My trip to unique Dai villages

After a two-day visit in Kunming, we, the foreign journalists from ten South and Southeast Asian countries visited Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture. The  Prefecture’s sweet rice wine, passionate dances, natural beauty and unique ethnic culture and customs left a deep im-pression on us.

Dehong Prefecture is a multi-ethnic region in southwest China and borders Myanmar. On June 3, we came to Ruili city of Dehong. Situated near the Myanmar national port city of Muse, Ruili features a flat terrain with no natural barriers in sight. It boasts convenient transport, complete urban amenities and booming business, making it a “golden gate” in southwest China’s opening to Southeast Asia and South Asia.

The journalists visited the cross-border Yinjing Village and the Hansha Ethnic Cultural Tourism Village. Yinjing Village is inhabited by Dai people from both China and Myanmar, and international boundaries runs through the village. According to local people, it is quite common when a vine stretches from China into Myanmar to bear a mel-on, a hen comes from Myanmar to China to lay an egg, or a cow runs from China to Myanmar to drink water.

Beside the national boundaries in Yinjing Vil-lage, a small library called the Border Library was set up in December 2014. It provides Chinese, Myanmar and Dai books for free, including many on agricultural science and technology. Today, the Border Library boasts 24,000 books  and 900 audio and video products, while receiving about 60 readers on a daily basis. In the cross-border village, there are no conflicts or disputes, and the two peo-ples have been living in harmony from generation to generation. A Myanmar journalist in our dele-gation greeted the Myanmar villagers from time to time, saying, “It makes me feel at home.”

Entering Hansha Village, the first thing to greet our eyes were the traditional Dai dwellings. In front of each household was an urn of drinking water for passers-by to quench their thirst. We immediately realised that we were in a village of considerate and hospitable people.

To welcome the group of journalists,  Mr. Yuexiang -- the 78-year-old inheritor of the peacock dance –along with his students, put on a wonderful peacock dance performance. When the elephant-foot drums gave out reso-nant and vigorous rub-a-dubs, Yuexiang began to dance like a peacock, flying into the air, chasing, sporting, drinking, pecking, spreading histail feathers and looking into the water. The vivid performance moved many of us to tears.

Yuexiang said that it has been 40 years since he began studying the peacock dance in 1975. In order to improve his dancing skills, he raised peacocks at home to observe their behaviour and integrate them into the dance. An official of the Dehong Prefectural Publicity Department told us that the Dai peacock dance used to only be passed down to male descents. Yuexiang’s peacock dance is original, and in 2007 he was selected as the representative inheritor of the Dai peacock dance, which is a national intangible cultural heri-tage item. After the performance, we posed for a photo with Yuexiang and his students before reluctantly leaving this beautiful Dai village.

My trip to unique Dai villages

After a two-day visit in Kunming, we, the foreign journalists from ten South and Southeast Asian countries visited Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture. The Prefectures sweet rice wine, passionate dances, natural beauty and unique ethnic culture and customs left a deep im-pression on us. Dehong Prefecture is a multi-ethnic region in southwest China and borders Myanmar. On June 3, we came to Ruili city of Dehong. Situated near the Myanmar national port city of Muse, Ruili features a flat terrain with no natural barriers in sight. It boasts convenient transport, complete urban amenities and booming business, making it a golden gate in southwest Chinas opening to Southeast Asia and South Asia. The journalists visited the cross-border Yinjing Village and the Hansha Ethnic Cultural Tourism Village. Yinjing Village is inhabited by Dai people from both China and Myanmar, and international boundaries runs through the village. According to local people, it is quite common when a vine stretches from China into Myanmar to bear a mel-on, a hen comes from Myanmar to China to lay an egg, or a cow runs from China to Myanmar to drink water. Beside the national boundaries in Yinjing Vil-lage, a small library called the Border Library was set up in December 2014. It provides Chinese, Myanmar and Dai books for free, including many on agricultural science and technology. Today, the Border Library boasts 24,000 books and 900 audio and video products, while receiving about 60 readers on a daily basis. In the cross-border village, there are no conflicts or disputes, and the two peo-ples have been living in harmony from generation to generation. A Myanmar journalist in our dele-gation greeted the Myanmar villagers from time to time, saying, It makes me feel at home. Entering Hansha Village, the first thing to greet our eyes were the traditional Dai dwellings. In front of each household was an urn of drinking water for passers-by to quench their thirst. We immediately realised that we were in a village of considerate and hospitable people. To welcome the group of journalists, Mr. Yuexiang -- the 78-year-old inheritor of the peacock dance along with his students, put on a wonderful peacock dance performance. When the elephant-foot drums gave out reso-nant and vigorous rub-a-dubs, Yuexiang began to dance like a peacock, flying into the air, chasing, sporting, drinking, pecking, spreading histail feathers and looking into the water. The vivid performance moved many of us to tears. Yuexiang said that it has been 40 years since he began studying the peacock dance in 1975. In order to improve his dancing skills, he raised peacocks at home to observe their behaviour and integrate them into the dance. An official of the Dehong Prefectural Publicity Department told us that the Dai peacock dance used to only be passed down to male descents. Yuexiangs peacock dance is original, and in 2007 he was selected as the representative inheritor of the Dai peacock dance, which is a national intangible cultural heri-tage item. After the performance, we posed for a photo with Yuexiang and his students before reluctantly leaving this beautiful Dai village.