0:22 [Music]
0:24 greetings everyone from the mountains of
0:27 Southwest China today we are here to
0:30 learn the story of the white pants Young
0:32 ethnic group yes that's actually their
0:35 name we're here partially to unravel the
0:37 mystery of why they are known for
0:39 wearing white pants and we also want to
0:42 know what life is like now in 2022 for
0:44 this mysterious ethnic group that was
0:47 isolated deep in the mountains of Gangi
0:50 Province for centuries so hope you guys
0:52 will be joining us let's meet the white
0:54 pants Yao people right now we're on our
0:57 way to the Yao community of Leu to see
0:59 what life is like well we're trying to
1:00 get to
1:02 but there are always obstacles in the
1:06 road so it's slow going H should I walk
1:08 to the side so I stay out of the
1:11 way no I'm going to walk right in front
1:14 of you I'm cute so I can get away with it
1:15 it [Music]
1:32 look at this handsome thing just
1:39 road
1:42 hi oh my gosh even you guys come on get
1:43 out of the
1:47 road okay finally we have arrived here
1:50 we are at Leu Yao town the younger
1:52 generation only wear their traditional
1:54 outfits for special events like
1:56 festivals weddings and funerals on the
1:58 other hand many people in the older
2:00 generation proudly sport their
2:02 traditional outfits every day white
2:06 pants for men and blue skirts for women
2:07 a lot of people still make their
2:09 traditional clothes by hand you can buy
2:23 [Music]
2:25 market there are all kinds of other
2:26 miscellaneous items in the market as
2:29 well like ya folk medicine picked from
2:31 the Mountain Forest
2:33 a photo printing
2:36 service some farming
2:39 items and some kind of little tool that
3:01 before
3:46 traditional clothes are expensive to buy
3:48 and really timec consuming to make so
3:49 some of the white pants y'all have
3:51 actually started manufacturing their
3:53 clothes in little factories like this
3:56 one these clothes are for sale in shops
4:21 if you're wondering what that noise was
4:22 in the background it's a type of drum
4:24 that some people are selling on the side
4:27 of the road [Music]
5:05 sorry guys we are not very musically
5:07 talented but we tried aside from the
5:10 banging of drums another sound is all
5:13 over Leal is the chirping of birds
5:15 nowhere in China have I seen people so
5:18 deeply interested in birds in the town
5:21 square there's a whole area dedicated to
5:40 everywhere you go there are guys wearing
5:43 this ethnic group's namesake white pants
5:46 but why throughout the two days I spent
5:48 in white pants Yao territory I really
6:24 honestly this seemed like a pretty
6:26 reasonable question to me but as I asked
6:28 more and more people I realized that in
6:30 their eyes I look like an idiot asking
6:32 this question where the white pants Yao
6:34 so of course we wear white pants there's
6:36 just nothing to even explain at all so I
6:39 finally cheated and looked it up online
6:42 so Legend has it that this particular
6:45 group of Yao became the white pants Yao
6:47 when they were chased by their enemy out
6:50 of their original Homeland far away into
6:53 the rugged mountains over here in leul
6:55 and once they reached these rugged
6:57 mountains their leader was exhausted
6:59 from the battle and he fell asleep and
7:02 he had a dream of an old man who came to
7:04 him and told him that these craggy
7:06 rugged mountains actually would be a
7:08 perfect Homeland because there are
7:11 rivers there's birds and beasts to hunt
7:13 it's not as bad as it looks okay you
7:15 guys can handle it here and the leader
7:17 was really excited by this optimistic
7:20 news and he slapped his bloody hand
7:22 against his knee which woke him up and
7:25 he realized oh this is actually a dream
7:27 but he was inspired anyway and he led
7:29 his people into the craggy mountains to
7:32 start life in their new home and his
7:35 outfit of that day white pants with
7:37 bloody handprints at the knees became
7:45 men after escaping from their enemies in
7:48 the mountains the white Pano lived in
7:50 isolation for centuries but now they are
7:52 mixing a lot with the rest of the
7:54 country especially in bustling places
7:56 like this little town were quite a few
7:58 Han as well as other ethnic groups like
8:02 Meo and B have come here to open shops
8:04 we met a Han lady who runs a steamed bun
8:06 stand here her buns with all their
8:09 various stuffings and flavors are very
8:11 popular among the ya Who used to live on
8:13 a mostly corn-based diet and she seems
8:15 to get along quite well with the locals
8:17 despite the language barriers not
8:19 everyone speaks Mandarin here after all
8:38 our next stop is some of the local
8:40 Villages since most people don't
8:42 actually live in the town they come in
8:44 from the surrounding areas on their
8:57 there over the years the white pants ya
8:58 have been leaving the deepest and most
9:00 remote parts of the mountains and
9:02 trading their traditional bamboo houses
9:05 for Brick and concrete for the most
9:06 impoverished families resettlement
9:08 Villages were built and housing was
11:02 finally we have a clue to where one of
11:04 those old villages is I really want to
11:06 check it out partially just because I
11:09 love exploring abandoned stuff and
11:11 partially to compare it to the modern
11:13 houses and lifestyle of the white pants
11:16 Yao but that little village proved to be
11:19 a lot harder to find than we thought
11:21 these narrow tiny roads are just enough
11:23 for one car if someone else shows up
11:33 this place is difficult enough to get to
