During my trip to visit the ethnic minority cultures of Guizhou Province, I made a stop in the remote Miao village of Queniao (雀鸟村 – Què niǎo cūn).
Queniao is located in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture (黔东南 苗族 侗族 自治州), 50 km from Xijiang Qianhu (西江 千户 苗) and 75 km from Kaili, the biggest city in the area (凯里 市).
The village is perched high in the rice terraced mountains, surrounded by quite a spectacular landscape.
Queniao is entirely made out of the traditional Miao type of dwelling, the Diaojiao Lou.
This traditional type of dwelling is made entirely of wood and held together only with joints. No nails are used during the construction, which allows the building to be disassembled, into replaceable parts.
Usually the houses have 3 floors: the first is for livestock, the second is where people live, and the third floor is used for storage.
The whole village of Queniao is quite small, built on a steep terrain, and can be explored in 1-2h. During my visit the village was extremely quiet and I met just a few old inhabitants and some students.
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