A Flavor for Each Ethnic Group - The Wa People
Penji.
Get dressed first.
Will it fit? I have a thick waist.
It'll fit. I've especially prepared it for you.
Thank you.
Have a look at it. It's a skirt.
OK.
Get changed over here.
It fits perfect.
You look pretty.
Yes.
You'll be more like a Wa girl if your skin is darker.
You look pretty.
Yes.
Let me show you around.
There's a wooden drum house at the entrance of the village
and there're some big banyan trees above.
OK.
Apenjie,
you've finally come.
Hi, Yanzhong.
Welcome to our village!
Let me take you around.
Slower.
Is that a fighting cock that they're washing?
Yes.
Welcome to our village!
Our way of welcoming guests is to beat the wooden drum.
Thank you.
Apenjie,
(Wa language) Welcome!
Thank you.
Apenjie, I caught a few chickens last night
and I'm going back to cook the porridge first.
You take your time and go around.
OK.
This is the gate of our holy land.
This is our wishing well.
Let's make a wish together.
OK. Thanks.
Let's go.
In every important festival,
we invite some
well-respected aged people in the village
to come here to hold a ceremony,
praying for good harvest
and prosperity.
Yes.
We can come here
and do a simple prayer.
You stand here.
Hold the hands like this.
Oh, our chickens
are really delicious!
I'll cook some porridge!
Let's pick the flowers now.
Have you tried it before?
No, but I've seen it many times.
Have a taste of it today.
Watch out.
I'm catching the flowers down here.
A lot of honey is falling on my face!
It's enough.
It's all over me.
Let's take the better ones.
We failed to catch them.
They just fell to the ground.
There must be honey in the flowers.
Yes.
It's enough.
It's enough for us.
Remove the Chicken Feather
Yanzhong, why are you burning the chicken feathers?
According to our traditional way of cooking porridge,
we burn the chicken feathers
to make the chicken meat more tasty.
I got it.
Salt
Cook For Half An Hour
(Wa Language) Cook more and invite the neighbors for dinner!
Wa Brocading
(Wa Language) We've cooked a lot of chicken porridge.
(Wa Language) We're going to cook some more dishes.
(Wa Language) We've cooked a lot and you can invite them over for dinner later.
(Wa Language) OK.
This is our water wine.
Yes.
Every girl here knows how to brew wine.
I made this myself.
How long do you soak it?
About half an hour
to make it smell better.
Wow! It has a strong aroma of wine.
Yes.
How much alcohol is in it?
About 50%.
It's about the same as the wine we made at home.
Soak it for half an hour and then we can get it out.
It'll make the wine taste better.
Wa People's Water Wine
Apenjie, do you have this kind of flowers in your hometown?
No. I've heard about it, but I've never eaten it before.
What is its name?
I don't know its Chinese name.
We call it... (Wa language)
Is it a word?
Yes.
(Wa Language)
I see.
It's also called (Wa Language)
(Wa Language) means flower.
(Wa Language) is the name of a plant.
When there're no guests at home,
do you cook chicken porridge?
We eat porridge all year round,
almost every day.
When cooking porridge, you usually don't cook other dishes, huh?
We usually prepare some pounded vegetables.
Porridge must go with some pounded vegetables vegetables,
like pounded plantain flowers.
Xiao, why are your kitchens on the second floor?
Because the first floor is for livestock and storage
and the second floor is where we live.
Apenjie,
come over here! The chicken is ready.
I'm about to put the rice in.
It smells good.
Have a taste of our red rice.
The chicken meat smells so good.
I'm going to have a taste of it.
It's not too chewy.
It won't get too chewy or too soft no matter how long we cook it.
I see.
It's not too chewy or too tender.
Mint, Coriander
Fennel, Wild Vegetable
Wa's Porridge
This plantain has a big heart.
Because this is a wild plantain from the mountain.
It's also a large plantain variety.
I see.
Wow, it's beautiful.
