February 14th, the villagers are celebrating their new year in the new village
When they are preparing for dinner
The fire started
And it spread really quickly
The fire went on for one hour and a half
The 17 households left in the old village
Witnessed the entire process of the burning down of the houses
The only thing they could do was to get out of the houses
Later I saw in the video shot by villagers
There was sound of weeping in the background
In the past decade
I’ve been making a documentary film called “Weng Ding – The Last Tribe in China”
I visited Weng Ding for the first time in 2012
What I saw shook me
It was not too far from China’s border with Myanmar
Surrounded by mountains
With a fertile paddy field on the right
It’s like a heaven on earth
According to “Chinese National Geography”, it is the last primitive tribe
I shot the 6th chief of the village
In the primitive regulation
The chief owns supreme power
When others come visit him
He is actually very proud of it
You call him chief, and he will show you his spear
“I am chief of the village and this is a representation of my power”
“My spear”
“Spear cows and pigs”
The Wa nationality have their own rules of calendar
In the 365 days of a year
They are assigned specific tasks everyday
Such as on which day we should celebrate the Wa calendar new year
And on which they we offer sacrifices to the god of grains
On which they we should go fetch new rice
Because of the primitive social system
Materials are basically distributed equally
Who got married
The entire village would go to help out
And after that they would feast, sing and dance together
When a family has children
It’s like the whole village is their parents
Children can eat at any house
They all provide similar food
I talked to villagers and they told me
We are not like you outsiders
We can live a whole year without spending a dime
We have the paddy field for rice
And where do we get salt
We barter rice for salt
Meat comes from their own pigs
They weave their own clothes
Collecting natural hemp
Get the fiber
And weave
Wa nationality is known as “a fireplace that never dies out”
The fireplace is usually located in the center of the room
And they live with the fireplace generation after generation
People would think that thatched cottages should keep away from fire
When in fact they need fire
If you don’t have a fireplace at home
After rain
The cottage would fall apart a few days later
In 2012
The village has been developing tourism
But got a tepid response
As the number of tourists went up
The villagers were increasingly pressured to move to the new village
In the ideology of Wa nationality
Fire is caused by the ghost of fire
Younger people go fight the fire
Women can’t participate in the mission
And older people chant scriptures
The fire might be
Like the senior in the village said
A reminder sent by god
Telling them not to move
“The chicken bone on the right is impassable”
“Both of them should be the same”
Seeing the changes, the young decided to live
The young no longer considered such idyllic life
As the best kind of lifestyle
Nobody would like to put their poverty on display
Like the villagers said
“I’d like to live in a town house too”
Almost all villagers of Weng Ding moved away overnight in 2018
They assumed the senior were sleeping
Over 80 households moved away at night
Actually not one older people slept that night
They lay beside their fireplaces
Listening to the sound outside
While crying at home
The village was gone
So before Weng Ding was burnt down
It was not Weng Ding
Villagers moved out, kids moved out
The houses were like tombs
Dark, without life
After the big move, the chief fell ill and never recovered
He got cerebellar atrophy
On the 6th day after moving to the new village
He passed away in that condition
The shooting continued for 7, 8 years
From my 30s to my 40s
And more than one machine broke down during the process
I owed people a few hundred thousand for making the film
I ran out of budget but I must go on
Borrowed an iPad
And shot with my iPhone4s
The film started with a fire
The beginning of 2013
Little did I know that it would end with a fire too
Fire is a ritual
A ritual of it leaving the world
“You send away my children”
“Then I wouldn’t have other people live here”
Of course I feel sorry for it
But I think it’s the best ending for Weng Ding
The core is transition
The development of a culture
The replacement of a civilization
Behind it is a sigh