Culture of Puzhehei in Qiubei County, Wenshan
Puzhehei (pǔ zhě hēi 普者黑) National Tourist Resort is located in Qiubei County (qiū běi xiàn 丘北县), Wenshan (wén shān 文山) in Southeast Yunnan, 280 km from Kunming (kūn míng 昆明). It takes on Karst geological features and covers a total area of 165 square kilometers. It was noted for the world- rare and domestic- unique karst landscape and pastoral scenery since 1993.In the dialect of the Sani People (sā ní rén 撒尼人) who is a branch of the Yi (yí zú 彝族) ethnic minority, “Pu Zhe Hei” means a place abounding in fish and shrimps. The scenic area gets known for hills, lakes, underground Karst caves and ethnic villages etc.
Minority Culture
Ethnics living there are mainly Yi, Zhuang (zhuàng zú 壮族) and Miao (miáo zú 苗族) all of whom have developed colorful ethnic cultures of their own.The Sani people there claim themselves “Sanipo”. They believe they are the descendants of the Sani People in the Stone Forest who fled to Qiubei Area some 400 years ago. The entire village is made up of 75 families or 780 villagers, all of whom are Sani – a branch of the Yi Minority.
As many other minorities do in Yunnan Province, the Sani People believe in animism which makes their traditional festivals mysteriously linked to gods and the nature. They deem themselves a nation that was gave birth by trees. That’s probably why a huge sacred tree is enshrined as the Dragon Tree on their yearly Mizhi Festival (mì zhī jiē 密枝节).
Girls of the Zhuang ethnic group dressed in folk costumes which are adorned with jingling silver ornaments and embroidery, row little wooden boats and send visitors along the winding 21-km water corridor through Luoshuidong Lake (luò shuǐ dòng hú 落水洞湖), Puzhehei Lake (pǔ zhě hēi hú 普者黑湖) and Xianren Lake(xiān rén hú 仙人湖).
Festivals
Dragon Worship Festival of Zhuang
Dragon Worship Festival (jì lóng jiē 祭龙节) of Zhuang is a famous tradional festival in Puzhehei.
Date: 3rd of of the third month by lunar calendar
Venue: Nahong Village (nà hóng cūn 那红村), Qiubei County, Wenshan Prefecture
Painted-Face Festival
Date: 24th day of the sixth month – 24th day of the seventh month by lunar calendar
Venue: Puzhehei Scenic Area of Qiubei County, Wenshan Prefecture.
With the history of more than 1,000 years, most known in Puzhehei, Puzhehei Yi Painted-Face Festival (huā liǎn jié 花脸节) is the unique traditional festival of Yis in Qiubei County, Yunnan. During the festival, there are activities such as grand performance for the opening ceremony, face-painting carnival, water splashing and fish catching competition. The climax of the activity is when people blacken faces mutually with pot soot to express good wishes. Its extraordinarily exciting air attracts ten thousands of people every year. It’s extremely popular or preferred by the young people. On the festival, lard and chimney soot is mixed into paste to be smeared by people each other to make fun.
Mizhi Festival
Mizhi festival (mì zhī jiē 密枝节) is one of the main traditional festivals spent by the Sani people living in counties such as Shilin (shí lín xiàn 石林县), Mile (mí lè xiàn 弥勒县) and Qiubei etc. Functioning as a religious service of the Sanis, it is routinely held from the second Rat Day to the Horse Day of the lunar November, lasting about seven days; it’s billed as “men’s day” because many ceremonies are merely attended by male Sani villagers.
