Before the 1990s, Basha (岜沙) was a small village almost unknown to the rest of the world. Perched on a hill about 7 km away from the central town of Congjiang County, in Southwest China's Guizhou Province, the village is home to around 470 households and 2,200 Miao ethnic people, who had been leading a life that was virtually untouched by modernization.

Below are some photos published on September 14, 2007 at sxxw.net from Chen Jingjie, a photographer working for the Three Gorges Evening Post.

They grew rice in the mountains and fed poultry at home. They lived in wooden stilted houses and built rafts to dry un-husked rice. In their spare time, men hunted, and women stayed at home weaving cloth and making shoes.

 

They wore traditional attire and grew their hair long. Even men, with the brims of their heads shaved with a sickle, grew their hair long enough in the center to be coiled atop of their heads.

 

They worshipped trees in a way that most others would worship their ancestors. They married people from the same village or those in close vicinity, and most of them had never even been to the central town of Congjiang County, even though it was only 7 km away. read more....

 

(China.org.cn November 27, 2007)