Dong women in Fulu, Guangxi, China 1993

Dong women in Fulu, Guangxi Province ion southern China in 1993.

Detail on Dong drum tower in village near Congjiang, Guizhou 1993

This photo shows a detail on a Dong drum tower in a village near Congjiang in Guizhou Province in southern China. The photo was taken in Autumn 1993. We could certainly learn a lot from the Dong people's non-materialistic style of living, at least at that time. I wonder if they've all got computers, cars and mobile phones now or do they still live the same way they did before.

Wind and rain bridge near Congjiang, Guizhou 1993

Here is a photo of a wind and rain bridge designed and built by members of the Dong minority near Congjiang in Guizhou Province, China in 1993.

Dong people doing their washing in the river

Here are some Dong minority people doing their washing in the river in their village near Congjiang in Guizhou Province, China, in 1993.

Bulang Girl, Xishuangbanna 1993

This is a beautiful Bulang girl at a market in Xishuangbanna in 1993

Dong village near Congjiang, Guizhou 1993

This is a Dong village near Congjiang, Guizhou, China in 1993. Not a concrete building in sight!

Here is a nearby waterwheel.

Girl at Huangcaoba market, Yunnan, 1993

Here is a shy girl at Huangcaoba market in Yunnan, China in 1993. Her mother features in another of my photos on this blog. There were mainly green mandarins and green bananas for sale at the market.

Bulang family in Xishuangbanna

This is a photo of a Bulang family taken in a village in Xishuangbanna in Yunnan in 1993. It's a posed shot but I like it - It's one of my favourite photos from the time in China. We talked to various families in the village in their wooden houses raised off the ground and one woman told us she was planning to build a new house. She wanted a concrete one so the rain wouldn't come in. We took fruit (mango) to give to the children. The next day we saw the woman at the local market but she was a bit embarrassed about waving to us.

Dong child at Fulu, Guangxi 1993

This is a close-up of a Dong child taken in Fulu, Guangxi in 1993. There was a market with people coming from round about to buy and sell things.

There was no bridge across the river and Fulu was at the end of the road. A road alongside the river was under construction but to reach our destination Sanjiang we had to take a slow boat up the river.

We nearly got away without paying as the ticket inspector girl on the boat thought we had already paid. We sat at the front of the boat and watched as the captain guided us slowly upstream against a fairly strong current. Progress was slow. We passed another boat with another "laowai" on it who waved to us. We also bought some fried sticky rice snacks at a stop on the way. When we got near to Sanjiang we saw a boat which had sunk.

Dong woman in Sanjiang

This is a close-up photo of a Dong woman taken in the market in Sanjiang, Guangxi, China in 1993. There were hundreds of women and a few men dressed in traditional costumes who had come from the surrounding villages to the market to buy and sell produce. Some were barefoot and some carried produce in baskets suspended from a pole across their shoulders. In the villages there were no cars and only people on foot.

You can see the beautiful jewellery that the women wore - a silver hairpin and elegant earrings.

In Sanjiang we met a Japanese photographer who was doing a study of the Dong people but he was a bit aggressive with his photo taking and stuck his camera in their faces. Not nice!

Introduction

This is a new blog where I am going to post information and photos of China's ethnic minority people taken in 1993.