11:35 with a paved Road in a car so can you
11:37 imagine how like cut off from the world
11:39 these people were before this paved Road
11:41 was in here I mean imagine people who
11:43 lived here like a few decades ago maybe
11:45 went their entire lives without ever
11:47 leaving this place because it's so hard
11:49 to get out of here
11:51 found it seemed as though we had reached
11:53 the place the guy on the scooter told us
11:56 about but how is there only one house
12:00 where's the Bamboo Grove so we kept
12:03 going look at all those rocks how on
12:05 Earth did people grow anything around
12:08 here I wonder if the leader of the white
12:10 pants Yao ever regretted listening to
12:13 the old man in his dream this is not an
12:15 easy place to live and these rough
12:17 conditions kept the white pants Yao in
12:20 poverty for centuries how can you focus
12:22 on new technology and education when you
12:25 can barely put food on the table not
12:27 only is the ground around here super
12:29 Rocky and not suitable for growing crops
12:32 but it also seems like about half the
12:33 plants around here are trying to kill
12:36 you so [Music]
12:45 bonus
12:48 hi update from the ground we have not
12:50 yet found the mysterious abandoned
12:53 Bamboo Village but we are appreciating
12:55 the interesting scenery a lot of the
12:57 trees around here have really thick
13:00 beefy trunks with holes in them the
13:02 sticky sap in these trees is an
13:04 essential ingredient in the dying
13:06 process of the colorful traditional
13:08 clothing worn by the white pants y'
13:25 earlier these trees are so important
13:27 that they are not cut down for firewood
13:30 or to make houses or tools they are used
13:31 for sap only and when they run out of
13:34 sap they retire
13:36 peacefully aside from the sticky paste
13:38 trees we also saw some other unique
13:41 local items like these cute storage
13:43 houses that look like tiny
13:46 Huts these totem pole looking
14:04 oh
14:09 wow hello but where the heck is the Old
14:12 Village we can't find it finally though
14:14 we did realize our mistake the concrete
14:17 roads only go to places where people
14:20 actually live on our third time passing
14:22 by This Old House we finally noticed a
14:25 tiny path Into the Woods next to it and
14:34 the guy on the scooter told us that
14:36 there's a Grove of bamboo right outside
14:56 it it only takes about 2 minutes to get
14:58 from the front Stone Gate to the end of
15:00 the village it's a really tiny place
15:03 with what appears to be less than 10
15:05 houses some of them are almost
15:07 completely toppled over as scooter guy
15:09 had told us but some of them are
15:11 actually in pretty decent shape and all
15:14 of them are abandoned it is herbeck's
15:17 Paradise in here this Village is so tiny
15:19 and I couldn't help but wonder what
15:21 happens if you don't like your neighbors
15:23 cuz that's all you got you know I mean
15:24 how many people could possibly live in
15:27 this tiny
15:29 place there's a river that is pretty
15:32 close in driving or motor scooter terms
15:34 but back in the day without paved roads
15:36 this thing might as well have been 100
15:38 miles away and there wasn't much
15:40 groundwater either so the villagers
15:52 tubs life was tough out here the white
15:55 pant yal wo their own houses out of
15:57 bamboo it's like making a basket but
16:07 honestly I think these houses are very
16:09 beautiful they have a very unique look
16:11 to them but they are not particularly
16:14 wind or rain proof which is why this
16:16 building style has been abandoned in
16:18 favor of concrete and Bricks also the
16:21 time consumption factor I can't imagine
16:24 how long it takes to weave the walls of
17:10 even though nobody actually lives in
17:12 these houses anymore they're definitely
17:14 taking advantage of what little good
17:16 arable land there is in this very rocky
17:18 place because all of these little
17:20 gardens we're passing have crops growing in
17:28 them and somebody is grazing a mule over
17:30 here well now we know where the poop at
17:32 the front gate came from there's one old
17:35 man in this Village sitting in front of
17:37 what I guess was his family's old house
17:53 [Music]
17:56 chickens byebye byebye it is just crazy
17:59 to me that just 10 years ago people are
18:01 living in this Village because I've
18:03 never seen a village like this anywhere
18:05 in China you know it just feels like
18:07 going back in time like a time machine
18:10 to centuries ago China has changed so
18:12 fast in the past couple of decades and
18:14 coming to places like this is another
18:22 that we visited the bustling town we saw
18:24 a bunch of modern neighborhoods and
18:27 communities we explored the mysterious
18:29 abandoned Bamboo Village
18:31 we met lots of friendly people we
18:33 encountered lots of interesting things
18:36 and once again we have seen the rapid
18:39 changes taking place in rural China we
18:42 captured the transitionary moment where
18:44 the older generation who were born and
18:46 raised cut off from the world in
18:48 handwoven bamboo houses in remote
18:50 Mountains and the younger generation who
18:52 have grown up surrounded by cars and
18:54 smartphones and online shopping are
18:57 living together in one space and it's
18:59 wild I'm glad I witnessed this unique
19:02 moment in time it's just a blink of an
19:04 eye in the history of the white pants
19:07 Yao but I was here for it and now so
19:09 were you that's all for today's video
19:12 everyone hope you guys enjoyed this Trek
19:14 into the white pants Yao territory with
