In 1868 Mesny landed a job of arms instructor with the Sichuan Army, and went off to Guizhou province to fight against ethnic Miao rebels. He spent much of the next two years around the town of Chong’an in southeastern Guizhou, teaching the Chinese soldiers how to use modern firearms and field guns, fighting in several battles, and watching the …
Mesny in China’s Millions
On 19 February 1877, British missionaries Charles Judd (Zhu Mingyang, 祝名扬) and James Broumton (Ba Zicheng, 巴子成) arrived at Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, to establish the city’s first Protestant outpost. They recorded their impressions of the city – including their welcome from Mesny – in China’s Millions, journal of the China Inland Mission. On their way to Guiyang, Judd …
Miao embroideries
Southwestern China’s Guizhou province is home to the Miao (Hmong), an ethnic minority who originated a thousand miles away in the Yellow River valley and migrated here millennia ago after being chased out of their homelands by the Yellow Emperor, ancestor of the Chinese people. Miao from different regions of Guizhou have developed their own distinct dress patterns. Both men …
Summoning the Dragon
Summoning the Dragon (召龙节) is a male-only celebration held every twelve years at Miao villages in the Leigong Shan region of southeastern Guizhou. The ceremony is usually closed to outsiders but in March 2019 a friend managed to wrangle special permission for me to attend the event at Xiao Kaitun in Yongle county (永乐镇小开屯村) – though have to say that …