Tag: yi minority

Weishan Home of the Yi Minority

Update
In 2015 Weishan’s famous 14th Century Gongchen Tower was destroyed in a fire.
See pre-fire photos below

Weishan 巍山

Weishan Home of the Yi Minority Yi Minority Man near Weishan
Yi Minority Man near Weishan

Weishan; home of the Yi Minority in China’s Yunnan province, on a mid-summer’s afternoon is a sleepy place where nothing much happens.

Card Playing Yi Weishan
Card Playing Yi Weishan

This is small town China

This is small town China, where pipe smoking, card playing men squat on small bamboo stools that spill out onto the pavement and street, and while away their days in the teahouses.

Drying Noddles in Weishan
Drying Noddles in Weishan

Women sit by the roadside, grilling vegetables, or tend to their small shops. Long strings of drying noodles sway in the gentle breeze and baskets of freshly picked boletus, neatly arranged in wicker baskets, wait for buyers.

Drying Noodles Weishan
Drying Noodles Weishan

Local transport is equally divided between the motorized and the equine, with trishaws and horse carts vying for right of way in the narrow streets. The peace is only broken by the antics of the local madman who runs up and down the street, naked apart from something resembling a Polynesian skirt, and provides the principal entertainment of the day.

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Laomeng Market Jinping Yunnan

For an updated and complete version of Laomeng Market with new photos please click here:

Laomeng Market (Jinping, Yunnan Province)



The hotel owner in Yuanyang had told us to get there early, as many of the hill tribe people have to walk all the way back and the market starts breaking up at around noon.

First to Arrive

So we got to Laomeng at about 8:30, where we were among the first to arrive. We walked once round the town and had a look at the few stalls already set up by a small number of colourfully dressed Miao ladies and some older Yi women. Most of them seemed as curious about us, as we were about them. By the time we got back to our starting point, dozens of vans, carts and other vehicles had already arrived, unloading hundreds of passengers and all kinds of goods.

a kaleidoscopic mix of colours

They brought with them a kaleidoscopic mix of colours, as ladies from the Hani, Yao, Yi, Miao and Black Thai ethnic groups spilled out from the back and descended upon the market for a few hours of frenzied buying and selling.

For the next 3 hours we were treated to a visual feast that left us drained and out of film. Our driver had filled us in on some of the intricacies of the local costumes, so we were more or less able to distinguish between the women from the different ethnic groups.

Miao Fruit Sellers
Miao Fruit Sellers