Langshan Village

Langshan Village

The sea of clouds over Wulong Mountain envelops Langshan Village in Duanxin Township, Wuyuan County, known as a place “with remnants of a matrilineal clan culture.” No one can say for certain when the villagers moved to the nearly 1,000-meter-high summit of Wulong Mountain. In the steep forests, two ancient paths—though different in route—lead to the same destination, serving as the only connections this impoverished mountain village had to the outside world. Starting in the 20th century, external culture began to collide head-on with the mountaintop. Is it the last matrilineal clan village in Jiangxi, or a rare Hakka settlement in ancient Huizhou?

A highland plain surrounded by peaks

Nestled within the dense forests halfway up Wulong Mountain lies Duanxin Reservoir, which presents the beauty of a highland alpine lake. Cheng Faping, a member of the Duanxin Township Party Committee, said the reservoir and power station were built by damming the mountain in the early 1970s, and the power station brought electricity to Langshan Village atop the mountain.

There are three routes to Langshan Village at the mountain’s peak: two are ancient stone-step paths that wind along the slopes, and the other is a shortcut blazed by the villagers themselves. Rather than saying the two ancient paths are the impoverished Langshan’s extensions to the outside, it is more accurate to say the rough new path reflects the “last matrilineal clan village’s” longing for faster connections.

Along the arduous journey, a young mother from Langshan Village led her child past us and quickly disappeared from sight. “Hey, aren’t they the mother and son carrying the bamboo mat down the mountain earlier?” In astonishment, Yu Qinghua, the township’s civil affairs assistant, said that a man from Langshan got drunk out of his mind down the mountain, and his wife carried him back up on her back. This true story alone shows just how tough the women of Langshan are.

After nearly three hours of sweaty climbing and circling around a thousand-year-old yew tree at the entrance of the village, we finally reached Langshan Village, situated at 780 meters above sea level in the middle section of Wulong Mountain, where Jiangxi, Anhui, and Zhejiang meet. It was then that we discovered, nestled within the towering peaks, there lies a “small mountain”-enclosed expanse of over a thousand acres of flatland—not locked in by surrounding peaks. Here, the eye is filled with undulating waves of green rice, while the highland Wulong tea on the “small mountains” remains lush and dewy in the mist.

The two-story office building of the Langshan Village Committee is located in Wangjia Village, which features Huizhou-style architecture and was built with brick and wood in the 1970s. Through the small window, a pond reflecting a gem-like blue emerges amidst the green waves—that’s the village’s only fishpond. Right behind Wangjia Village, at the end of Tani Village in Caojia Village, an ancient path cuts through a towering maple forest leading to the unknown world below, and this maple grove is a favorite subject for many photographers.

In a dim little shop in Tani Village, a 70-something old shopkeeper sits behind a tall, old counter, sipping tea and staring blankly at us. Behind him are some bottles of liquor. Another elderly man sitting on the doorstep stands up and says his home is an old house passed down from his ancestors—a Qing Dynasty caisson-style structure, though such old houses are rare in Tani now, with mostly ruins remaining. Wandering through Wangjia Village, most buildings are made of earthen bricks, bluestone, or slate, with scattered stone tanks and troughs from the Qing Dynasty left in the deep alleys. Villagers say if a fire breaks out, water from the stone tanks can be used to put it out.

Lacking the scenery of green waters embracing green hills, Langshan lacks the tender charm of Wuyuan’s Xiaqi with its small bridges and flowing streams, offering instead a sense of floating and transcendence high above the world.

There are many cats and dogs in Langshan Village. Most men spend their time playing cards or coaxing toddlers who are just learning to walk, and it’s rare to see them farming or chopping wood. In the fields or by the wells, it’s mostly women with scarves tied around their heads, bending over to work. Wang Chunbao, the 50-year-old Party secretary of Langshan Village, says in Mandarin, “This is the legacy of a matrilineal clan.” He extends a pair of uncalloused hands and laughs, “The men’s hands in the village are all about the same.”

The village secretary says Langshan Village has seven natural hamlets—Wangjia, Caojia, Buyuan, Tani, Waishan, Xinsi, and Suishiwu—with over 200 households and around a thousand people. There are more than 1,500 acres of farmland and 650 acres of tea plantations. The farm work in these fields is mostly handled by the women. During busy farming seasons, you’ll see women in plain clothes carrying bamboo baskets filled with pig and cow manure on their backs to fertilize the fields.

As the sun sets, it casts a golden glow over Langshan Village. Several elderly women in their fifties or sixties, staggering under the weight of firewood nearly four meters long and weighing over a hundred pounds, slowly make their way back to the village. Behind them emerge two women carrying three heavy boxes of beer strapped to their backs, with some twigs and leaves peeking out from under their outer garments. The women say the beer is bought wholesale from down the mountain, and the twigs and leaves are used to reduce friction between the cargo and their skin. In Langshan Village, with no roads leading to the outside world, carrying poles are nowhere to be seen, let alone wheeled transport—what you do see are the women’s delicate yet resilient shoulders and backs. Building houses on the mountain, not a single brick, tile, or chair has been without the backbreaking labor of these women. Here, women are the very backbone of the mountain.

Langshan has limited land, with only thin layers of soil and vegetation covering its rocky terrain. The single crop of autumn rice is harvested a month later than down the mountain, and even in March, ice still forms in the terraced fields. As a result, vast fields of golden rapeseed flowers are rarely seen here.

