Drum Tower Of Dong Dong Minority

The Beijing Zoo is a zoological park in Beijing, China. Located in the Xicheng District, the zoo occupies an area of 89 hectares (220 acres), including 5.6 hectares (14 acres) hectares of lakes and ponds. It is one of the oldest zoos in China and has one of the largest animal collections in the country.

The zoo and its aquarium has over 450 species of land animals and over 500 species of marine animals. In all, it is home to 14,500 animals. More than six million visitors come to the zoo each year. The zoo was founded in 1906 during the late Qing Dynasty. Like many of Beijing's parks, the zoo's grounds resemble classical Chinese gardens, with flower beds amidst natural scenery, including dense groves of trees, stretches of meadows, small streams and rivers, lotus pools and hills dotted with pavilions and historical buildings.

The Beijing Zoo is best known for its collection of rare animals endemic to China including the Giant Pandas, which are zoo's most popular animals, the golden snub-nosed monkey, South China Tiger, white-lipped deer, Pere David's Deer, Crested Ibis, Chinese Alligator and the Chinese Giant Salamander. Other endangered or threatened species include Siberian tiger, yak, Przewalski's horse, snow leopard, Tibetan gazelle, and kiang.

The zoo also has a broad collection of megafauna such as lion, jaguar, clouded leopard, Asian and African elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, black bear, polar bear, tapir, sea turtle, penguin, gorilla, chimpanzee, kangaroo, muntjac, addax, zebra, otter, bat, flamingo and lemur. The Beijing Zoo has 13 of the world's 15 species of cranes.

Inside the Zoo, the Beijing Ocean Hall was opened to the public in 1999. It is the biggest ocean hall in China. The spacious hall is subdivided into several zones: the Hall of Tropical Rain Forest, the Hall of the Shark, the Ocean Theater, and the Ocean Library and Reading Hall as well as a few others. Visitors can expect to see a variety of sea creatures up close and personal, learn more about their natural living environment in the ocean, and enjoy an entertaining sea animal show. The beauty and grace of the animals will make your trip hard to forget.

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Basha Miao Village——An Old Miao Ethnic Village

Basha is a very special and old Miao Ethnic village and is virtually untouched in any way by modernization. Basha residents still live in their wooden houses, practice centuries-old customs and have their own unique beliefs.

Basha village is home to over 1,000 residents living in more than 400 households. Lying on the southern border Guizhou, Basha village is famed for being China 's last tribe of gunmen. Their ancestors were frontline troops who charged through forests and fought the bears there -- all to guard the land where they lived. Through hundreds of years, they have been guarding their homeland. Still today the men in Basha preserve their musketeer heritage, which makes Basha the only tribe that can legally carry real guns in China. A strong sense of precaution inherited from their ancestors keeps this village isolated from the outside world. The villagers lead a self-sufficient life in the hilly areas and retain the dressing and living customs hundreds of years ago.

Old customs and traditions 

Welcome Ceremony with Guns: Visitors to Basha frequently are greeted outside the village in the traditional manner by a group of the Basha men carrying weapons of long rifles. Please don't be frightened!! They are the locals practicing a traditional welcoming ceremony.

Adult Ceremony: Like men of the Imperial Dynasties, most Basha men-folk still wear their hair long. As little children, Basha boys, like girls, have to keep their hair until they are 16 years old. The Adult Ceremony is when the boy becoming a man is held and he is allowed to decide whether to keep his long hair. The Adult ceremony is held to have a young man's head shaved or to keep his hair which is twisted and coiled atop the head.

Worshipping Trees: Around the Basha Village, there are many large tall trees. Like many other tribes, who take an animal or material as their totem, Basha people worship trees. On important occasions or some traditional festivals, villagers usually burn incense under big ancient tress to pray for heath and happiness. A tree is planted on the birth of a baby. Often it will be cut down to make a coffin for burial purposes when that person eventually dies.

Unique Dress Code: People in Basha maintain their unique code of dress dating back to the Qin Dynasty. Basha men usually wear a collarless coat with buttons on the left side or down the front with baggy short trousers. Basha men don't usually wear shoes, even in the cold winter. However women's clothes are more colorful. A coat buttoned down the front, a kilt and more colorful wrappings are the usual make-up for women.
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Xijiang Miao Village----the Biggest Miao Village in China

Exploring Chinese ethnic minority villages in the southwestern province of Guizhou, one will be fascinated by the locals' exotic dress, daily life and the unique architecture of their wooden houses. Situated in 37 kilometers northeast of the county town, Xijiang Miao village is one such place that researchers call a living fossil for the study of Miao people's history and traditional culture. There are 12 natural villages, 1,200 families and 6,000 people, becoming the biggest Miao village in China, famous as the "one-thousand-Household Miao village" and a historical cultural ancient town.

The village is located by the valley and surrounded by overlapping mountains, with terraced fields rising along the slopes to the clouds and the Baishui (White Water) River flowing through and cutting the village into two. Miao hillside pile-dwellings stand tier upon tier along the two banks to the mountain. Thick bamboo groves are dotting before and behind the houses. Beautiful maple leaves cover the villages on the top and at the bottom of the mountain.

The village is also a center for grand festivals and celebrations of Miao people in the area. Famous festivals include the Lusheng Festival, the New Year, and the harvest celebration, during which the Miao people worship their ancestors and celebrate the autumn harvest. The celebrations are featured by songs and dances accompanied by the Lusheng, a Miao wind instrument. Chen Suoying is a tourist from Guangdong

Xijiang Miao people have a long history, which dates back to the Chiyou Tribe. It is said that Chiyou's third son's descendants had formed the Miao cultural system before moving to Xijiang, and lived in a self-management for quite a long period, therefore, the Miao culture can be well preserved and developed, becoming a place where the Miao culture of "primitive state" is comparatively completely conserved, thus called " a national open-air museum".

Xijiang Miao people are brave and hard-working, good at singing and dancing. The village is called "a sea of songs and dances", and the villagers sing songs to express their feelings and perform dances to celebrate their bumper harvests and to greet good luck. High-pitched beautiful flying songs, tactful and touching love songs or wine songs, Gabaifu songs, farewell songs sung at home all have their own tunes with emotion and scene mixed together. Xijiang Miao festivals are rich and colorful, such as the Tasting-Ripening-Grain Festival, the Miaoniao festival, the Guzang Festival, etc. Once you come to Xijiang, you will enjoy the Miao songs, dances, customs, rites, costumes and silver ornaments.
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