Hunan: Beyond the Myth of Avatar (Zhangjiajie & The Miao: The Living Soul of Pandora)

Zhangjiajie Park, a celestial garden located in Hunan Province in the southeast of China. A fabulous forest of stones suspended between heaven and earth, unknown by the Chinese themselves until the 1970s. Breathtaking landscapes that didn't escape the eye of director James Cameron with his film Avatar. This is where he came to find his original scenery. The planet Pandora was therefore born amidst these rocky peaks emerging from the abyss. They are nicknamed the first strange mountains of China. Friend, come and see our celestial ladder called the ladder of 100 dragons. Mei Chuchan has worked in this park for over 20 years. He's a guide and every day he reveals his secrets to tourists. And they are many. This natural park covers some 262 square kilometers, two and a half times the size of a city like Paris. According to the geologists, you have to go back 380 million years. At the time, all this was a vast expanse of water. Then there were geological movements and the water began to sculpt the massif. When the sea receded, the peaks were raised up. That's why in Zhangjiajie we have 3,000 peaks and more than 800 streams. This place is one of the 10 most beautiful landscapes in the park. It's called the General's Plateau because there are 48 rocks standing proud like generals. Its topography with its 3,000 summits that split the sky is unique in the world. Very hard to access, the place remained isolated from human presence for centuries. But in China, time has no hold over legend and each peak has its own story, a story that has shaped the imagination of a whole people. Sometimes their shapes are strange. That's why the mountain people here, when a peak resembles an animal or a plant, give it a name that matches. The peak of the imperial brush before us, for example. Its shape recalls the imperial brush which Prince Zhang, who proclaimed himself son of the sky, used to comment on official documents. We have the greatest respect for this rebel leader. Another example. This peak is that of the goddess who scatters flowers. In our imagination, like an elegant woman who walks in the mountains carrying in her hands a basket of fresh flowers that she scatters on our world below. So we can say that this is one-third resemblance and two-thirds imagination. For local people, this mountain occupies a large part of our hearts, the most sublime, the noblest part. It is a little like our father, someone who protects us, a heritage handed down to us by our ancestors. A world shaped by myths that the tourists want to capture. There were 40 million of them in 2014, mainly Chinese jostling at the gates. It's a nature park that has become an amusement park. And everyone wants their share of the dream. So in China, they are given that impression. A cable car, the longest in the world. A made-in-China version of the Pont des Arts and its padlocked loves by the million. An elevator grafted onto the rock, one of the tallest in the world. 326 meters. Here they call it the celestial ladder of the 100 dragons. And since the release of the Hollywood blockbuster, everyone wants to touch the tip of their goal, the avatar peak. I saw the movie Avatar. It really is a film that stands out from the rest. I was totally fascinated. The other feeling I had when the American director James Cameron filmed our Zhangjiajie Mountain, he showed a mysterious, magnificent park. The excellence of the film gave me a feeling that was hard to name, as if I were being born on the wind. A pillar that has achieved world-renowned, renamed for its Hollywood associations, and which has, because of this, lost some of its original history. Before, we called it the column of heaven and earth. It's a little like the men who live here. A peak standing on the earth, carrying the sky on its head. At home in our mountains, the column of heaven and earth is a peak on which we can rely. It's like a man who was born here. So we look upon it as someone from the generation of our fathers. It stands tall, and that symbolizes its fearless character, above reproach, like our mountain men. The park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. It is one of the 10 most beautiful parks in the world. But before the uninterrupted flow of tourists, the illegal construction, the unauthorized shops, UNESCO sounded the alarm in the year 2000s. Following a 420 million euro investment, everything now is channeled, accounted for, more controlled, eradicating a little of the site's wild aspect. That one looks like a maid's dress from the olden days. But this one's good too. Here they come, for their fix of traditional culture. In just five minutes. Just time to strike a pose. Then it's on to the next. This isn't the best place to grasp the finer points of these singular costumes. For that, we must journey more than 200 kilometers to the south of Hunan. Fenghuang, China's Little Venice. In Chinese, fenghuang means phoenix. According to the legend, two phoenixes one day discovered the city and found it so beautiful that they did not want to leave. It is also the birthplace of the Miao, one of the 56 ethnic minority groups in the Middle Kingdom. Today, they number 9 million, scattered mainly throughout the southwest of the country. This is where Longyin has set up her little open-air shop. Tell me if it hurts. You're pretty. We