Baima Tibetan Villages Tielou Area 白马藏族村寨铁楼片区

About Baima Tibetan Villages Tielou Area

The Xinhua feature by Lang Bingbing is written around a Baima wedding at Zhaikeqiao village in the township. It records that the Baima Tibetans are descendants of the ancient Di people and are mainly distributed along the Gansu-Sichuan border, and it describes the wedding feast of ten big bowls, a dish set the page illustrates with steamed pork, crisp pork, meatballs and honey sweets among others, followed by the custom of guests singing auspicious songs and visiting households through the village.

At Caoheba village the page records mountain gates, stone pillars and roof ridges decorated with Baima masks and white feathers. It says the Baima have a spoken language but no script, and pass on their culture mainly through sung ballads and folk activities, and that the mask dance Chige Zhou, the fire-circle dance and welcome songs survive to the present, with Chige Zhou formed out of farming and hunting life and on the first national list of intangible cultural heritage.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism's rural tourism route page describes Tielou Tibetan township as the settlement area of the Baima Tibetans and places the Baima River scenic area, a 4A-grade tourist scenic area, on the upper Baima River at 1,300 m above sea level. It lists a Baima original-life experience house, where visitors sit round the hearth, sing, hear stories, eat cured ribs and taste five-colour gazan wine; five guesthouses at Caoheba with 28 rooms, built against the hillside in plain timber; the fire-circle dance, also called the round dance, danced round a bonfire in festival dress with long white feathers in the headdress; and the ten big bowls, ten dishes served in ten bowls. Its suggested three-day route runs from south-eastern Gansu to Wenxian Tianchi, the Wenxian panda base, the rapeseed flowers at Bikou old town and Caoheba village, best in April and May.

Neither page gives opening arrangements or ticket information for any of the villages, and the ministry page's room counts are its listing for 2022. The Xinhua feature records a poverty rate of 30.86% for the township in 2013; that is a 2013 figure and is reported as such.

What to look for

• Caoheba village, with its mountain gates, stone pillars and roof ridges decorated with Baima masks and white feathers
• The mask dance Chige Zhou, on the first national list of intangible cultural heritage, and the fire-circle dance, also called the round dance
• The ten-bowl feast, a set of ten dishes served in ten bowls, developed by local people from the local environment and produce
• The Baima River scenic area on the upper Baima River at 1,300 m above sea level

Location & getting there

Getting to Baima Tibetan Villages Tielou Area

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

• Search for 白马藏族村寨铁楼片区 with 陇南市 and 文县.