Long Horn Miao in Guizhou: A Travel Guide to the Suoga Villages

Read my travel guide to Suoga Miao Village, home of the Long Horn Miao, and find out how to visit this hidden gem in the western part of Guizhou.

Guizhou is still one of the most underrated provinces in China. True, it also has some of the most commercialized ethnic villages in the country, such as Zhaoxing and Xijiang, but all around them are hundreds of little-known villages waiting to be discovered.

Interestingly, most of these Miao and Dong villages are concentrated mainly in two areas: Congjiang and Kaili, but I recently discovered a very interesting area in the western part of the province, not too far from Anshun (安顺), where it’s also possible to explore the unique Miao culture. From what I knew, Anshun already had a lot of potential as a semi-unknown destination for western tourists, thanks to its beautiful nature, but after discovering it, I can confidently say that Anshun is worth a visit.

To be precise, the villages in the area are home to the Longhorn Miao (also called Long Horn with a space in between words), a unique branch of the Miao ethnic group, with a population of only about 4,000. They mainly live in 12 villages centered on Gaoxing: 4 in the Gaoxing area, 1 in Anzhu Village, 2 in Xinhua Township, and 5 in Zhijin County. The most famous is Gaoxing laozhai (高兴老寨), located in Suoga Township within the Liuzhi Special District, and that’s the place I visited. The area lies between 1,400 and 2,200 meters above sea level and spans a mountainous landscape that still feels quite isolated today.

Quick introduction to Long Horn Miao Villages

While doing some research, I kept coming across a weird name: Suoga Eco-Museum. What confused me was the eco-museum part. After doing some research, it turns out that this eco-museum is not a single building. It includes a cluster of 12 villages. Altogether, the population is small, somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 people.

The idea of turning this area into an eco-museum started in the mid-1990s, through a collaboration between Chinese institutions and Norwegian experts. The goal was quite different from a traditional museum. Instead of collecting objects and moving them somewhere else, the idea was to preserve culture where it naturally exists.

The project officially opened in 1998, becoming the first eco-museum in China. Since then, the area has slowly opened up to tourism, although it still feels far from mainstream destinations.

The name Long Horn Miao comes from the headdresses worn by women. These are nowadays decorative items made for tourists, but they were part of a long-standing tradition. The headdresses are constructed from wooden frames, hair, wool, and thread, and can be surprisingly heavy. In the past, they were worn more regularly; now you will mostly see them during special occasions or when visitors are around.

How to get to Gaoxing Village (高兴村), and when is the best time to visit

Getting to Gaoxing really depends on where you are starting your trip. Most people will likely arrive from Yunnan (possibly Kunming) or Guiyang (Guizhou’s capital). In either case, you can take a high-speed train to Anshun, then take a 1.5-hour car ride to the village. Remember that, despite most online guides telling you to go to Suoga, the place where you will find the Miao women is actually called Gaoxin. Even then can be quite confusing because there are a few villages with exactly the same name in the area.

Suoga is the main urban center, while Gaoxing is one of the many smaller villages in the mountains. In any case, send me a DM on Instagram if you need a driver to take you to that area.

As for the timing, since the photoshoot will take place indoors, you can visit this area year-round, which is really great, considering that many places in China are only suitable for photography at specific times.

Where to stay and for how long

It doesn’t really take much time to visit the village. This is for two main reasons: first, because there’s nothing to see in the village itself, and second, since your goal is to see the women with the traditional hairstyle, if you consider the time for them to get ready and the time to take some pictures, it usually wouldn’t require more than a couple of hours.

For this reason, I don’t really recommend spending a night there. Another thing to keep in mind is that all the hotels in Souga are kind of terrible, so it’s probably better to visit the village and then continue on to your next destination.

How to visit the village

When you arrive in the village, you’ll most likely see some women who will try to approach you, asking you if you want to take pictures of them, and in that case, you’ll have to negotiate a fee. If you want your pictures to have more impact, I recommend asking a couple of women, and maybe one of their nieces, to all dress up together.

Another tip is to shoot inside one of the renovated traditional wooden houses: the interiors of the new regular houses are really terrible for photography, whereas the traditional homes are really perfect.

Final thoughts

I’ll be honest. There’s nothing truly authentic in this area except for a simple way of life common to every poorer village across the country. As in all rural areas in China, all the houses have been renovated and look new, and the people living there have long stopped the tradition of wearing long hair. This is obviously reasonable since it’s quite inconvenient. So if you are expecting to reach a lonely village where time has somehow stopped, and people are still living as they did centuries ago, you’ll be disappointed.

The moment you walk into the village, you’ll be chased by women asking you for money if you want to take pictures, and that’s also absolutely reasonable: just not the kind of experience many people have in mind when they see the pictures of the place. This is quite similar to what happens with the cormorant fishermen in Xingping.

That said, if you are into photography or simply want to see firsthand a reenactment of how women used to live, this can be quite a niche and interesting experience: you pay a fee, and the local women will dress up for you. Just be mentally prepared for this unique experience.

Here are my guides to the other two great places in Guizhou: Zhenyuan Ancient Town and Fanjing Mountain. Here are some more pictures I took in Suoga.

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