must find a pretty jewel. All this has been embroidered by the old people in the village. It's all handmade. I'm a Miao girl, and I sell things here so that visitors may get to know our culture. For example, this bracelet is made of embroidery and silver. The embroidery is all done by hand. Look, there are a multitude of colors and motifs inspired by beautiful things such as flowers. This silver jewelry has many meanings for us. If after wearing them for a long time they darken, it's a sign of poor health. If you're in good health, they shine more and more. But in a few days' time, an important event will interrupt her day-to-day life. It's a chance for her to return to her village. I'll go home to prepare my things because there's a feast day coming, the eighth day of the fourth month of our lunar calendar. It's a celebration in honor of our ancestors and must therefore return to my family to prepare my traditional clothes. This feast day is also called the Flower Dance Festival, but it also has many other names. The Festival of the Ancestral Cult, the Festival of Improvised Song. It's a very important feast day for the Miao people. 4,600 years ago, the ancestors of the Miao settled along the Yellow River. But faced with the expansion of the Han people, the Miao were forced to emigrate toward the south of the country. Their king, Qi Yu, was killed during that war, and they regularly pay tribute to him. The Miao are a mountain people who love traditional songs and dances and celebrations that alleviate their life of toil. After an hour's journey, Longyin arrives at Mahanshan, the village where her great-aunt lives. Hello, auntie. Oh, there you are. How are things? They're fine. At 21, though Longyin has succumbed to the turmoil of the city, she loves coming back here to benefit from the know-how of her elders. It's a way for her to perpetuate the tradition of a whole people. Have you made clothes for long? I began when I was 10. How long does it take to make a garment? Oh, for a jacket, one week. A week? Today, fewer and fewer people produce Miao clothes. We elders are getting old, and we want to teach the young people so that they can pass on the skills to others in turn. When the older generation disappears, the new must take up the torch. But fewer people know how to make costumes and explain them to others. Most of the clothing is handmade. So with the festival only six days away, there's not a moment to lose. Have you finished? Almost. Today we have to work hard because there are only a few days before the festival. Even though they must hurry, here time passes at quite a different rhythm from the Zongjiajie. Back in Zongjiajie, at the foot of a stone peak, a river has drawn its bed. Qinbianxi, the River of the Golden Whip. This is where Mei Qishun brings us. The park is a providential sanctuary for many animal species. Some are endangered, like the Chinese giant salamander. It is the largest living amphibian in the world. Others are much less timid, like the rhesus monkeys, very common in South Asia. There are several thousand in the park. Food here is abundant. Mei Qishun has known them well, since childhood. When a young monkey wants to leave his group, he goes... When a big one has to face an attack, he gathers his fellow monkeys and together they show their ferocity, going... If you feed them, you should know their habits. You mustn't crouch down or the monkey will think you're going to attack. He'll call out to his family or group for help, and then woe betide you as you may well be wounded. His closeness to these animals has enabled him to witness some unusual scenes. Ten years ago, I saw an event. Monkeys wanted to migrate from one peak to another. They had to fight, like we do when we wage war. So the monkeys crossed the frontier and found themselves in enemy territory. The fight took place and they won. Some monkeys in the conquered territory were wounded. One of them even died. At that point, the two troops, formerly rivals, came together to hold a funeral for their dead comrade. Men wear white as a sign of bereavement. I saw the macaques take the leaves of a plant and put them on their head. These leaves have one white side, which made it look like they were mourning. Then they dug a hole to bury their dead cousin, leaving his tail sticking out. A member of the group stayed to keep vigil every day. They finally bid farewell to the macaque, before leaving for good for another peak. I think these animals are really intelligent. And on the banks of this river, we can also find plants that are unknown in our latitudes. A giant pharmacopoeia. Only local people know its power. But the mountain also has its healers with faces of stone. The mountains are my protector, the mountain god. Every day, we live in these great wet mountains, as beautiful as any painting, and we are particularly proud and happy. For example, the old man who picks medicinal herbs peak, in our hearts, he is both doctor and divinity. Should we suffer from any discomfort or disease, we usually make a discreet wish to the mountain god. Then we know that the old man who gathers medicinal herbs will heal us. We live in the mountains. We breathe the fresh air, and we think this will make us immortal. That's why we must love and protect our mountains, our god for eternity. Today is market day for the Miao. It's a vital time for the villagers who come from