It is about 400 kilometers to the southeast of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province.

As the Baimayu River narrowed into a thin gray thread beneath us, thunderous drumbeats came down from the village atop Maigong Mountain reaching into the sky.

The drumbeats became clear and pleasant. We reached our destination, the Maigongshan Village.

At first sight, the village was little different from others in remote Chinese rural areas.

Black-tiled houses of two stories, with earthen walls, were enclosed in small courtyards, apparently to shut off the outside world.

But we soon realized this was a false impression.

We knocked on the door at the house of the village head, and a young man answered. He ushered us into the main hall and then hurried to prepare dinner.

We were told that our host, Ban Xigui, was out visiting a relative in another village. The young man, who invited us in, Ban Xiaoyong, was one of his neighbors.

After my eyes got used to the dim light in the house, I noticed a square stove on which meat soup was simmering in a large iron pot.

In winter, the stove is usually the best place for the family and guests to gather, Ban Xiaoyong said.

An elderly man was laying on an earthen bed near the stove. He was Ban Xigui's father.

I offered him a cigarette and lit it for him. His eyes beamed with kindness and wisdom that immediately won my respect.

I soon learnt that the old man, Ban Dingxi, commanded the highest reverence in the village and used to preside over the village's sacrificial ceremonies for the gods.

From the old man, we heard that the village had expected our visit the day before and sent people to meet us at the foot of the mountain. They had waited there for a whole day and only returned this morning.

Facing our simple and warm-hearted host, I knew no words would be enough to express my gratitude.

It seemed only a moment had gone by when Ban Xiaoyong brought us three dishes: fat bacon fried with cabbage, turnip cooked with vermicelli and chicken soup with bean curd and kelp.

Here, thousands of kilometers away from the sea, the kelp tasted especially delicious.

As we finished the dinner, Ban Xiaoyong invited us to his home. There, Ban and his family opened a whole bottle of homemade honey wine and sang folk songs, wishing us great health and appetite.

After the wine-drinking session, we were presented with a basin of hot water to wash our hands. A big basin of boiled pork was placed on the table and we were asked to eat with our hands. Ban said this is the highest form of reception in the village, showing that the host and the guests were very close.

With our stomachs still full, we had to take a symbolic bite. It was really good. Tender and fresh, the pork had a light fragrance from the smoke of fresh grass.

Before our host could indulge us with too much wine, thundering drum beats drew nearer. We knew that the big show of our trip would begin.

Chigezhou dance

Ban Xiaoyong hurried to set out firecrackers while other members in his family brought a fresh round of wine and dishes on to the table. Soon, a group of performers wearing wooden masks arrived at the courtyard accompanied by the whole village.

The dancers all wore fur-lined coats. A tail rolled from sheepskin and a chain of copper bells hung on their backs. Their shoes were hand-made from the skin of wild boar.

The Chigezhou dance is probably the most colorful feature of the people living in the Baimayu Valley.

In the local dialect, chige means "mask" while zhou refers to "dance."

No one knows exactly when this masked dance ritual started.

According to Ban Zhenglian, one of the oldest performers, it seems that the dance has been passed down through generations. Thriving in this remote mountain region, the primitive dance retains its original flavors, with little outside influence.

Every year, from the 13th to the 18th days of the first month on the lunar calendar, Chigezhou performers visit all the villages in the Baimayu Valley.

The dancers drop in to visit every family's courtyard, singing, dancing and waving ox-tail whisks in the firm belief of driving away demons and bringing good luck for the upcoming year.

Most dancers are men. Among them, four primary characters called chige are the mountain gods, whom the locals believe to be the four sons of a man called Dama - the legendary ancestor of the Di people living in Baimayu Valley.

There are also two female characters named chimu in the dance. Wearing masks of benign expressions, like the statue of Bodhisattva, they are said to be the daughters of the mythical Jade Emperor of Heaven, the supreme deity of Taoism.

While the four chige and two chimu performers entered Ban Xiaoyong's house and enjoyed the delicious meal, I noticed three other performers in the courtyard.

Wearing shabby clothes and their faces tainted, the three characters kept on making jokes about themselves as the villagers laughed at them heartily.

I later found out that the old couple and their teenage son are called zhima in the local language.

It is said that when the local people's ancestors journeyed to find an ideal resort, a strong man outside their tribe led them through the labyrinth forests in today's northern Sichuan Province to the south of Gansu.

