I believe it’s important for Americans to visit China, given the critical presence of China in our economy and the world geo-political stage.  In 2012 I had the opportunity to visit the major cities with their new and impressive infrastructure, but I felt I had missed intersecting with the ancient Chinese culture. 

In November of 2017, I went on a bespoke trip to see and photograph life among the Hill Tribes of Guizhou Province which retain their ancient ways of life.  Until very recently they have been isolated in the mountains with almost no access to the modern world.   They have retained not only their way of daily life, but their tribal culture and costumes and festivals, which you will see in my video.  I was accompanied by the outfitter, pro photographer Jock Montgomery, and a photographer friend, Jerry O’Neill, and our two fabulous Chinese guides, Michael Deng and Billy Li.

What we discovered was a set of minority tribes (40 million vs. 1.3 billion Han Chinese) living much the same way as in past centuries.  It is the poorest province in China, existing mainly on subsistence agriculture and village markets.  85% of this area is mountains and only in the past few years has the government built the bridges and tunnels to allow access.  This is almost the last bastion of traditional Chinese rural life, and there are efforts to protect and preserve it. 

However, like all the tribes elsewhere in the world, more and more young people from Guizhou are working outside in the city and their valuable culture is vanishing. Fewer and fewer young people know how to make their traditional costumes and or sew the exquisite embroidery. Most of them dress in the colorful traditional costumes only during the festivals or special dates when they return home from the cities.

Most of the villages are located in the deep mountains and in the past one of the important functions was providing opportunities for young men and young girls to know each other. Other festivals are mainly for celebrating the harvest and worshiping the ancestors.

As you will see, there is great artistic talent in these tribes, reflected in the complex embroidery used to create stunningly beautiful tribal garments, along with patterned silver headdresses, necklaces and jewelry.

We were greeted warmly everywhere we went and, aside from a handful of shy women, everyone was happy to have us photograph them and their way of life.  It was a pleasure to meet them and a privilege to be allowed into their villages and homes.

This is far off the tourist path.  In eleven days, we did not see another westerner on nine of those days.  I am convinced that almost no photographers had been to a couple of the isolated villages.  So, no western tourists, no western tourist infrastructure.  Many hotels were basic, and the food we were able to secure was basic rice, noodles, vegetables and some meat.  And this rural Chinese food bears little resemblance to the Chinese food served in the United States.

We never saw the sun in eleven days.  So, we had flat light, which is poor for landscape photography, but fine for portraiture, which is what I was seeking.  And you will see that they enjoyed having their portraits and ceremonies and dances photographed.

This is one of those remarkable slivers of human civilization that has been little impacted by modern life.  I hope you enjoy the journey as I did.

George