all over the mountains to sell their modest production. This market is held close to Longyin's village. Her mother accompanies her. Only five days remain before the Miao festival. Amidst this firework display of colors, they have come to find elements of the costume that they still need. I'm looking for a color. Do you have other colors? Yes, there's this one, that one. Look how lovely it is. Yes, it's not the same. Hold out your arm to see. I'm trying various different colors to see which are the most suitable, so that my clothes stand out when I wear them. Legend has it that the Miao lost their written language. Thus, did their costumes become, over time, a language, a way of expressing their culture. That's a Mandarin duck. For married or betrothed women, we put two ducks on the garment. I'm not yet in love with a boy. I'm not yet married. So I'll choose a garment with just one duck. And I want its color to be dazzling. Very beautiful, very pretty. Dragons, ducks, flowers, all symbols of love or good fortune. An art that even Mao Zedong couldn't wipe out. Yet today, this know-how is disappearing. These flowers must be embroidered on top of each other, which takes two weeks. This ribbon takes another five days of embroidery. These two, we do by ourselves. In all, to finish a costume will take around one month. It's difficult to make these costumes. People don't really make any money from them. So now the young people prefer to work elsewhere to get rich. That's just how it is. I like these costumes. And that's thanks to the influence of people in my village. It's true, it's relatively complicated, but I'm motivated. To make them, you must learn the techniques, and that takes time, like embroidery. It's very complicated, and you don't earn much money. But I don't mind. I like the things of my people. Techniques that look like they're from another age. This afternoon, the women of the village brought out their odd machine for embroidering ribbons. They weave the silken threads with a juggler's dexterity, despite their leathery hands. Long Ying sometimes gets confused. Grandmother, I think I made a mistake. Watch me do it. Once around like this, then like that. Okay, and then where do I put this? I see them working very quickly, and the motifs they make are much more beautiful than mine. I really like being with them. They share their experience with me, and sometimes the details of their romantic encounters. Hours of work for just a few centimeters of ribbon. A detail on the costume, but it has its importance. This motif between the two ribbons, for instance, resembles a dragon. That's what its shape suggests. The curve it makes signifies peace. This is a way to show prestige and social status. We Miao are all descendants of the dragon, which is one of our ancestors. This know-how, despite Long Ying's desire to preserve it, is slowly declining. It took a long journey to find Mr. Wu. He is the last dyer in the region. A tough occupation that he began as a boy, he is now 70 years of age. His reserves hold a precious commodity. Indigo, an essential color for the Miao of Hunan. Before, this dye was obtained from a herb found locally. But today, with modernization, we obtain it through chemistry. In our minority, we all like to dress in indigo. We have indigo hats, indigo jackets, indigo trousers. We crisscross the mountains every day, which is tiring. If you wear something dark, it protects you from the sunlight. For us, it is a custom. In their traditional dress, one motif recurs often. His wife's fingers will bring it to life once more. After folding and sewing the fabric tightly, Mr. Wu plunges it into his color bath. For hours, he will make it dance at arm's length, so that the motif finally appears. It is that of the culture's founding myth. It's a butterfly. It has two wings. These are its antennae. It's in memory of our minority. We were dropped into this world by our mother butterfly. So our people all commemorate the mother butterfly. Then I wear the cloth on my head. I wear it like this so that the mother butterfly protects me throughout my life. A long and fastidious process that mocks the passage of time. But the business of color alchemy is also having trouble attracting the younger generations. They're not interested. Why not? Because it is dirty and thankless work. We don't make much money. So this trade will disappear with modernity. It's irreversible. It can't be saved. That's why no youngsters are interested. When I've talked to young people, my children too, they weren't willing to take over the craft. They said, your technique will disappear. The world has changed. In Zhangjiajie Park, our guide Mei Chechun this time entices us into the meanders of the earth. Huanglong, Yellow Dragon Cave, is one of the most ancient caves in China. More than 11 kilometers long, 140 meters high, it provokes a kind of inverse vertigo. The scenery shimmering with Chinese candy colors once more harbors a legend. It tells of how long ago a Taoist master dared to enter the lair of the dragon. In bygone days in Zhangjiajie, a Taoist master wanted to relieve the people of the drought that had struck locally. In order to produce some rain, he came into this cave with his commander's knife and begged the dragon king. The dragon king then gave him a drop of water in his silver cup. But the master thought this was too little. So he tried to