FOR centuries, the Li ethnic minority lived at the foot of the mountains in Betel Nut Valley on Hainan Island, and the Miao minority dwelled higher up.

After a long history of rivalry and fighting over resources, both minorities on this island province finally called a truce decades ago in the name of tourism.

The result is the Binlanggu Hainan Li and Miao Heritage Park, built in 1998, which preserves two minority villages and welcomes thousands of guests every day.

The park showcases the history and culture of the two ethnic groups on the tropical southern island. Located about a 40-minute drive away from the seaside city of Sanya, the valley takes its name from the groves of wild betel nut trees included in its lush flora.

Before making marriage proposals, Li men were required to climb 49 betel nut trees to prove their mettle.

On the twisting drive into the valley, visitors often stop for photographic shots. Every frame is layered with 50 shades of green. An open plaza greets them at the park’s entrance, which features a 100-year-old cactus, a large gate decorated with ethnic patterns and a stone sculpture of a frog, the symbol of motherhood in the Li culture.

The Li minority account for about a seventh of Hainan’s population and were among the earliest settlers to inhabit the island some 3,000 years ago. When they landed ashore, they turned their boats upside-down to provide temporary shelter.

At first, they lived near the water, but gradually, over centuries, they moved inland to the mountains, where they built houses of bamboo, wood and grasses in the shape of boats.

The Miao minority, who number about 60,000 in the province, are mostly descendents of soldiers drafted from nearby Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region about 400 years ago. Throughout their ancient rivalry, the Li dominated.

“Our ancestors were strong and drove the Miao to higher parts of the mountain, where it is more humid and uncomfortable,” Wang Xiaoyun, our Li park tour guide, said with obvious pride.

“When the park was built, all the Miao people moved out,” Wang said. “Most of the people from our village moved out, too, but some of the elderly refused to leave and still live in the park.”

Wang, 26, like most tour guides and staff at the park, was a native of the Li village. However, when she was eight, her family moved to a more modern village miles away, so she never experienced the rancor that once existed decades ago between the Li and Miao tribes.

She adopted a Mandarin name and speaks fluent Mandarin, while still retaining her ethnic name and local dialect. Wang attended school with both Han and ethnic minorities, and married a Han man.

“We had two wedding ceremonies,” she said. “We always celebrate both Han and Li new years. Those are the times I feel most connected to my ethnic heritage. Other than that, I am just like you.”

The Li people celebrate their New Year on the third day of the third month on lunar calendar. They also observe the Chinese Lunar New Year, though on a much smaller scale.

Wang said the Li people tend to have deep-set eyes, high cheekbones and flat noses, but apart from the ethnic costume she wears at work, it would be hard to identify her by those traits.

Her costume is decorated with symbolic patterns of gods, animals and geometric shapes. It is made with the distinct spinning and weaving technique of the Li people.

Indeed, it was in Li villages in Hainan that Huang Daopo (1245-1330), an early pioneer in Chinese textile techniques, learned and practiced her skills for more than 30 years before returning to her home in Shanghai.

The park’s most endearing attractions are perhaps the few remaining elderly women who are still living there. These women, sometimes called “living fossils,” still wear traditional tattoos on their faces, backs, breasts, arms and legs.

The tattoos are a part of the traditional Li matrilineal society. The tattoo process began when girls were six years old. Geometric tattoos, starting from the face and finishing at the ankles, had to be completed before women married, usually before the age of 20.

Like many minority groups, the Li people have an oral language but no written one. The tattoos were used to identify the women by tribe and family origins. The exact symbolism of many of the patterns is still unknown, but they are believed to be related to auspicious signs of fortune, children and health. The tattoos were also a way of identifying women in the afterlife, so they would be accepted by their ancestors in the hereafter.

The structure and position of the tattoo patterns are distinct between different tribal branches of the Li.

Over centuries, emperors and local officials tried to ban the tattooing tradition, but the ethnic people started to abandon the practice only 60 or so years ago. In general, people younger than 80 years no longer have tattoos.

However, grannies in the park, who are mostly over 80, still wear the old tradition. They are the only remaining original village residents.

“The grannies don’t want to move,” tour guide Wang explained. “They prefer to remain in the boat-shaped houses that our people have resided in for thousands of years. They also don’t understand or speak any Mandarin.”

The grannies, scattered around the village, have become a chief attraction in the park. They spend their days spinning and weaving textiles, as their forebears did for centuries. The intricate patterns they create have been handed down for generations.

A simple handmade shirt takes about seven to eight months to complete. More complicated garments may take years.

“The skills are disappearing,” Wang said, pointing to elderly women bent over their weaving work. “It is time-consuming and hard on the body. Young people are not really up for it.”

Like the tattoos, the textile patterns on clothing indicate a person’s origins. There is some communality. Da Li Shen, the god of strength, is seen on all costumes. He is the most superior and respected of all gods worshiped by the Li people. Bulls are also very common symbols, indicating a family’s wealth and social status.

The Li section of the park traces the minority’s history back to the earliest inhabitants. It shows how ancient people used antiaris, a poisonous mulberry tree. Beasts were hunted with arrows tipped with the tree’s poison, hence the locals named it the “poison arrow tree.”

Clothing was made from the tree’s thin outer layer. Very few men still know how to “skin” the trees, process the thin bark and turn it into clothing. Garments made from antiaris are said to be of the highest quality and were often passed down through at least three generations.

The Miao village of the park is smaller than its Li counterpart. The transition from one to the other is clearly marked by figures of spiders, totems sculptured on trees and the skulls of bulls.

The Miao people’s ancestors in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were known for their skill in extracting poison from insects, snakes and plants and using it to make medicines. Even today, Miao therapies are still used to help treat rheumatoid arthritis, burns and bone damage.

Unlike the Li village, the Miao village has no remaining residents. Some of the Miao houses have been maintained to showcase the minority culture.

According to tradition, the largest house went to the most-respected villager, usually a man with medical skills and knowledge. In more recent times, that person also served as village chief. The chief was the undisputed ruler of the village.

At noon, music suddenly fills the air. Wang and her colleagues, no matter what they are doing, all stop and start performing “the spider dance.” It’s an ancient custom dictated by village chiefs and still strictly followed today.

If you go

Opening hour: 8am-5:30pm

Admission: 125 yuan; free entry for soldiers, those 70 and older, and certain children; 65 yuan for people aged between 60-69, students, and certain children

How to get there: It takes about three and a half hours by air to travel from Shanghai to Sanya. Once downtown there, you can take buses heading toward Baoting or Wuzhi (Five Finger) Mountain from the Sanya bus terminal and disembark at the Betel Nut Valley. The trip takes about 45 minutes and costs 14 yuan.
Alternatively, you take a 40-minute taxi ride. Return fare is about 300-400 yuan, with the driver usually waiting at the site.