Puzhehei - a Place of Abundance

Nature is always a part of our mind and body. You can resist a place that is vast expanse. Puzhehei are mostly lived with minority citizen where they have a bit different cultures and interesting festival. The purpose their festival can be conduct to celebrate something such as celebrating traditional lifestyle from ancient China where it bring good luck to people and the land. It also has plenty other more viewpoints inside of Puzhehei. High mountains, big and blue lakes and gorge.  

Puzhehei (pǔ zhě hēi 普者黑) National Tourist Resort is located in Qiubei County (qiū běi xiàn 丘北县), Wenshan (wén shān 文山) in Southeast Yunnan, 280 km from Kunming (kūn míng 昆明). It takes on Karst geological features and covers a total area of 165 square kilometers. It was noted for the world- rare and domestic- unique karst landscape and pastoral scenery since 1993.

In the dialect of the Sani People (sā ní rén 撒尼人) who is a branch of the Yi (yí zú 彝族) ethnic minority, “Pu Zhe Hei” means a place abounding in fish and shrimps. The scenic area gets known for hills, lakes, underground Karst caves and ethnic villages etc. There are altogether 256 tourist sites, 312 isolate hills (peaks), 83 caves, 54 lakes and 40,000 acres of Karst wetlands. There are about 100 karst caves, most with two floors - a higher dry cave and a lower wet cave with an elevation of 1,450 meters. Puzhehei is deemed “the unique pastoral land with Karst landforms” and “beautiful paradise”.

As one of the hottest tourist destinations in Southeast Yunnan, Puzhehei was approved as National AAAA-class tourist scenic spot in 2009. It has been named as the National Wetland Park in 2012. In the Puzhehei, the beautiful lakes and mountains composed a beautiful scenery for your eyes.There are 68 Karst Lakes and over 300 mountain peaks. It is also named "the Guilin in Yunnan” (yún nán guì lín 云南桂林) which means the most beautiful place in Yunnan. The limpid lakes, countless green hills, flourishing lotus flowers and small villages side by side attract hundreds of thousands of tourist every year.

Minority Culture

Ethnics living there are mainly Yi, Zhuang (zhuàng zú 壮族) and Miao (miáo zú 苗族) all of whom have developed colorful ethnic cultures of their own.

The Sani people there claim themselves “Sanipo”. They believe they are the descendants of the Sani People in the Stone Forest who fled to Qiubei Area some 400 years ago. The entire village is made up of 75 families or 780 villagers, all of whom are Sani - a branch of the Yi Minority.

As many other minorities do in Yunnan Province, the Sani People believe in animism which makes their traditional festivals mysteriously linked to gods and the nature. They deem themselves a nation that was gave birth by trees. That’s probably why a huge sacred tree is enshrined as the Dragon Tree on their yearly Mizhi Festival (mì zhī jiē 密枝节).

Girls of the Zhuang ethnic group dressed in folk costumes which are adorned with jingling silver ornaments and embroidery, row little wooden boats and send visitors along the winding 21-km water corridor through Luoshuidong Lake (luò shuǐ dòng hú 落水洞湖), Puzhehei Lake (pǔ zhě hēi hú 普者黑湖) and Xianren Lake(xiān rén hú 仙人湖).

Festivals

Dragon Worship Festival of Zhuang

Dragon Worship Festival (jì lóng jiē 祭龙节) of Zhuang  is a famous tradional festival in Puzhehei.

Date: 3rd of of the third month by lunar calendar
Venue: Nahong Village (nà hóng cūn 那红村), Qiubei County, Wenshan Prefecture

Painted-Face Festival

Date: 24th day of the sixth month - 24th day of the seventh month by lunar calendar
Venue: Puzhehei Scenic Area of Qiubei County, Wenshan Prefecture.

