the nightlife just begins.
Xijiang Miao Village is leaning against Leigong Mountain and surrounded by paddy fields which makes this village more attractive and picturesque. The quiet of the farmland and the busy of the village is a contrast and you can have different feeling towards Xijiang Miao Village when tour both.
Once you enter into the village, you’ll begin to experience every aspect of Miao people. A valued old man standing in the north entrance gate welcomes you with rice wine. Miao’s singing is performed at No.2 Wind and Rain Bridge in the morning around 11:30, Lusheng performance at Old Lusheng Square, Miao’s Batik performance, traditional singing performance by the old at Tonggu Lusheng Square, cock fighting and bird flight in the market day.
With thousand years’ history, long table banquet is the highest form of etiquette which is used for wedding, new born baby celebration and village gathering. At the table, the hosts sit at the left side of the table and the guests sit at the right side of the table. The hosts toast the guests with rice wine and welcome with beautiful songs. Taking a visit to Xijiang Village, travelers should catch the rare chance to enjoy the long table banquet with hundreds of people in the large square. If your group is not large enough, no worry, you can experience the dining etiquette in the local restaurants. There are many local delicious food served on the table, such as the Ancient Zang Meat, Cured Meat, Sliced Chicken, Fish in Sour Soup, Qingyan Tofu, etc.
Guzang festival is the grandest ancestral worship ritual of Miao ethnic minority. The minor Guzang Festival will be held annually in the early spring and late autumn and the villagers prepare delicious meals for the gathering and other activities include bull fighting, Lusheng playing and more. The Grand Guzang Festival is celebrated every thirteen years with mysterious and solemn ancestor worship ceremony, Lusheng dance, bull fighting. Guzang Festival usually lasts about 5 to 9 days.
Some other festivals including Miao’s New Year (held in September, October and November by lunar calendar), New Rice Festival (held in June and July by lunar calendar), Lusheng Festival (held in January, February, Mach by lunar calendar). If you are interested in Miao’s festivals and want to know the detailed festival time and activities, please feel free to contact our professional travel consultants.
Asia Discover Tour is designed a classic travel route to make you an in-depth exploration in Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village. After arrival at the parking lot, you can either take a sightseeing bus or take a walk into the village. Experience welcome ceremony in the entrance gate and visit Lusehng Dancing ground and Bronze Drum Dancing Ground to watch colorful performance. Visit the museum, Peasant Painter, Guzang Starting Ground and the Leader of Labor. Reach the Dating Ground at the top of the hill and have a look at the whole village. Get down and get around to the idyllic farmland to breathe some fresh air and get back to the village and visit Embroidery workshop. After the merry time in the village, take sightseeing bus to the opposite viewing deck to have panoramic view of Xijiang Miao Village. You could either go to the viewing deck in the daytime or at night and we recommend you go at night for the night view is gorgeous. In order to fully enjoy the astonishing view of Xijiang Village in day and night, most visitors would spend at least 1 day in this village.
Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village is located on the north side of Leigong Mountain along Bai River in Leishan County, about 32km from Kaili, the capital of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, and about 195km from Guiyang - the capital of Guizhou Province.
By Private Car with Asia Discover: Take a private tour with Asia Discover and you will no longer need to worry about how to travel from Guiyang to Xijiang Miao Villages, and our experienced private car driver will pick you up from airport, train stations or any other places in Guiyang and then send you to Xijiang Miao Village. Along the trip, our local guide and driver would well arrange every step to provide you a comfortable trip. If interested, you can take a visit to some other attractions along the way, such as Zhenyuan Ancient Town, Upper Langde Miao Village, Mount Leigong, etc.
By High Speed Train: there are more than 40 daily schedules running from Guiyang North/East Railway Station to Kaili South Railway Station. It starts in the early morning around 06:40 and ends at night around 20:40. It is very fast, only taking about 30-45mins. After get off from the trains at Kaili South Railway Station, it still takes about 50-70mins to get to Xijiang Miao Village by car.
By Private Car with Asia Discover Tour: It is highly recommended to use private car service from ADT. If by car, it takes less than 1 hour.
By Coach: Independent travelers can take direct bus from South Kaili High Speed Train Bus Station (凯里高铁南站公交站) to Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village Bus Station (西江千户苗寨公交站). Whole journey takes about 1.5 hours.
The Southeast Guizhou can be visited all the year round for the interesting festivals in ethnic many counties. And the best time to Xijiang Miao Village is in April, May, June, July, November and January. More information, please visit Kaili Weather & Seasons >>
Xijiang Miao Village is opened all day and night. Travelers can pay 100 Yuan for the ticket of Xijiang Miao Village and pay another 20 Yuan for the sightseeing buses (available for four rides) at entrance hall anytime of the day and the sightseeing buses running between North Service Area and north Gate is available in 24 hours and the sightseeing buses running up and down viewing deck are available during 08:00~24:00.
To make your nightlife more colorful, you can choose to enjoy “Beautiful Xijiang” night show. It is performed during 20:30~22:00. For it is open air performance, it may be cancelled in winter seasons. If you want to watch, please ask more detailed information from your personal travel consultant and local guide.
To catch the awesome panoramic view of the Xijiang Miao Village, it is suggested to stay in a hotel or hostel located on high point of the village or stay in the opposite of the village.
It is good to shoot in the morning around 08:00 and in the late afternoon and evening for the panoramic view of Xijiang. When taking some walk in the village, the Miao people in traditional costumes, traditional wooden stilted houses, Miao’s performance and paddy fields can be your photography subjects.
Xijiang Miao Village, the largest Miao village in China, is an unmissable minority village in your Guizhou tour. However in order to explore the culture and customs of Miao minority deeper, most travelers would spend 2 or 3 days in and around Kaili City. Besides visiting Xijiang Miao Village, visitors can go further to Upper Langde Miao Village, Matang Gejia Village, Qingman Miao Village, each villages has their own characteristics. If you have one more day, you can extend to thousand-year-old Zhenyuan Ancient Town .
Since Kaili is located in the east of Guizhou, between Guiyang City and Rongjiang/Congjiang. It is a good idea to extend your Kaili trip longer that you can add Guiyang, Congjiang, Rongjiang into your Guizhou Kaili trip. No matter you come from Guiyang or from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, you won’t miss the most highlighted Miao and Dong ethnic villages in Southeast Guizhou.
For another part of travelers would like to do an overall Guizhou trip for more sightseeing in the hot destinations, they usually put Kaili in the middle of the trip and cover Huangguoshu Waterfall in Anshun City for one day, Mount Fanjing in Tongren City for one or two days... Just tell us your likes and interests, Asia Discover Tour is here ready to help customize your own Guizhou tour with best prices! Contact Us now.
Top 4 Guizhou Tours chosen by most customers to explore Guizhou in the best way. Check the detailed itinerary, or tailor your own trip now with us.
We are here to help you...
Start planning your tailor-made with 1-1 help from our travel advisors.