These are China’s 'fields of gold'

I [Music] in this episode of travelogue we reach the end of our epic 10 part journey along the Pearl River we discover the many ways in which the millions of people living among the mountains of Yunnan province at the rivers source are preserving their traditions the Pearl River known in Chinese as the jewel young with this eastern western and northern tributaries it's actually a vast river system the third longest river in China and the second largest by volume near its source is the city of to Xion and neighboring Laughlin County so here we are the final leg of our journey towards the source of the Pearl River well they're here to learn by many different names but still for centuries the local ethnic Buie people have harnessed the power of the Pearl River using their water wheels to irrigate their fields and of course if you look from further high up you'll see a entire area surrounded by beautiful fields of rapeseed which this county is famous for i'm Teran welcome to Yunnan Province and welcome to shooting out of China's three great river systems the Pearl is the only one whose source can be easily reached starting from Yunnan Province in the southwest of the country its headwaters must travel almost two-and-a-half thousand kilometers roughly the distance from London to Moscow before reaching the ocean [Music] here in Laughlin County many of the polls tributaries converge to form the Nanban River the lifeblood of the local economy [Music] this is a pretty novel for me at first I thought there were cow sheds but as it turns out they're basically automated pestle and mortars as you've seen with other ethnic minorities who live by the pole River water is incredibly important and for the buoy people to water is something that they always have to live nearby it not only feeds their lands you know waters their crops but also provides the source of energy if you harness it using water rules for example here they have these big hammer arms that lift up and slam down on things like sweet corn if you want them grounded or if you want a whole rice you'll track them in here wait for the water to do its work and just sit back and relax really well depending on the speed of the water ethnic bullies have been living in these parts for over a thousand years no doubt they found the area at Dilek but the attraction has its practical side too this is the dory river a branch of the nan pan which waters a highly fertile valley believe it or not it's dry season right now yet there's plenty of h2o to go around [Music] [Music] yeah but cheer that okay this may look like a selection of exotic spices but it's actually just sticky rice the colors are extracted from the diverse flowers and plants that grow here in the working counties lush climate man would you leave this is intense I mean we got up at 5:30 in the morning to film the sunrise and obviously it will start back then I had no idea there were so many photographers here I knew that the rapeseed fields of logging were famous didn't realize how popular they'd be but unfortunately lots of clouds today so sun's already up didn't get sunrise but it's still pretty nonetheless and doesn't really matter for me because I don't have a tripod so win-win [Music] the rapeseed filter cover an area the size of Chicago once a year in early spring the plants explode into a profusion of gold a logging becomes the backdrop for an international flower festival and for a thriving industry [Music] these feels so pretty but these rapeseed flowers aren't just about the looks either they're the third largest source of vegetable oil in the world they give us canola oil for example and China is the second biggest producer of them but every year there any bloom between the months of February and March and during that time three million visitors come here to loping County in order to take photographs of these little yellow flowers the shutter bugs aren't the only creatures drawn to the blossoms among the others are some insects on a rather more productive Hey now huh okay do get to like a sauna attorney tomorrow well totally are oh okay that's very kind of them we've got a yes I definitely want one of these babies very actually now if I'm allergic to bees because I've never been stung before better this is just for the face don't care of my hands are going to be fun okay I think I think you guys should probably also put the hats on look No okay give up break cameramen ha ha ha Frigga military toys your honey ha ha ha Thomasina mm familiar Oh judges home eager to go back to golf national what before World War II don't let me careful not to sapper Jake the face of the big - justify basically by - you're from paint a fine for sure here just a fool that's how you value me bunt a good laugh anybody cut oh is it oh it's still warm to the touch ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha rich oh wow as amazing safe procedure you wanted a horror film sure that's me yes - boss - type George Unni here come our cash on yesterday lingo something Sonia woman OH t-shirt yogo yeah yeah sure - sorry for Cola lady - except maybe in your pathology Danny wait a tortilla fella want me to break the lock woman Sally Eddie let me take away this is a cheap one gonna rock you on anybody he can't walk ten meters without meeting someone who wants to sell you honey but honey is only a byproduct of the rapeseed the real reason its cultivated is oil look at this and if you know what these are these are the seeds in rapeseed but how did I go from these little black pools into becoming vegetable oil well that's the reason I've come to the factory today to find out how they do it the traditional way and they're really quite busy hey you're hot yeah they got what that means I nuclear going to happen to go to attach the order the autonomous have you not eaten and woman Parker - oh god charlie