A weaver at a back-strap loom with a part-finished panel
The loom
Back-strap, tensioned by the weaver's own body, patterns held in memory.
A woven brocade panel in deep reds and indigo on a wooden frame
Tujia Brocade and a Hunan Table in Zhangjiajie
Everyone photographs the towers. Almost nobody spends a day with the people who have lived below them for several centuries, which is odd, because that is the half of Zhangjiajie you cannot see from a viewing platform.
- Duration
- One day, roughly 09:00 to 19:00
- Party
- Private, or a small group by arrangement
- From
- Enquire for pricing
- Best months
- April to June, September to November
Cured meat hanging above a wood-fired hearth
The kitchen
Cured pork, chilli, and smoke as a seasoning rather than an accident.
The towers, late
Seen from below and from a distance, once the coaches have gone.
Tujia brocade is woven on a back-strap loom — one end tied to a post, the other around the weaver’s waist, so the tension is her own body leaning back. It is slow, it cannot be scaled, and the patterns exist only in the weavers’ memories. Nothing is written down.
The cooking follows the same logic. Cured pork hung in the smoke of the hearth all winter, chilli that arrived four hundred years ago and was absorbed completely, and a preference for sour that outsiders take a day to adjust to.
The songs are the part that stays with people. They belong to specific occasions — work, weddings, funerals — and they are not sweet.
A wood-fired hearth in a timber house
Terraced hillsides below tall rock formations
The day
- Sit with a Tujia weaver at a back-strap loom and try the shed yourself
- Learn how the patterns are held and passed on without ever being drawn
- Cook and eat a hillside meal built on smoke, chilli and cured pork
- Hear the songs that belong to the work and to the funerals
- See the sandstone towers late, when the day visitors have left
Included
- Private host and interpreter for the full day
- Weaving session with a Tujia weaver
- Lunch cooked with your hosts, and dinner
- Private vehicle and driver
- Not included: Accommodation
- Not included: Flights and intercity transport
- Not included: Park admission and internal transport, if the towers are included
- Not included: Personal spending
Questions
Who are the Tujia?
One of China's larger recognised minority peoples, long settled across western Hunan. Their timber building, brocade weaving and funeral song traditions are distinct from Han practice and are still in daily use.
Is this a performance put on for visitors?
No. You are in a working house with a weaver who sells her work. The singing happens because we ask, not because a schedule says so.
Can I buy brocade?
Yes, directly from the weaver. We will tell you what is a fair price and then stay out of it.
Do we go into the park itself?
We can, late in the day when it thins out, but this day is built around the valley people rather than the viewing platforms. Tell us which you want to weight.
Will there be other guests?
Only if you want them. The day is normally private to your party; we also run it as a small group when travellers ask to share, and we will tell you which applies to your dates.