Photo Essay: Chinese Cultural Dancers of Chengyang Village

By Mark Wiens 2 Comments
Dong Culture
Chengyang Cultural Dance Show

Chengyang is a cultural touristy village located in Guangxi Province of China (about 4 hours from Yangshuo).

They are famous for their ancient artistic bridges and for their well preserved culture of Dong Heritage.

Now, I’m not normally too much into cultural tourist shows, but after enjoying a lovely Chinese tea drinking ceremony, watching the cultural dance show (which was free) was pretty cool!

I especially admired the musical instruments and the brightly colored costumes paired with their jewelry.

Chinese Cultural Show
Chengyang Cultural Show, China

Now although the Chengyang dance cultural show was rather touristy, the majority of the tourists were Chinese locals.

The flutes and musical tunes that the dancer played were terrific!

Cool Chinese Flutes
Cool Chinese Flutes

All the dancers were dressed in their traditional Chinese Dong outfits. The men wore white Chinese shirts and the women dressed in indigo dyed baggy shirts.

Their colorful headdresses were pretty cool too!

Visiting Chengyang, China
Chengyang, China

Again, the highlight of the show to me were all the different types of flutes – maybe 10 different kinds!

Dong Cultural Show in Chengyang, China
Chinese String Instruments

Putting down the flutes, the male dancers then picked up Chinese banjo like instruments and started strumming away.

The Coolest Flute
The Coolest Flute

I thought this double ended bamboo pole flute was pretty interesting as well! I don’t know how it works, but it sounded great!

Chinese Cultural Dance Show in Chengyang, China
Chinese Cultural Dance Show in Chengyang, China

So though I’m not always a fan of tourist oriented shows, the Chengyang cultural dance is definitely worth it.

The show is free once you are in Chengyang village (there is 1 time mandatory entrance fee into the village itself), and they hold multiple dances daily.

The village of Chengyang is doing a good job of preserving their ancient Dong culture.

2 comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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  • Daniel McBane

    12 years ago

    I did not make it to Chengyang when I was in the area last year, since I ended up spending the night in the Ping An Rice terraces instead. I really enjoyed that, so I can’t say I missed out, but the pictures you took certainly look interesting. I’m not generally a fan of shows like this either, but in China, watching Chinese tourists experiencing a minority culture is a cultural experience in itself.

    • Mark Wiens

      12 years ago

      Yah, exactly right Daniel! Normally I don’t go to shows either, but since this was free and we were right there, it was actually pretty cool – and I did enjoy the music especially. When we travel, if you really enjoy an area, and don’t go to another area, there’s no regrets!