But the man later eloped with a woman of the tribe and they had a child.

It sounds cruel according to present standards, but the ancient people followed strict ethics and looked down on this family, turning them into a laughing-stock in their annual performances.

The Chigezhou dance is both an entertainment and a solemn event for the local people.

To some degree, the dance offers them a connection to their ancestors, heaven and the idealistic life, while it offers ethnologists clues to the tribe's mysterious past.

Mists of history

In China's first ancient poem collection - the "Book of Songs" composed more than 2,500 years ago - the name of "Di" had appeared alongside other nomadic tribes roaming North China.

Growing ever stronger, a group of Di people with the surname of "Fu" established themselves in the Qianqin Kingdom (AD 350-394) in the Sixteen Kingdoms Period (AD 304-439).

During Fu Jian's rule between AD 357-385, the kingdom expanded to cover almost the entire North China area.

In AD 383, Fu Jian forced nearly 900,000 people of various northern tribes to join his army and tried to overpower the shattering Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 317-420).

The battle at the bank of the Feishui River in today's Anhui Province of East China was destined to be recorded in historical annals, as the arrogant Fu Jian was miraculously defeated by the Eastern Jin army numbering less than 80,000.

From this grand battle came two Chinese idioms - fengsheng heli and caomu jiebing -which describe how the retreating troops of Qianqin were scared at the moan of the wind, the cry of the cranes and the rustle of the grass that sounded to them like an oncoming enemy army.

In just two years, Fu Jian was assassinated by one of his own generals. The prime time of the Di people also seemed to be buried with him forever.

In the long course of history, the Di tribe assimilated with other tribes primarily in Northwest and Southwest China.

But in the remote mountains bordering Sichuan and Gansu provinces, some people known as the "Baima Tibetans" have caught researchers' attention with their ancient folk customs.

There are many versions about how some of the ancient Di tribe ended up in the remote Baimayu Valley.

Two of the most popular explanations are connected with the Chigezhou dance.

One says that the word chi in Chigezhou derived from Qiouchi, a small prefecture ruled by a group of Di people with the surname Yang.

In the chaotic warring period, some in this group found solace at Baimayu. To memorialize their ancestors, the people created the Chigezhou dance.

Another explanation was about an outstanding Di tribe leader named Zhao Zhu, who was defeated by enemies and burned to death in a cave near the Maijishan Mountain about 200 kilometers to the northeast of Baimayu.

The masks of the Chigezhou dance originated from this tribe leader.

Although researchers are far from reaching unanimity on the exact history of the people at Baimayu Valley, their unique customs are certainly gaining increasing attention.

God of Five Cereals

Besides the Chigezhou dance, another important event for the Spring Festival in the Baimayu region was the sacrificial ceremony for the god named "Rijiugaojiu," or the God of Five Cereals, which takes place on the 15th day of the first month on the lunar calendar.

While the men of the village dressed almost the same as the Han people, the women had much more colorful outfits.

For young girls, they proudly wore the splendid pleated skirts made by their mothers for their 16th birthday. On their hats they put three long rooster feathers. Married women let go of the feathers, while elderly women preferred black and blue as the main tone of their dress.

The ceremony took place in front of a small door-less temple on the mountain behind the Maigongshan Village.

As the old "master of ceremony," Ban Dingxi, had been ill for a long time, his sixth son, Ban Xueren, presided over this year's ceremony.

He prayed for an ample harvest and good fortune in a solemn tone, as the villagers knelt behind him, listening carefully.

As soon as he finished the prayers, singing and laughter broke out in the crowd, and people lit firecrackers and torches.

Holding torches high, we joined in the merry group and zigzagged down the slope across fields and paths.

As the Maigongshan Village was the first among all the villages in the Baimayu Valley to hold the sacrificial ceremony, this performance with torches was meant to bring good luck to other villages as well.

I tried my best to catch up with the villagers on the bumpy road and finally arrived at the village center. A bonfire was already burning high and everyone threw the torches into the fire. We then joined hands to dance and sing around the fire, and I felt my heart bathing in the warm light.

Living on this remote mountain, the descendants of the brave Di tribe are offering us fruits from the "tree of ancient wisdom," which is said to remain pure even in modern life.

This article in Chinese first appeared in the magazine "Panorama of Chinese Nationalities."

(China Daily April 10, 2002)