you shouldn't be untrue teach it the it's a nice with a woman a girl the seeds are then cooked in a giant walk every process here is done manually the only exception is the milling Tricia - yo sure the vulva once the seeds are ground down they're steamed in wooden bats lastly the wrapped in straw and packed into disks in other words oil cakes Johnson a good beautiful butt yo yo yo yo - charlatan yo this is its flower so I think it goes without saying that most vegetable oil in the world is produced in factories today you know because we've seen how difficult it is to hand make the thing so then why do people still do it here's the thing I like the cold dead steel of machinery Chinese people believe there is life to be found in things like wood in plants like grass and when you hand make something adding your own warmth to it - which means the end results should be better and hopefully quite a lot tastier - [Music] the traditionalist innate is delighted to see that the working to preserve the ancient craft for future generations [Music] and I guess the healthy eater in me is also pleased by the natural production process [Music] coming up next I spy with my little eye one of China's most beloved birds and I learn how a very ordinary metal brought extraordinary riches to a small mountain town [Music] look at this but you know what we're here for returning into a bunch of regular amateur photographers aren't we up at 5:00 in the morning for the sunrise again but this time with good reason because we're here to film the black neck cranes we tend to take off after sunrise [Music] this is Weiser counties blackneck crane Nature Reserve [Music] as the world's only Alpine crane species they're able to reach incredible altitudes high enough to cross the Himalayas blackneck cranes are revered in buddhist culture [Music] the Chinese consider them a symbol of fidelity they pair for life and during mating season they put on a beautiful dance [Music] all in all it's a magnificent spectacle one that might just be the subject of an award-winning photograph [Music] onions - one of the best things about travelogue is that it was good to eat so many different kinds of foods and breakfast is actually one of my favorite meals if I can get up in time for it but we've got some fried dough sticks and what looks like a great big bowl of condensed milk but it's actually made of peas this poopy thing is actually that's a pretty good quite savory and I have to say it's like peas once you've got a nice breakfast down to spend the rest of the day chilling out just a good start to the day the bustling town of Weiser seems worlds away from the peace and quiet of the Nature Reserve [Music] unlike other more airbrushed ancient towns this one feels authentic even the chaos is refreshing the streets are full of people going about their business which harks back to a time when waiter was a thriving copper mining town [Music] even nitron Poonam kupatana be she's alone in a higher get on without a greedy room mama - yes it is no to learn how and are either from your free meter to bank manager of Simba so a generous reward young - I'm home for 2002 Oh father MOBA Roger fun okay boyo sure way to be don't reach full maturity good me found a honey man oh gosh yeah your true identity I were also that yeah no that should teach you some onion boy go I shot me violation large it is and that figure your for your challenge is another mmm chalices and I write in my diary and okay talking to that guy - he said made such a son witcha not happy - not on Vandal Savage from walk home to Bella traditional honey man the changeful Heineken DTD interrogatory cheetah digital Canada - license and trigger sound battle sugar water content how many year charge is out to home college in Richmond sounds like a tongue hear it beating should come later or you should we be as a whole tally you like horses - AHA - AHA jewel - the giant gorilla - did you / - ready - yes sir what do you do to learn about a 20-3 was also partially social upon years eating translation one balloon ponta da zhangwei combines the intuition and skills inherited from his forebears with the methodical approach of a modern scientist he's found the best of both worlds and there's no questioning the originality of his work every piece is mesmerizing and no two are the same - between our party melodies with you chipiya she charged Oh Eugenio fan daughter Gabriella trigger canít article 5 enjoy 119 for the other half deliver feelings entitled a sushi chimp and also from the browser I mean it really is incredibly intricate and I think possibly one of the most fun things about doing this to you is you really don't know what the end result is going to look like if you really do have to just sit and pray obviously there's a nexus of expertise in there but it's all about luck [Laughter] [Music] quizzers relationship with copper has been long and prosperous and yet the weather-beaten streets and houses tend to belie this places claim so once being one of the richest towns in China pretty impressive you know tell from artwork whether faces wealthy actually and from the early Ching dynasty roughly four hundred years ago this place was producing copper and at one point seventy percent of all of the copper coins in circulation during Imperial China was produced from the mines here in quasar which obviously made a lot of people very wealthy and that's why you find so many of these merchants guild halls here hon Chan it in fact which is a lucky number in Buddhism too but only eight of them remain today the best-preserved is the jung SI guild hall with his crowning glory this an elaborately decorated stage [Music] you know it really did quite like the stage and not just because it's beautiful but if you have a look at the couplets the characters written on both sides of the plaques here their meaning is actually pretty