Category: China, 2012

Master Weavers and a Chaotic Festival

November 10

Breakfast in the hotel includes some scrambled eggs, so I actually eat a real morning meal.

Stopped at Wengxiang village, where we saw a terrific master weaver named Madam Li Jing Ying and her mother, Deseng, who wove, sang and did a little dance for us. Went overboard on the photos, as I think everyone in the group did, because it was such a terrific, colorful setting. (I took 280 there, but walked back with a group member who had taken 550. Also took some video of the singing and dancing with my iPhone, which i should have been doing all along, but haven’t.) The quality of her work was comparable to what we saw in Madam Yang’s museum. Afterwards, the group bought a good deal of embroidery from her, easily making her month, if not her year. Suzette is the champion shopper in the group.

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Lunch in Panghai, then drive about an hour to Gulong for our last festival. Huge traffic/parking jam on the way forces us to stop/park well short of the festival and hike down into something of a hectic mob scene. Initially waded through the muck to see bull fights at a great distance. Did not stay long, though, and made my way into another area.

Costumes of all sorts, traditional and modern, cotton candy made the old fashioned way, cute little kids, including small girls in full regalia dancing, popular singers performing on large stage to a very attentive audience, bulls being led down the street, hair dos of all sorts on women and men, some folks who had had a bit too much to drink, men carrying their song birds in covered cages. Different in scope and pace from the others festivals we’ve seen. Difficult to photograph, but once you accepted that, it’s a lot of fun just to soak in. So spread out and chaotic that I find out later that I missed an entire area where dances were done, which I regretted, but I was not the only one to miss it.

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After two and a half hours, hike back up the hill to our bus and make our way through heavy traffic back to our hotel. Forty-five minutes to clean up then down for dinner at the hotel. Nevada has brought along a big stash of chocolates, and every night passes them around after dinner. I’ve gotten addicted.

3 comments to Master Weavers and a Chaotic Festival

  • Eve Lecvine

    Loved the photo with the mirror! I will miss your blogs. If I send chocolates will you go on another trip?

  • Alison Edwards

    I can see changes in the photos! New angles, more complex composition… Thanks for taking your friends along on this fascinating trip.

    Hugs,
    Alison

  • Wendy

    Dadz,
    I’ll look forward to seeing the video of the weaving and singing.
    Quite a mob scene!
    Sorry to be so predictable, but I love the photos of the young girls dancing.
    And I see from Alison that I’m not the only one noticing a difference in your photos. Good confirmation that it’s not just the power of suggestion.
    L,
    W.

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