With the history of more than 1,000 years, most known in Puzhehei, Puzhehei Yi Painted-Face Festival (huā liǎn jié 花脸节) is the unique traditional festival of Yis in Qiubei County, Yunnan. During the festival, there are activities such as grand performance for the opening ceremony, face-painting carnival, water splashing and fish catching competition. The climax of the activity is when people blacken faces mutually with pot soot to express good wishes. Its extraordinarily exciting air attracts ten thousands of people every year. It’s extremely popular or preferred by the young people. On the festival, lard and chimney soot is mixed into paste to be smeared by people each other to make fun.

Mizhi Festival

Mizhi festival (mì zhī jiē 密枝节) is one of the main traditional festivals spent by the Sani people living in counties such as Shilin (shí lín xiàn 石林县), Mile (mí lè xiàn 弥勒县) and Qiubei etc. Functioning as a religious service of the Sanis, it is routinely held from the second Rat Day to the Horse Day of the lunar November, lasting about seven days; it's billed as "men's day" because many ceremonies are merely attended by male Sani villagers.

Attractions

Luoshuidong Lake

Luoshuidong Lake stretch 10 km from south to north. It is the deepest lake in the tourist region with an average depth of 4 meters, with the deepest point being 30 meters. Tourists can hear the Zhuang girls singing their love songs while sailing along with the current on the crystal water. The Yi and Miao live a peaceful life here.

Puzhehei Lake

The Puzhehei Lake, meaning "fish and shrimp pool" in the Yi language, is 2.5 km long, 300 meters wide and about 3 meters deep. In the area there are 51 isolated peaks with the village houses of red tiles scattered on the sides. Living in the houses are 3,000 Yi people. Mount Dalong (dà lóng shān 大龙山), 109 meters above the water level, is located to the southwest of the lake, and eight karst caves link each other at the foot of it. A lotus pool with an area of 300 hectares, stretching 5 km, reflects forests on the hills, presenting scenery of exceptional charm.

Yezhutang

Yezhutang (yě zhū táng 野猪塘) to the north of Puzhehei Lake is a perfectly protected cave burial ground of the ancient Yi people. The ancient Yi buried their dead in the earth and never visited the grave, but the head of the ethnic group would hide a cherry log (28 cm high with a diameter of 40 cm) in a cave in the forest, representing the soul of the dead. Locals hold a sacrificial ceremony every three years, which attracts many tourists and experts.

Houpayan Gorge 

Houpayan Gorge (hóu pá yán xiá gǔ 猴爬岩峡谷) is 60 km east of Qiubei County. The precipitous gorge is 9 km long, 500-800 meters wide at the top and 30-100 meters wide at the bottom, with a contrasting height of 400-500 meters. It is a wonderful place for exploration and rock climbing. Lively tropical and subtropical plants cover 450,000 square meters of the hot and clammy gorge bottom, which is also home to such wild animals as monkeys, snakes, pythons, chamois, golden pheasants, wide boars and foxes.
　　

Xianrendong Village

Xianrendong Village (xiān rén dòng cūn 仙人洞村) is a typical Sani village with limpid lakes and lush vegetation. It is totally a fairyland of Puzhehei.


Tips

How to get

You can take regular long distance buses at the bus station of Kunming heading for the seat of Qiubei County. The ticket costs 45 yuan in day time and 65 yuan at night. The distance is 275 kilometers. Driving time is about 4 hours to Qiubei. From Qiubei you can catch a minibus or taxi to Puzhehei. Costs range from 45 Yuan to 65 Yuan. You get off at the crossing near the Puzhehei Scenic Region and take a cab to reach the Xianrendong Village 3 kilometers' away.

When to visit

The best season there is from May to September, especially in July and August when the lotus flowers blossom. Don't forget to carry your swimming suit. 

Where to stay

Tourists can choose to lodge at the seat of the Qiubei County or to stay at the Puzhehei Resort where the price is slightly higher.

Tel: 0876-4610006
Opening Hours: 7:30-17:30
Ticket: CNY 200 (including admission fee and boat fee).

Zhonglian (Nicole) Yang

Reference: http://www.foreignercn.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8470:puzhehei-a-place-of-abundance&catid=37:travel-in-yunnan&Itemid=121