threaten him with his knife so as to get more water. At that, the dragon king became angry and spilled a basin filled with water triggering a seven-day deluge beyond the cave. The water overwhelmed the Taoist master who was turned into a little duck and swam off to rejoin the outside world. The water invaded the whole village and ended up here. This was the origin of the spring of the Yellow Dragon Cave. But our guide is worried. Since its discovery in 1983, the cave has attracted attention from all quarters. First came the scientists. More than 70 of them have studied the deposits of calcite and its ancient arabesques of stone. But it is the ever more numerous visitors, Mei Chou Chun believes, who threaten to weaken the mineral scenery. In my heart, I think especially of our Yellow Dragon Cave. It is the most beautiful of the 40 caves in the Zhangjiajie region and even in the whole of western Hunan. The reliefs resembling ruins, the stalagmites and stone columns are much more numerous than elsewhere. At the same time, too many tourists come here, polluting the air, which is extremely serious. The limestone reliefs and the stone columns have changed colour. They've become darker. We must work together to find solutions to protect them and to keep them safe and sound. After the depths, we're off to scale the peaks. Far from the beaten track where few tourists venture, Mei Chou Chun takes us to a place that defies gravity. The village of Gongzhong Tianyuan. Its name means paddy fields suspended in the void. Here, it's not the Navi people of Avatar that we meet on this peak shaped like a roof terrace, but the Tujia, an ethnic group of farmers and stock breeders, the largest in the park. Mei Chou Chun knows them well. He himself is a Tujia, a hanging garden entirely fashioned by the sweat of this man, Puyuan Qiyun. Hi, how are you? Still ploughing? Yes. Isn't that corn? I began working at the age of 15 when I was a teenager. At 23, in 1983, I came to work on this field. It is fed by all this water, thanks to which I've been able to work the land. It took five years for this field to become what you see today. Buckwheat, potatoes, corn, rice, all the staples and more. I am a Tujia farmer. I live from the fruits of my labors. We have a quiet life in the mountains. We live on what we grow and from the pigs and goats we rear. Life in the mountains is very pleasant for us. But the beauty of the mountains is not enough. This is a harsh lifestyle. Like the Miao, they struggle to attract the next generation. Our young people want to go to the city and we can't force them to stay. Because they are young and have never really suffered, they don't yet understand that they must love everything around them. They think only of the pleasures of the city, bustling cities where they will have fun and be carefree. But once they have reached 40, they will notice the beauty of these mountains. The air is a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times better than any place in any city. So when they're our age, I'm sure they'll come back to this land where we are now. That's why I'm not worried. We just need to make more effort to preserve this land so as to leave them a fine heritage. Several days before the Miao festival, Mr. Long Qitan is working tirelessly. He is a jeweler and Miao jewelry means richly decorated pieces for girls. Most of their jewelry is made of silver, a noble material for this people. We Miao are poor. We can't afford gold, but we can buy silver. One gram of gold is worth 500 grams of silver. If it's for a wedding, we can buy a little gold if the people ask for it. Before, when we married a woman, one kilo of silver was enough, but nowadays they want five kilos of silver. Society has changed and our life has improved. Before, we would not have been able to buy silver because resources were devoted to food. The work of a silversmith, actions repeated a thousand times to carve the motifs that originate in the history of the Miao. Shapes, in fact, for which Mr. Long Qitan has quite forgotten the meaning. His assistant knows some of the secrets. In order to respect the tradition, the young Miao girls must wear this necklace. Otherwise, they cannot marry. That is how it is. Here in the middle is a big flower. It represents the central role of women. This one is a pattern in the shape of a buffalo horn. The same buffalo that symbolizes our ancestor, Xiyu. Here, this represents a tree at the time of flowering, when the blossoms are opening. This motive represents a weighing scale, so that everything might go according to our wishes. This is a peach blossom. It represents the heart, a woman's feelings of love. And to finish, this is the tail of the dragon. Ornaments that remain essential to the young girls. The more jewelry they wear, the more they will be courted. For now, Mr. Long Qitan's expertise seems in no danger of being extinguished. This morning, it is raining on Ma'an Town, Longyin's village. It's a chance to forget the work in the field and prepare for the approaching festival. It's rehearsal time for Longyin's group. All the girls have put on their costumes to make the final adjustments. The Miao also excel at dancing in the art of expressing their history and their innermost feelings. And it's Mrs. Wu Jifeng who sets the tone. At this festival, the young men and the young girls will be clad in their pretty Miao costumes. And