“Big cliffs don’t grow big trees, and even if they do, they get uprooted,” the village secretary says. Langshan once had an ancient academy, and although scholarship was highly valued, the village produced no notable figures. Even if there were, they relocated due to the area’s poverty and never returned in glory, which further entrenched Langshan’s poverty and isolation. Yet this isolation does not make the hardworking women dissatisfied with their self-sufficient lives.

The barren land and harsh climate have not left Langshan Village with nothing. The village is famous for its “Langshan Facing-the-Sky Chili,” a pepper so fiery it “turns your gut upside down after just three bites,” yet it boasts a striking red color and a sweet aftertaste beneath the intense heat. Legend has it that a local policeman once bet he could eat four of these chilies, only to be doubled over in agony before needing an IV to recover.

Officials in Duanxin Township all say the character of Langshan’s women is much like the “Facing-the-Sky Chili.” Yu, a teacher at Langshan Primary School, chuckles when mentioning his wife, who serves as the village’s women’s director: “Women are like field ridges—you need to add fresh soil regularly.” Such vivid language reveals that Langshan women are fiercely spicy, while Langshan men are sweet enough to enchant them.

Walking along the ancient path, wild hawthorn fruits along the way begin to show tempting red hues, yet the people of Langshan like to call the village’s beautiful girls “Maolizha.” But in Langshan Village, we see few young men or women. Fang Linbao, the village head, says most young people have gone out to work. It’s a pity that until the 1960s, girls in the village didn’t attend school. Now, girls might make it to junior high, but boys will fight tooth and nail to graduate from high school.

The diligence of Langshan’s women results in surplus agricultural produce for most families, yet life remains as unchanging as pickles soaking in a jar or dried vegetables baking on a cliff face. The village secretary says the government proposed relocation to alleviate poverty, but the villagers are unwilling to leave their centuries-old way of life. Whether a road can be built has become a source of endless anxiety for the village secretary.

The former village secretary says that transporting a 200-kilo pig down the mountain for sale costs 200 yuan, and carrying a pair of sofas up the mountain from below costs 40 yuan. “Langshan Facing-the-Sky Chili” and highland tea can’t make it out of the village, and merchants shake their heads after calculating transportation costs for the mountain’s bamboo…

At a well in Tani Village stands a “Drink Water, Remember the Source” monument. Fang Linbao, the village head, is from Tani Village. He says a Hong Kong donor funded the installation of running water for the natural village. Electricity, water, washing machines, and televisions have shown the people of Langshan that there is another way to live. Though the mountain road hasn’t been built, the village now has hundreds of mobile phones and wireless devices. Migrant workers call home to report safety, and through this “path,” they also bring colorful news from beyond the mountains. Thus, the people of Langshan care little for scholars’ and experts’ tourism development blueprints, nor do they dwell on what might happen to the “legacy of a matrilineal clan” under the impact of modern culture. A road has become the villagers’ greatest hope.

Assimilation and time have blurred Langshan Village’s history. Hong Wensheng from Duanxin Township says that during the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty, some villagers broke away from nearby settlements and moved up the mountain to establish Langshan Village. For reasons unknown, some early settlers chose the rocky, barren land of Suishiwu. Among them, “Yan Tan Yuan’s Wang Tiannan moved up to build Waishan Village, and Wang Tianqiao built Xinsi Village”—a fact that puzzles the villagers of Langshan. Wang Jicheng, a teacher at Langshan Primary School, retrieves a long-sealed family genealogy: “The 83rd and 84th generations of the Wang family, Wang Tianqiao and Wang Tiannan, migrated from Yongding to establish Waishan and Xinsi Villages. And Yongding in Fujian bears deep traces of Hakka culture—the question of whether the people of Langshan are of Hakka origin has surfaced.”

Wang Jicheng is puzzled. “Women farm, men study”—this social division of labor has existed for ages. The long-standing tolerance of Langshan women toward the men has given rise to the so-called “legacy of a matrilineal clan.” But history and specific culture cannot be masked: “women farming” reflects Hakka culture; the term “wu” (坞) in Suishiwu is not a term used by ancient Huizhou people; pickles, dried vegetables, uniquely fragrant cured meats, dried green beans, peanuts, and other porridge ingredients, as well as the clothing and architecture of Langshan residents, all reveal traces of Hakka influence. Whether Langshan Village is a settlement with a “legacy of a matrilineal clan” or a Hakka village—the mystery unfolds.

Scenic Spot Location

Langshan Village, Duanxin Township, Wuyuan County

Langshan Village: (I) Basic Information

Located in Wangjia, named after Langshan within its jurisdiction. Situated on a high mountain to the east of the township government, it includes 7 natural villages and 8 villager groups, with a total of 319 households and 1,068 people. Produces rice and tea.

Also has 1,521 acres of cultivated land and 650 acres of tea fields.

(2) Features

Located at the summit of the highest and most rugged mountain in the eastern part of the township, at an altitude of over 900 meters, Langshan Village is situated in a land that is barren and lacking in resources. Yet, much like Tibet in China, it boasts abundant local specialties, stunning scenery, and unique folk customs. The Langshan facing-the-sky chili peppers are small in size, … Langshan Village detailed information++