Taijiang County 台江县

Setting and landscape

The land fans out and falls from the southwest towards the east and north. The Qingshui River flows west to east and forms the county's northern boundary, while the Taijiang (台江河), Bala (巴拉河) and Xiaojiang (小江河) rivers run north into it.

History

For a long time this was "raw Miao" (生苗) country outside direct imperial rule, organised in nine drum societies rather than under a hereditary chieftain. The Qing campaigned into the Miao hills from 1726 and in 1733 set up Taigong Subprefecture (台拱厅) under Zhenyuan Prefecture (镇远府). A Miao uprising led by Zhang Xiumei (张秀眉) broke out in 1855, centred on Taigong, and lasted 17 years before the Hunan Army put it down. Taigong became a county in 1914; in 1941 it absorbed part of Danjiang County (丹江县), and the new name joined the "Tai" of Taigong with the "Jiang" of Danjiang.

Festivals and what to see

The Miao Sisters' Meal Festival (苗族姊妹节), on the national intangible heritage list since 2006, is held from the 15th to the 17th of the third lunar month around Laotun (老屯) and Shidong (施洞). Young women in festival dress and silver dance to the drum, and at night young people sing to each other; "sisters' rice" (姊妹饭) is eaten and given as a love token, sometimes with a hidden object inside.

The Miao dugout dragon-boat festival (苗族独木龙舟节), listed in 2008, runs from the 24th to the 27th of the fifth lunar month on the Qingshui River at Tangba (塘坝村) in Shidong town. Each boat, 24 to 27 metres long, is carved from three large fir trunks and paddled by 36 rowers wearing hats trimmed with silver, while a drummer in old ceremonial dress beats time.

Taijiang Miao embroidery (苗绣), listed in 2011, goes with a dress tradition that falls into nine styles by content and form, and uses stitches from flat and crinkle to horsehair and seed stitch; dragons, fish, butterflies, centipedes and bats are the commonest motifs. On Liuyueliu (六月六), Taipan (台盘村) village hosts the basketball games of the Chixin new-rice festival, known as "Cun BA" (村BA).

Highlights

• Miao Sisters' Meal Festival 苗族姊妹节: National intangible heritage (2006); third lunar month, around Laotun and Shidong, with sisters' rice as a love token.
• Shidong dugout dragon-boat festival 苗族独木龙舟节: National intangible heritage (2008); boats carved from fir trunks race on the Qingshui River at Shidong.
• Taijiang Miao embroidery 苗绣: National intangible heritage (2011); nine dress styles and more than a dozen stitch types.
• Sisters' rice 姊妹饭: Festival rice eaten and exchanged as a love token during the Sisters' Meal Festival.