Boil for 25 Minutes
Wa's Barbecue
Did you make this fermented soya bean cake?
I make it every year.
It smells good.
Yanzhong, your barbecue smells good too.
Eat more in a while.
Pound the fermented soya beans, garlic, ginger, pod pepper and coriander.
Squeeze the water out of the boiled plantain flowers.
This dish goes well with rice.
Yes.
Eat more later on.
Wa's Pounded Vegetables
Apenjie, have a taste of this.
Is it ready?
Yes.
Have a taste of the pounded plantain flowers.
It's really delicious.
Yes.
Xiao, dinner is ready!
OK, I'll call them back.
Wa's Stir-fried Dish
(Wa Language) Dinner is ready!
Wa's Salted Cowhide
Xiao, are they back?
They're on their way back.
I've just asked about it.
You're finally back.
Yes.
Come and eat.
Good timing!
(Wa Language) So Yanzhong is here too.
(Wa Language) Put it deeper, or it won't work.
(Wa Language) Can you get it out?
(Wa Language) Take it slow. Let's eat first.
(Wa Language) This one is for you, Brother.
(Wa Language) That's enough. Thanks.
(Wa Language) Eat more.
(Wa Language) What a good little sister!
(Wa Language) This must be delicious.
(Wa Language) Because my beautiful little sister got it for me.
Penjie, this one is for you.
Thanks.
Eat more.
OK.
Yanzhong, your cooking is delicious.
Thank you.
Come here more often.
OK.
(Wa Language) Try the meat.
Wa's Salad Chicken
(Wa Language) Eat more.
It's delicious.
You're suddenly speaking Mandarin.
(Wa Language) Yummy.
How to say "yummy" in Wa language?
(Wa Language) Yummy.
This water wine is sweet.
Really?
This is wheat water wine, and it's sweet.
Welcome to Wa Mountain in Ximeng!
Thank you!
I'll sing you a song with the highest etiquette of the Wa People.
Thank you!
Is the wine full?
The bamboo tube is deep.
What a good drinker!
I've emptied the tube. Thank you.
Eat more, please.
OK.
(Wa Language) You eat the meat.
(Wa Language) Eat more.
(Wa Language) Try the dishes.
(Wa Language)
Apenjie, eat the chicken leg.
We Wa people always offer the chicken legs to the most honorable guests.
Thank you.
Eat more, please.
OK.
Xiao, your plates are different from the usual ones.
Yes, these are our Wa people's wooden plates.
We use them for eating porridge.
In the past, we put the porridge on this kind of leaves
and eat it with hands.
Now the life is better
and we eat it with plates and chopsticks.
It's called "mula" in Mandarin.
How to say it in Wa language?
(Wa Language)
You're right.
The second round of water wine.
You drank the first round on your own
and I'll drink with you on the second round.
OK.
I'll cheer you on.
Let's drink it while hugging.
OK.
Pat me three times after drinking.
That's very standard.
You'll have another drink if you don't pat on my back.
(Everyone drinks together on the third round.)
Now you're kind of one of us.
I am?
The ceremony is over after three rounds of drinking.
I see.
When one visits Ximeng,
the three things that one should do include
drinking three bamboo tubes of water wine
and having a taste of our porridge.
Now I'm officially one of you?
Yes, you are.
And there's one last thing that you should try,
singing our song and dancing our dance.
Great!
Surprise Performance
Do all your girls dance hair dance?
Yes.
(First Set of Moves)
Forward and backward, forward and backward.
OK.
Wait. My back!
My back hurts.
(Second Set of Moves)
Hands on your hips.
Open your legs.
Squat down.
Sway your hair from left to right and then from right to left.
Speed up. Ready, go!
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
(Third Set of Moves)
It's a bit difficult.
OK.
We need to turn around.
Hands on your thighs.
Sway your hair downward.
And then start swaying your hair clockwise.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Music!
I'm dizzy! You try it!