Baishuitai ( A day trip from Zhongdian Yunnan Province)
Baishuitai 白水台. Here is how we wrote about it in our Diary that day (Sept 3 – 2007): … It is a stunning, largely uphill ride, through dense forests and undulating meadows crossed by rushing rivers. On our way we pass the occasional nomads’ tent and several small minority and Tibetan villages.
The Yi
The first is a rickety, wooden Yi settlement that is virtually deserted. According to our driver, a taciturn Tibetan, the Yi are probably out gathering mushrooms. Curiously, the subject of the Yi is the very first to loosen his tongue: he claims that the Tibetans dislike the Yi because they practise slash and burn agriculture and are responsible for the cutting down of the forests…. Moreover, in general, they are not to be trusted (his words, not ours). His outburst leaves us a bit baffled because, as far as we know, not all Tibetans are equally ecologically-minded. What to think e.g. of the extended use many Tibetans make of rare furs?
Fortunately, our driver is much more positive about the Hui village we pass later. The Hui people living there have adopted the Tibetan language and way of dressing, to the point where they have become almost indistinguishable from the Tibetan majority. Apparently, their ancestors fled to the area when the Muslim Kingdom of Dali was overthrown by the Qing troops, around 1850 or 60.