Guangdong Yao Museum

Guangdong Yao Museum

The Guangdong Yao Museum is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

The China Yao Museum (Guangdong Yao Museum) is an important initiative by the County Party Committee and County Government of Liannan Yao Autonomous County in response to the strategic decision of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government to build a “province strong in culture.” It has been approved by the Guangdong Provincial People’s Government and included in the “12th Five-Year Plan” key construction projects by the Qingyuan Municipal People’s Government. The China Yao Museum (Guangdong Yao Museum) is located within the Voluntary Immigration Demonstration Zone for High-altitude Mountainous Areas of Liannan Yao Autonomous County, covering an area of 47.75 mu with a building area of 14,566 square meters. It was planned in 2009, construction began in December 2010, and was fully completed by the end of December 2012. The museum was grandly inaugurated in January 2013 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Liannan Yao Autonomous County.

Constructed to the standards of a national third-grade museum, the design is innovative, with its majestic exterior incorporating cultural elements of the Yao people such as red headscarves, stilted houses, and long drums. The dominant colors of red and black give the structure a magnificent, elegant, and solemn appearance, symbolizing the rich diversity of Yao culture and the enduring, resilient spirit of the Yao people. The main entrance faces the Wetland Ecological Park designed in the shape of a long drum, which integrates with the “Yao Dance” Music Square and leads directly to the opposite riverside road. The surrounding area features distinctive residences and an ethnic culture street from the New Village Demonstration Zone for Voluntary Immigrants in High-altitude Mountainous Areas, highlighting a strong Yao cultural atmosphere and creating a regional environment that showcases Yao culture. As a landmark building, it enhances and shapes the urban cultural character while striving to establish a unique Yao cultural tourism route.

The exhibition theme of the China Yao Museum (Guangdong Yao Museum) is “A Long Ballad of the Yao Mountains,” divided into sections: Tracing the Ancient Past, Chronicles of the Yao Mountains, Timeless Heritage, Master Artisans, and the Yao Embroidery Workshop. With a clear historical timeline and a museological perspective, it systematically and comprehensively displays the history and culture of the thirty branches of the four major Yao groups nationwide, as well as Yao communities worldwide. Additionally, there is a multi-functional demonstration hall, a hall showcasing the 60th anniversary achievements of the autonomous county, a hall displaying the urban and rural development plans of the autonomous county, and two temporary exhibition halls each spanning 1,000 square meters. It also houses conference rooms, reception halls, and other comprehensive facilities. It serves as the Guangdong Yao Culture Research Base, Guangdong Yao Embroidery Development Base, and Liannan Yao Autonomous County Youth Education Base, carrying historical, social, economic, and cultural information about the Yao people nationwide and globally, as well as research, development, utilization, and heritage preservation of Yao culture. The aim is to create a highly influential professional museum dedicated to Yao historical culture in China, to build a spiritual home for the unity and progress of the Yao people, and to make positive contributions to the protection, inheritance, reasonable utilization, and development of Yao culture.

The construction project of the museum was organized for bidding by the County Key Projects Command, with Anhui Shui’an Construction Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Zhujiang Film & Television Company winning the bids for the main construction and interior decoration and exhibition arrangement respectively. Starting in May 2011, teams were dispatched to Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, and other regions to conduct in-depth investigations and collect materials on the history and culture of the thirty branches of the four major Yao groups. From March to April 2012, trips were made to Vietnam and Thailand to engage in Yao cultural exchanges and research. In October 2012, the county magistrate Zheng Yuanping personally led a team to France to carry out Yao cultural exchanges and research, fostering understanding, building friendships, and achieving fruitful results. Our efforts in collecting Yao cultural relics have received strong support from the Provincial Academy of Ethnic Religions, as well as scholars and experts from Yao research associations in Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou, Thailand, France, and the United States, along with support from local ethnic and religious affairs bureaus in the visited regions. The exhibition arrangement received strong professional support from the Guangdong Academy of Ethnic Religions and the Guangdong Museum. By October 2012, through purchase, allocation, and donation, a total of 20,541 pieces of Yao cultural relics and artifacts had been collected. The China Guangdong Yao Museum currently holds the largest, most systematic, and most comprehensive collection of Yao cultural relics in the country.

The China Yao Museum (Guangdong Yao Museum) is equipped with advanced technology and first-class facilities, integrating high-tech audio, light, and electricity systems, and implementing comprehensive intelligent management, including security prevention, equipment management, information communication, network applications, and audiovisual systems. The cultural relics storage and some exhibition halls maintain constant temperature and humidity and are equipped with gas fire suppression systems.

The China Yao Museum (Guangdong Yao Museum) is based in Guangdong, oriented toward the nation, and looks to the world. It strives to become a significant center for the collection, research, and display of Yao culture in Guangdong and even across the country, as well as an important window for understanding Yao history and culture. It will undoubtedly become a beautiful cultural tourism attraction in the mountainous region of northern Guangdong, serving as a vital channel for the cultural industry development of Liannan Yao Autonomous County. It also functions as the reporting center for cultural tourism in the autonomous county, becoming a supporting point for advancing the development of the cultural tourism industry in the autonomous county. It will add new vitality and brilliance to the construction of a “province strong in culture” in Guangdong and to the widespread dissemination of the outstanding traditional culture of the Yao people.

Source: Guangdong Yao Museum

Liulian Village: The Liulian Village Committee is located in the eastern part of the county, with a population of 2,138. It has 1,103 mu of regularly cultivated land, including 638 mu of paddy fields and 418 mu of dry land. The forested area covers 5,200 mu. The village’s production is mainly rice-based, with small amounts of bamboo and pine. Major crops include rice, corn, sweet potatoes, and vegetables. The village has abundant water resources and mountainous land, suitable for developing oil tea, medicinal herbs, and livestock such as cattle, pigs, chickens, and ducks.

The village administers 6 natural villages and 13 villager groups. The natural villages are: Mujia Bay, Laoxu, Xincun, Caiyuanba, Da... More details about Liulian Village++

Further Reading:

· National Second-Class Museum of China