Shakespearean it says all the worlds of stage heaven cares not feel wealth and the only difference between a rich man and a poor man is the quality of his clothing all men and women's are merely players well I added that last line in but you get the picture [Music] then again you might say the only difference between a rich man and a poor man is the quality of his lifestyle in that case even though Heiser has lost some of its former glory if people today are still pretty well-off coming up next I discover a competitor to prosciutto an Iberian ham thousands of miles away from Europe in a tiny Chinese mountain village continuing our journey towards the source of the Pearl River we reached runway county the location of the highest bridge in the world here the Pearl river's main tributary is the bay pan River a historically important transportation route once used by the hill tribes who lived here [Music] so this is very quaint isn't it so uh there's not a hard drive through the mountains to reach this place Padraig our village which is mainly known for two things for its stone buildings and also it's cured ham it's ham on which is great for me because I'm a bit of a big meat-eater what is your Jorge Canadian embassy very hazardous and shear on occasion and yeah only a friend mama tights all that uses had she given an r GG and a hoodie today watch out yah yah yah who taught you central fire you who'd you dumped it on leave it you know change it on the tree will cut you here oh yeah young way is famous across China for its cured ham like other famous hands around the world the meat comes from the legs of black pigs your salt 'its sit back and wait for three years and then you can eat it I love me some America Han but I did not expect to find come on here in Yunnan this is quite a pleasant surprise Navigon sending you on a little raw through Sunday Zhang will mention personal the entire context given essentially given Irish fighter 20 bakhoum the time at a bath or woof a sermon oh oh it's a thin oh man that smells ah oh oh yes oh yes it's not a small quite the same doubts America Hannah Burnham Dorothy we're using different kind of knife would have been slice much thinner it's in it's got a lot more lot more juicy mmm little bit more savory but the cure taste of ham is there it's exactly the same as oh it's great no come on you write about Wonder Woman from all your past and I don't know how they hear conclusion TMI but if you say the Congo show got touches are far older than that we do gonna be a tongue Gdynia booty ends just one on the function that's how much a project of what a toll are you all to Hahn and Sunnah here oh wow yeah are not is not big enough here's swear sighs readings is oh my word ah look at her look oh my god is really heavy look at the color of that cured ham it's beautiful is absolutely so would you they're gonna make a footage to that house well you know why are you true hardening is a powerful thing yeah haha you should put her gender which is who worship atrium the budget sentient life uma controller its American higher I wish in addition Jumanji one lower lay Duncan daughter and go gentlemen so Jason crateology Michael a good one yeah just so much wind whooshing booms are more pans about this I felt I know djinji jothomas angle taiga I'm from Chico tadhana who came into Yui gonna girl int Disney got it require but you shall regional harshly Sachiko HD sounds in young woman there to go through the woman makeup and room may damage food I hope that come here young food I never feel shame either an effusion Co okay don't go shooting cuz so far they don't found stuff when I won don't communicate - I got me to take the home country to you right le fedora fedora so don't make you page to see anger stuffy tears it is to deal homecoming party go sunday Satomi cocooning I want unique I know missing kinds of onions inside pseudonymity go for training or machines and a supernatural team challenge Bishop please humble show featured a leader Couture was a bigger video my third reaction about on Santos even ago every modern a can enjoy is thawed out UK shot that if we don't engage with it I don't which are warmer creatures you cut it out Johnny Cage research is your take on the antenna go is all about keeping traditions alive in a modern world just as the copper master and oil producers who met earlier are doing this part of Eastern urination quite isolated but the people here are anything but closed-minded [Music] Wow here we are the source of the Pearl River I mean it really is incredible to think that over some 2,400 kilometers this River first becomes a raging underground torrent that literally carves out the earth beneath our feet before surfacing and becoming a vast network of tributaries on which the livelihoods of hundreds and thousands of people rely on for food for agriculture for farming for transport and power and also for thousands of enterprising merchants who set up for the wider world on the maritime Silk Road it was a source of great fortune but it's also been a pretty incredible journey for us too I mean we've seen the mega metropolis at the mouth of the Pearl River and the tiny little ethic when our sea villages nearby its source and how this incredibly complex river system has created some of Tyra's most enduring landscapes traditions cultures and cuisines and continues to change the face and fate of China and perhaps even the wider world this vast river system with its history is connected to the millions strong Chinese diaspora and with as modern cities standing on the maritime Silk Road it's connected to every corner of the globe [Music] [Music]

Channel: CGTN

Views: 143,720

Rating: 4.8448372 out of 5

Keywords: CCTV, CGTN, CCTVNews, News, ChinaNews, WorldNews, qujing, travel, China, Yunnan, Travelogue

Id: WDYp7EeyT84

Length: 29min 20sec (1760 seconds)

Published: Mon May 07 2018