I have written about Nixi and its charming houses and views. The village was peaceful when I was there, nobody in the fields and a few cows and chicken walking the lanes.
Then I came across a group of women who were beating sheaves of something I didn’t recognise, with sticks to release the grain and then they were tying them up with the pliable stems of a green plant and putting the straw away on the loft of the barn.
Two of the younger women were in the eaves and were receiving the straw and placing it carefully on the beams.
There was a really cheerful atmosphere in the barn and it reminded me of helping get in a harvest although it involved on a hay lorry and a bailing machine rather than doing it manually. However there was still the wonderful communal feeling you get with harvest and the women were laughing and chatting as they worked.
They were very patient with me trying to help. I only made a token gesture of helping lift some sheaves up to the woman in the eaves. I guess it’s handy to be tall sometimes.
Further into the village and I found another groups of women and a young girl also threshing and putting away straw.
All through the village are small kilns like this one although today they were all sitting idle. I was surprised to find one man firing his pots on an open fire near the edge of the village. He kindly showed me around his house which seemed to be bigger than almost every other in the village.
While his wife took care of the pigs down below he showed me pictures of himself in Beijing. He clearly had enough money to allow him and his wife to travel. He proudly pointed out that he had three windows in his living quarters which made it slightly less dark than the one I had visited earlier.
Although it seemed like a new and rather grand house, the same system of central fireplace was in use and the water butt was still in the living room although covered by a most impressive piece of carving. Upstairs he had a huge storage area which was mostly empty of food but very light and airy.
I hope that visitors to Nixi don’t ruin the tranquility of the place. Its relative remote location and difficulty in getting there may put off all but the most determined tourist.
It would be a shame if the village became a honey pot for hordes of Chinese tourists dropping litter and taking selfies whilst climbing over the shrines. They don’t have a very good reputation as tourists, within or outside China.
