Travelsignposts China

  • Home
  • Trip Planner
  • Photos
  • Map
  • Weather
  • Site Map
  • Destinations
  • Sightseeing
  • Food
  • Shopping
  • Getting around
  • Useful facts

A Glimpse of Tujia Culture on a Shennong Stream Cruise

By Helen Page Leave a Comment

A SHENNONG STREAM CRUISE OFFERS STUNNING SCENERY AND AN INSIGHT INTO THE TUJIA CULTURE:

Shennong Stream
Shennong Stream

A popular excursion on any Yangtze River Cruise is trip up the Shennong Stream. The banks of the Shennong Stream have been the home of the Tujia minority group as far back as the Han Dynasty and the cruise offers stunning scenery and an interesting glimpse into the history and ancient culture of the Tujia people.

Shennong Stream

Shennong Stream is a tributary of the Yangtze River and joins the Yangtze at the village of Xirankou. It has its source at the southern part of the Shennongjia Natural Reserve and it winds its way downstream for about 60 kms before spilling into the Yangtze. The Shennong Strem outlet is just opposite from the city of Badong where the huge and impressive Badong Bridge crosses the Yangtze River.

Shennong Stream Cruise

We arrive at the mouth of Shennong Stream early in the morning as all passengers on our Yangtze river boat, the MV Lianna, are required to leave the vessel at 8:15 am as the boat is having a wash down. For our excursion this morning we transfer to a smaller and more suitably-sized feeder boat to take us up the Shennong Stream. If you’re doing this cruise, it’s advisable to have a jumper or jacket with you as the boat is mostly uncovered in the upper deck and it’s quite cool in the morning.

Shennong Stream Cruise
A Wind-swept Tony

The town of Badong and its bridge are covered in haze, and as Badong is a coal mining town with a large cement factory, we naturally assume that it is pollution from the town’s industrial activities, but our guide insists that it’s the morning mist.

Badong Yangtze River Bridge
Badong Yangtze River Bridge

On our relaxing cruise up the tranquil Shennong Stream we go past rocky cliffs, thick vegetation and narrow gorges.

Shennong Stream Landscape
Shennong Stream Landscape

Because of the hilly terrain in the area, the easiest transport is on the water and every now and then a wooden sampan drifts past us. These wooden boats, operated by Tujia boatmen, are sometimes called “pea pod” boats and they ferry passengers and goods along the stream.

Shennong Stream
Local rowing his sampan

Shennong Stream flows through three gorges: the Longchang Gorge (closest to the mouth), the Parrot Gorge and the northern-most Shennong Gorge, which is the longest of the three.

Hanging Coffins

One of the interesting sights along the Shennong Stream are the hanging coffins. It took me a while before I spotted one, but those with better eyesight than mine saw them easily. If you take a good look at the crevices along the Stream, you’ll see them embedded high up in the crevice.

Shennong Stream Hanging Coffin
Shennong Stream Hanging Coffin

The hanging coffins are believed to belong to the ancient Ba people, who made the area their home and built ancient plank roads on the cliffs and the hanging coffins by hand. Given the rough terrain, you have to wonder how they manage to climb to such heights and to place their coffins in such difficult positions. The Tujia minority group are descendants of the Ba people.

Boat Tracker Culture

Shennong Stream Boat Trackers
Shennong Stream Boat Trackers
Another feature of the Shennong Stream is its boat tracker culture. On the Yangtze River Cruise, you’ll also come across literature or see documentaries about boat trackers. The old boat tracker tradition refers to the practice of towing the boat up cobbled streams where the water level is low and not navigable. Boat trackers used to work in the Three Gorges area, but the practice is almost extinct now. However in the Shennong Stream the boat tracker culture still exists and provides a means of earning money from tourism. You can go on boat tours where the trackers tow the boat up shallow streams by holding the towropes over their shoulders. In the past, the trackers didn’t wear any clothing as the clothes became heavy in water and they believed that they wet clothing would more likely cause them to catch colds.

Louping Scenic Spot

Our destination on the Shennong Stream cruise is the village of Louping where a short folklore show is put on for visitors. The Tujia people are known for their singing and their tradition of Baishou dance. In a large performance hall, their dance troops and singers perform Tujia ritual dances portraying farming, hunting, war, courtship and other aspects of traditional village life.

Louping Scenic Spot
Louping Scenic Spot

The music blaring from speakers was exceptionally loud and the performers wore very modern and glittery adaptions of tribal costumes. For me, the show is disappointing as it is more like a modern variety show rather than traditional tribal dances. Beautiful young girls in short skirts and midriff tops, seductive as they look, hardly portray what village life is like during the rice harvest.

For those not interested in the cultural show, there is a hall where you can buy souvenirs and jewelry, or you can enjoy the surrounding scenery from the courtyard of the cultural village.

After the Louping cultural village we return to the MV Lianna for lunch and we set sail for the Wu Gorge. The Shennong Stream excursion is enjoyable and certainly worth doing.

You can see more Shennong Stream photos Here.

Click here to get a free PDF of this post

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Related

Filed Under: Sightseeing Tagged With: boat trackers, hanging coffins, shennong stream, tujia cultural village, tujia culture, yangtze river cruise

About Helen Page

Helen Page is a prolific blogger and ardent traveller; she runs Travelsignposts China with her professional writer and photographer husband Tony.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You can also find us on

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Latest Additions

  • Xian’s Small Wild Goose Pagoda
  • A walk on the Xi’an City Wall
  • A Glimpse of Tujia Culture on a Shennong Stream Cruise
  • Xi’an’s Magnificent Shaanxi History Museum
  • The Chinese Art of Tea
  • Xi’an’s Fascinating Muslim Snack Street
  • The Great Mosque of Xi’an is an oasis of tranquility
  • Puning Temple – A Symbol of Universal Peace
  • A “Qing Style” Market at Puning Street in Chengde
  • Puyou Temple With Its Impressive Hall of Arhats

Plan and Book Your Trip


eNews and Updates

feedburner Sign up now to get emailed news as well as other site updates!

Get the Guerrilla Travel Photography ebook here now!
Destinations in China
Sightseeing attractions in China
China Photos

Who is behind Travelsignposts?

Helen and Tony Page at Singapore Changi Airport

We're Helen and Tony Page, and we love travelling - lucky as we've been doing it for the last few decades!

Tony has long been a professional photographer and writer, but Helen now writes most of the posts and takes a lot of photos herself!

Travelsignposts is our main travel planning site, but we've just launched Travelsignposts China and Tony also runs the Travelsignposts Photo and Guerrilla Travel Photography web sites, as well as publishing the Take Better Digital Photos and Guerrilla Travel Photography eBooks.

Read more about Helen and Tony or contact them.

Other Pages

  • Destinations
  • Sightseeing
  • Food
  • Shopping
  • Getting around
  • Useful facts

Resources

  • Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook
  • Take Better Digital Photos eBook Take Better Digital Photos eBook
  • Take Better Digital Photos Free eCourse
  • Travel Signposts Photo – our main travel photography site

Copyright Travelsignposts Pty Ltd © 2023 · Log in

Get a free PDF of this post!
Just enter your email address below and we'll send it to you immediately.

Please enter your Email Address