traverse magazine

TRAVERSEChina Edition

MAY 2015

Three Course Tea of Life

Venturing With the Vas

What The Hui Holds

DALI MARBLE

DALI IS SO RENOWNED FOR IT THAT THECHINESE WORD IS NAMED AFTER DALI

FOUND AND USED WORLDWIDE

FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF DALI, YUNNAN  DALIMARBLE.COM

So my phone ran out of battery last week. There I was, a tourist in the heart of Beijing’s busy streets, tapping on my phone screen frantically. By the time I scrambled to an power outlet, I was practically dipped in sweat like a melting popsicle. Thankfully, I didn’t miss any important messages from my colleagues.

My phone always keeps me busy. Whether its important phone calls or FlappyBird, phones are what really should be named “a man’s best friend”.

Just one week in China broadened my knowledge of China’s culture and how it’s modernizing. Often, people associate China with pandas, dumplings, and beautifully decorated silks, but rarely do people know much about China’s 56 ethnic minorities. You’ve probably heard of a few: Han, Mongols, Tibetan, but this issue of Traverse Magazine brings you to the villages of five very different minorities: Bai, Dai, Hui, Tu, and Va.

Traverse Magazine: China Edition will begin by taking you to the Three Course Tea of the Bai people (page 5), which lets you experience a ceremony celebrated on the 21st day of the third month, on the lunar calendar. Then, we bring you to the water splashing festival of the Dai, where splashing water is a symbol of “holiness, goodness, and purity” (page 31). Then, you experience the Mawlid al-Nabi, a celebration of the Hui people (page 23).

—ARDEN WANG

editor’sMAY 2015

Cover photography by Ellie Lee

This issue’s shortcuts….

Page 4: 10 Interesting Facts About China

Page 14: Travel Apps

Page 30: Festival Calendar

Page 29: Ningxia’s Tourism Statistics

Page 36: Va Minority VS She Minority

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