Libo Ancient Town

Libo Ancient Town

Libo Ancient Town is a national AAA-level tourist attraction.

The Libo Ancient Town Ethnic Cultural Tourism Complex is a historical recreation of the century-old Libo Stone City from the Qing Dynasty's Qianlong era. Covering an area of 1,099 mu, with an investment of 3.2 billion yuan and a construction area of approximately 1 million m², it was built in five phases over six years. It is a comprehensive ethnic cultural tourism project that blends Chinese classical architecture, garden art, and the inheritance, preservation, and performance of the ethnic culture of Libo, Guizhou. It combines tourism, sports, business, leisure and entertainment, commerce, and supporting residential areas, covering all six key elements of tourism: food, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment.

Libo Ancient Town boasts rich tourism resources, mainly divided into landscape resources and ethnic minority cultural resources.

The landscape resources mainly include the following:

Buyi Totem Poles: The Buyi people live on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, where the mountains are lush and the scenery is beautiful. The people are known for their love of singing and dancing, their hospitality, and their totem worship, believing that all things have spirits. In Buyi legends, it is believed that human life originated when female ancestors accidentally felt the spiritual essence of certain animals or plants. Thus, common animals and plants such as dragons, bamboo, cattle, and fish are regarded as ancestors and worshipped. Cattle symbolize strength, while dragons and fish coiled around nanmu bamboo are exquisitely designed and symbolize continuous advancement and the Buyi people’s aspirations for a better life.

Ox King Ballad: Cattle are indispensable in people’s production and labor and are also regarded as deities by the Buyi people. Legend has it that the ancestors of the Buyi people, fleeing a drought, were desperately thirsty when they suddenly saw a sacred ox nodding and wagging its tail toward a mountain valley. Following the ox, they discovered a mountain spring gushing with endless flowing water, which saved them. Additionally, in the hearts of the Buyi people, the ox is a symbol of great strength, hence they hold the animal in high esteem. To thank the sacred ox for saving the people, the ancestors of the Buyi people designated the eighth day of the fourth lunar month as "Ox King Festival." On this day, people bathe the cattle with fragrant maple leaves and feed them glutinous rice colored with flowers.

Fish Shadows in Streams: Fish are one of the totems of the Buyi people. The Buyi have long lived along rivers and in mountainous regions. During times of natural disasters and food scarcity, they survived on fish. They believe fish are celestial gifts and make dough fish figurines to offer at altars during festivals.

Garden Landscapes: Libo Ancient Town features numerous Suzhou-style garden landscapes, with small bridges, flowing water, pavilions, and terraces spread throughout the town.

Ethnic Minority Cultural Resources:

Shui Horsehair Embroidery: Shui horsehair embroidery is the most ancient and distinctively ethnic embroidery technique passed down through generations of Shui women, using horsehair as a key material. The process of making horsehair embroidery is intricate and complex, and the finished product is classic, exquisite, durable, and beautifully crafted. The embroidery patterns are rustic, elegant, abstract, and follow fixed frameworks and styles. Shui horsehair embroidery has been included in the first batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the State Council.

Shui Family Memory Hall: The hall displays hundreds of Shui family antiques, old photographs, and traditional crafts, authentically presenting important Shui folk customs and their evolution. It reflects the unique local customs of the Shui people and condenses the rich and colorful historical civilization of the Shui, serving as a microcosm of representative Shui folk traditions.

Mysterious Egg Burning: Egg burning is an ancient ritual among ethnic minorities used to cure diseases and ward off evil. It is believed to dispel disasters, remove evil influences, and heal illnesses. Patients who appear sallow, weak, listless, lose their appetite, or suffer from unexplained pain—or those who have been frightened, poisoned, afflicted by evil spirits, plagued by nightmares, or suffer from insomnia or night crying in children—may seek this remedy. Though not scientifically proven, egg burning is widely believed to be miraculously effective in healing and dispelling evil, thus attracting a continuous stream of believers and seekers over the ages.

Miao Embroidery: Miao embroidery represents the highest level of embroidery among China’s ethnic minorities. Embroidery is a specialty of Miao women, and many works are known for their exceptional craftsmanship, unique designs, rich imagination, bold colors, and classic styles. Miao embroidery patterns come in a wide variety of colors. In the Songtao region, floral, bird, insect, and fish motifs dominate, often using pink, turquoise, and purple tones for a more subdued look. The famous artist Liu Haisu spoke highly of Miao craftsmanship: “Cutting clouds and tailoring the moon—Miao women’s artistry rivals nature itself.” The butterfly patterns embroidered on ancient Miao garments are among the most common and significant decorative motifs. Beyond the vibrant appeal of the butterflies, these patterns are also tied to a well-known Miao myth—the Butterfly Mother. In Miao belief, the Butterfly Mother and the Great Yuji Bird are the ancestors and creators of the Miao people. Sewing these butterfly and bird patterns onto clothing shows reverence and worship for their ancestors. These designs also carry clear symbolism of the union of yin and yang and the creation of life, expressing the Miao ancestors’ understanding and perception of nature, the universe, and the origin of life.

Ethnic Minority Cultural Murals: Many walls in Libo Ancient Town are adorned with murals depicting the cultural stories of the local ethnic minorities. For example, the “Thirteen Buyi Workshops” represent long-buried cultural memories of the Buyi people, including embroidery workshops, tofu workshops, paper-cutting workshops, wood-carving workshops, brewing workshops, calligraphy and painting workshops, water mills, oil presses, weaving workshops, tea-making workshops, pottery workshops, garment-making workshops, and bamboo-weaving workshops.

Suggested Duration

2–3 hours

Ticket

Free

Opening Hours

Open all day

Location

Nanmenba Shangcaiyuan, Yuping Town, Libo County, Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture