Miao Still Life

A shot from the Miao village of Wudong in Guizhou, China. The careful woodwork on the windows, the orange of the drying corn, the weathered wood of the walls. Image has a nice autumn feel to it.

Field Notes

I couldn't resist posting this. This is what the field notes look like from the Wudong transect (see Transect at Wudong).  In spite of the rain, everything is perfectly readable. And Zhiyao Lu's Chinese characters make the whole thing a work of art. Yang Chenghua from the Guizhou Academy of Forestry added the Latin binomials in the margins. My field notes have never looked this good. 

Room With A View II

This little back room was in one of the Miao houses in Wudong village where we did an interview.  Can you imagine brushing your teeth every morning with this view in front of you? [NOTE: See Room With a View for another beautiful dwelling vista]. 

Miao Decor

Interior of one of the Miao houses in the village of Wudong where we did interviews. How many clocks can you find in this picture?  [HINT: There are as many clocks as posters of notable Communists.]  If you zoom in, each clock shows a different time.

Transect at Wudong

In spite of the constant rain, we managed to finish a 1,000 sq. meter transect down a 40% slope in the forests outside of Wudong.  Was a slippery mess. That's Yang Chenghua in the back (with the great hat) from the Guizhou Academy of Forestry; he identified all of the trees for us. Zhiyao Lu, a Master's student at Minzu University in Beijing, leads the way down the slope. Yao did a great job tallying the data and keeping the fieldbook dry.  And all the tree names were written in beautiful Chinese characters (many thx, Mr. Yang and Yao).   

Wudong

Another day of household surveys, this time in the Miao village of Wudong.  The first interview of the day was with this wonderful fellow and his dog.  Non-stop smiles and much good information about the local use of Chinese fir. The only bad thing was that I left my baseball cap in his house.  

The shot below is mostly to give you some idea about the architecture of the houses in this village.  It was the cute kids giving me the peace sign, however, that actually motivated me to dig the camera out of my pack. [NOTES: All of the boards and poles used in local house construction are Chinese fir, or "shamu" (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook).  I'll stop by and pick my cap up tomorrow; we're running inventory transects in the forests behind the village].