Going with the flow

The art of drifting along a river on a stem of bamboo becomes one of the province's biggest draws, Qiu Quanlin reports in Chishui, Guizhou.

Standing on a thick bamboo stem floating on the Datong River, a tributary of the Chishui River in Guizhou province, Xiong Bin played the lusheng, a Miao ethnic reed-pipe flute.

Such scenes have become common in Datong township, which lies in a mountainous area in northern Guizhou, as 20-year-old Xiong and other young villagers perform for tourists at the weekend or during holidays.

Originating in northern Guizhou, the tradition of single bamboo drifting requires the practitioner to stand or sit on a stem of bamboo, which is usually 7.5 to 8 meters long, while performing balancing movements using a thinner strip of bamboo up to 4.5 meters long.

In addition to the balancing movements, Xiong usually plays the pipes.

"Playing the lusheng and performing other balancing movements on the bamboo stem is part of our efforts to improve the experience for tourists, as we are promoting single bamboo drifting," says the Miao man.