Without Silver Jewelry, A Chinese Miao Village Attracts Tourists With Beautiful Songs Of Birds
The Four Seals Miao is a small tribe of the Miao minority group who inhabit the mountainous area of southwestern China. Although they don’t have silver jewelry like other Miao tribes, they attract tourists home and abroad with their unique and ethnic culture. They got their name Four Seals from women’s garments sporting four bright square designs embroidered on the front, back, and sleeves, which are exactly like four large seals.
Their beautiful hometown, a village called Maige, has many thrushes that are famous for their beautiful, intoxicating sounds. Every morning you can hear the birds singing loudly like a concert held in the forest. Thus the village got a nickname home of thrushes.
Most thrushes are characterized by their yellow or brown plumage and brightly spotted breasts. The rest have pure white, silvery, or red plumage. Singing lovely songs, the birds also imitate the sounds of other animals and birds. While you walk in the forest, you may here the sound of a hen, a goose, or a dog. These interesting sounds are all made by a thrush.
Thrushes enjoy fighting. In the forest, they have their own territories. If one thrush’s home is invaded by others, a fight will occur.
The local people like to raise thrushes. Wherever they go, a market, a friend’s home, they always carry their birds with them in a cage, so that they can enjoy listening to the birds singing, and watching them fighting.
Thrush fighting competition is held frequently. A thrush which is raised carefully for a few months can be a great fighter and sell for a good price. Birds business has becoming more and more popular among the Miao area. Some birds are even sold to other areas of China and overseas. In 2007, a thrush raised by a villager in Maige was sold at RMB 280,000 to a man from Hong Kong.
Artists get inspiration from the thrush, and have created lots of beautiful songs and dances about the bird.
Why do the local people enjoy raising thrushes? And why do thrushes always like to fight with each other? Here is a story:
A long time ago, an old couple lived peacefully in a village with their ten sons. When they grew up, all ten of them were married. With ten more women in the family, the peaceful life of the old couple was ruined. Everyday the women quarreled with one another, which ultimately destroyed the good relationships among the sons. After deciding to break up with the big family and live apart from one another, the sons divided the land and property given to them by the old couple, who chose to live with their youngest son and his wife.
Of the ten wives of their sons, nine were lazy and stupid. Only the one with the youngest son was smart and diligent. This diligent couple worked hard on their farmland, and began to live a prosperous life. Lazy and poor, all other sons and wives eventually had to start borrowing money from them. But the endless borrowing caused the young couple to run out all of their money and became impoverished themselves. To continue to live, the old couple had to go to the mountains to gather wild fruits for food.
One day when the old couple were in the mountain, weeping and sighing, an elderly man came to ask what’s happening. The couple told the man their sad experience. The man said, “Go home now. You will find food at home.”
The old couple got home. To their surprise, they found a lot of birds twittering around their house. Their nine sons and daughters-in-law disappeared. Only the youngest son and his wife were preparing food in the kitchen.
The elderly man that they met in the mountain was actually the Bodhisattva, who turned their nine sons and their wives into 18 thrushes.
From then on, the 18 thrushes lived around the house, singing and fighting everyday. Feeling sorry for them, the old couple built bird cages for them to stay. This was how the Miao peoples tradition of keeping thrushes started.
When you visit Maige, don’t miss other Miao tribes close by. Their beautiful silver jewelry won’t disappoint you.
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