info@absolutepanda.comTaoping Qiang Village
Location
It is the most mysterious "Oriental ancient fort". Taoping Qiang village is located in Taoping township along the Zagunao river in the upper reaches of Min river. It is 163 kilometers away from Chengdu and 41 kilometers away from the county seat. There are 98 families in the village. Taoping Qiang village is the "living fossil" of the original Qiang architectural culture and art which has been preserved till now.
History
The recorded history of Taoping Qiang Village can be dated back to around 100 BC when China is ruled by Han Dynasty. As one of the oldest ethnic groups, Qiang people moved to this area because of escaping from warfare. The Taoping village developed through each dynasties and
Main Attractions of Taoping Qiang Village
Architectures
Living fossil and Oriental fortress
Taoping Qiang Village is a typical representative of the Qiang architecture community and was built in 111 BC. The well-preserved old village is located in the high mountain ridge, near streams. Seen from a distance, it is a group of brown stone houses and forts sitting at the steep mountain slope and slowly climb up with high and low, well proportioned distribution. These architectures are splendid with a unique style. More impressive are the primitive simplicity of these construction. They were built without drawing, ink, not even a line. All of them are built and with human eyes. The whole village become an organic intact big household with no isolated house of a single-family.Most of the ancient castles in the world have traditional architectural procedures of setting gates or exits in the southeast and northwest side, meanwhile Taoping Qiang Village has eight radial exits originated from the center. These exits, connected with secret passages, weaving into a lane network . People in this village can move in and out freely, and outsiders will enter a maze-like castle.
Qiang Culture
Taoping Qiang village has a rich minority folk culture. You can taste the unique flavor of Qiang cuisine here. It is a place where you also can enjoy the vigorous and passionate singing and dancing of dozens or hundreds Qiang people. Walking into the old village, you can see Qiang women are sitting on the stone steps, doing embroidery work, and the unique wooden lock of Qiang. After more than two thousand years shape of time, the spirit of the ancient Qiang is still intact. The forts and buildings are connecting with each other, the labyrinth-like roadways inside the village and the underground water network extending in all directions are still intact too.The fort survived the Diexi earthquake in 1933, the Songpan earthquake in 1976 and the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.The magical underground water network system provides great convenience for people's life and irrigation of farmland. Water vapor regulates humidity and temperature in old village, which is also called ecological air conditioning by locals.
Orchard
The present Taoping Qiang village is composed of two architectural communities: Taoping new village and Taoping old village. The transition from new village to old village is an orchard. In this mountainous area with an altitude of 1400 meters and a sunshine duration of 10 hours, nearly 32 varieties of fruit have been planted.Such as sweet cherries, grapes,persimmons,dates.New village covers an area of 120 Chinese mu, form a complete set of tourist infrastructure services.
Food
AbsolutePanda recommend you to taste the local authentic Qiang food，featured with many different style cooked wheaten food，potatoes and baked meat. Don't forget to buy some fruit like cherry, orange and persimmons when it is the right season.
Travel Tips
Taoping Qiang Village now includes the old and new village. The old village is the original and the new village was built after 2008 earthquake.
The old village need ticket to enter and the new one is free.
Local Qiang people are doing part-time guide and can tell you some anecdote about the fort.
Related Tours
Absolutepanda Tours related to Taoping Qiang Village
It is the most mysterious "Oriental ancient fort". Taoping Qiang village is located in Taoping township along the Zagunao river in the upper reaches of Min river. It is 163 kilometers away from Chengdu and 41 kilometers away from the county seat. There are 98 families in the village. Taoping Qiang village is the "living fossil" of the original Qiang architectural culture and art which has been preserved till now.
History
The recorded history of Taoping Qiang Village can be dated back to around 100 BC when China is ruled by Han Dynasty. As one of the oldest ethnic groups, Qiang people moved to this area because of escaping from warfare. The Taoping village developed through each dynasties and
Main Attractions of Taoping Qiang Village
Architectures
Living fossil and Oriental fortress
Taoping Qiang Village is a typical representative of the Qiang architecture community and was built in 111 BC. The well-preserved old village is located in the high mountain ridge, near streams. Seen from a distance, it is a group of brown stone houses and forts sitting at the steep mountain slope and slowly climb up with high and low, well proportioned distribution. These architectures are splendid with a unique style. More impressive are the primitive simplicity of these construction. They were built without drawing, ink, not even a line. All of them are built and with human eyes. The whole village become an organic intact big household with no isolated house of a single-family.Most of the ancient castles in the world have traditional architectural procedures of setting gates or exits in the southeast and northwest side, meanwhile Taoping Qiang Village has eight radial exits originated from the center. These exits, connected with secret passages, weaving into a lane network . People in this village can move in and out freely, and outsiders will enter a maze-like castle.
Qiang Culture
Taoping Qiang village has a rich minority folk culture. You can taste the unique flavor of Qiang cuisine here. It is a place where you also can enjoy the vigorous and passionate singing and dancing of dozens or hundreds Qiang people. Walking into the old village, you can see Qiang women are sitting on the stone steps, doing embroidery work, and the unique wooden lock of Qiang. After more than two thousand years shape of time, the spirit of the ancient Qiang is still intact. The forts and buildings are connecting with each other, the labyrinth-like roadways inside the village and the underground water network extending in all directions are still intact too.The fort survived the Diexi earthquake in 1933, the Songpan earthquake in 1976 and the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.The magical underground water network system provides great convenience for people's life and irrigation of farmland. Water vapor regulates humidity and temperature in old village, which is also called ecological air conditioning by locals.
Orchard
The present Taoping Qiang village is composed of two architectural communities: Taoping new village and Taoping old village. The transition from new village to old village is an orchard. In this mountainous area with an altitude of 1400 meters and a sunshine duration of 10 hours, nearly 32 varieties of fruit have been planted.Such as sweet cherries, grapes,persimmons,dates.New village covers an area of 120 Chinese mu, form a complete set of tourist infrastructure services.
Food
AbsolutePanda recommend you to taste the local authentic Qiang food，featured with many different style cooked wheaten food，potatoes and baked meat. Don't forget to buy some fruit like cherry, orange and persimmons when it is the right season.
Travel Tips
Taoping Qiang Village now includes the old and new village. The old village is the original and the new village was built after 2008 earthquake.
The old village need ticket to enter and the new one is free.
Local Qiang people are doing part-time guide and can tell you some anecdote about the fort.
Related Tours
Absolutepanda Tours related to Taoping Qiang Village