when they meet, they will be very happy and will then be able to express their feelings freely. Longyin rehearses the flower dance, a traditional dance of seduction where every last gesture matters. This gesture, for example, is to say that we're very happy and we're very open. There are movements that bid you welcome and others that we draw from the reality of everyday life. We also dance hand in hand with the boy. As if we were having fun on a stroll. This movement really is characteristic of our folklore. In general, when we meet young boys and we are pleased to meet them, we make this movement. It's an indispensable gesture in the Miao dances. And Mrs. Wu Jifeng remembers. That's how she met her husband 30 years ago. Back then, I had spotted a handsome boy and on the way back from the flower dance festival, he followed us. He tapped me on the shoulder, so I turned my head to look like that. I saw that he liked me, so I let him know it was mutual and then we started seeing each other. For Longyin, this festival might provide the opportunity to meet someone nice. I haven't yet met a boy I liked. But if I'm successful at the festival, then I'll be happy. Far from the tourists and the constant clicking of their cameras, Mei Chuchun shows us a place only he knows. His little retreat with invisible walls. To me, tourists aren't a problem. Because if I kept the natural beauty of Zhangjiajie for myself, then I would be selfish. I want the whole world to come and enjoy this nature. As for the damage caused by tourists, it's hard to avoid. We are all different, so I must do my best to protect this park, to keep it safe and sound, to preserve its ecology. And I am ready to do anything to better manage their impact. This landscape deserves to be admired by all. I owe it to myself to pass this on to my children, to my grandchildren, and to generations to come. It's the eve of the festival on the Bagong Mountain, between mist and fog. Longyin is there, as are many villagers, to attend an extraordinary ceremony. The Miao practice shamanism. On this natural promontory, the shamans summon all the spirits so that the festival might take place under the best auspices. This place is Bagong Mountain. It's an important place to worship our ancestors. We have four peaks. Here for the sky, here for men, over there for the earth, and finally the girls' rock. We give thanks to our ancestors, King Chi Yu in particular. It's very important to us Miao. Many Miao from other regions also come to see our ceremony. It's important to me too. Rice, wine, beef, pork, all offerings to tempt the gods. We also think of those who have passed on by letting these little pieces of yellow perforated paper go up in smoke. At the summit, the drums take over. They must alert the gods so that they can come to protect the inhabitants. The almost tribal dances come as a reminder that the festival is also a festival of life. We've just played the drums of the dance of monkeys, one of our typical dances. We imitate monkeys seeking their wives or pretty girls. After five hours' prayer, the Xiaobei, the shamans' wooden rollers, have just spoken. Their opposite side is a sign. The gods have given their blessing. It's the long-awaited day of the festival. Longyin has just finished her costume with the help of her mother and her great aunt. It was entirely designed by hand by my mother and myself to make me look pretty. It will be my costume for the flower dance festival. And for the occasion, her costume contains within itself other precious symbols, a kind of open book. On this garment are two pairs of magpies, which signify rejoicing. We also have one mandarin duck. This is a peony. The peony is the national flower of China. It's fully open and is very brightly colored. But the costume would be nothing without this decoration, jewelry that is kept and passed on as a family treasure. We Miao wear silver jewelry. The more jewelry we wear, the prettier we are. We value the jewelry by weight. The heavier it is, the more handsome it is. But I can really only wear three because they're really very heavy. This is a butterfly forged in silver. It's our mother butterfly. It's important to the Miao. We find it on every costume. It's very pretty. It must be unique in the world. The festival has just begun. It is 18 minutes past 10 as in China, the figure eight is lucky. 23 groups from all over the province have come to the village square in Ma'anchang, Longyin's village. At the flower dance festival, everyone comes to defend their colors. Each group parades to the rhythm of its music, traditional or rather unexpected. Now it's the turn of Longyin and her group. It's important to me to contribute to the spread of Miao culture. If we can pass it on, then the people who have left for the city will come back for it. All that I've learned comes from my grandmother and my mother. And I must pass on this knowledge to others who will pass it on in turn. That way, the influence of the Miao culture will spread and it will be able to carry on its way. Longyin and Mei Xiuquan are convinced of the strength of their culture and their traditions. But will their optimism resist the upheavals of the modern era that is shaking China? At the heart of these mountains, revealed to the world through the film Avatar, a new story is waiting to be written. That of a people with a millennia of history behind them.