At around 4 pm on New Year's Eve, we followed the winding mountain road to Xuezhuang Village, Guanting Town, Yuanzhou District, Guyuan City, Ningxia.
This is an ordinary village hidden in a mountain nook. A few years ago, due to lack of water, most of the villagers went out to make a living, and it became a veritable hollow village.
Now, before entering the village, the sound of drums and cymbals was heard. Following the sound, I saw that in the small courtyard of the village committee, men, women, old and young were crowded, and a social fire rehearsal was in progress.
Four generations of the family of Zhang Weixing, a villager in Xuezhuang Village, have a New Year’s Eve dinner. Photo by our reporter Zhang Wenpan/Guangming Pictures
To the east, a group of strong men were dancing the golden dragon vigorously. The young man in the lead held up a big red hydrangea and played with it in different ways. The golden dragon followed closely, dancing with agility and vitality.
In the center of the courtyard, a group of women were performing Yangko, with colorful fans flying and red and green silk shirts and trousers flying, forming a spicy spring scene.
In the north corner, six girls are stacked in three rows to form the character "piece". The light body, gorgeous clothes, and changeable shapes are really beautiful.
In the village committee hall, a shadow puppet show is being performed. He played the role of "Three Strikes of White-Bone Demons". On the curtain, the white-bone spirit changes around, the Monkey King's Golden Cudgel can make big tigers and tigers fly, and the audience bursts into applause from time to time. A child gestured to his father next to him: "Did you see that? That golden hoop can spin!"
Backstage, 58-year-old Zhang Wanli was playing shadow puppets with his apprentice, his forehead covered with beads of sweat.
"How many shows were performed today?" we asked.
Zhang Wanli wiped his sweat and held out five fingers: "This is the fifth game! Now the tourists are coming one after another. We have to find all the special skills at the bottom of the box!"
Walking into the streets, every household has begun to post Spring Festival couplets. The district cultural center sent several calligraphers, and every table was crowded with villagers. Liu Haibing, secretary of the Party branch of Xuezhuang Village, took a newly written Spring Festival couplet and read it out loud: "The first couplet: Spring is early under Liupan Mountain; the second couplet: There is much joy in Xuezhuang Village; the horizontal line: Five blessings come to the door." The onlookers applauded one after another.
Speaking of "much joy", Liu Haibing became more energetic: "In the early years, drinking water was a headache. Every family relied on a water cellar to collect rainwater in summer and pour snow into it in winter. The water was really muddy soup. In drought years, the whole family would use one basin to wash their faces. Thank you The government diverted water from the Yellow River, and now every household has access to running water. With the water, various industries in the village have developed, especially the cultural and tourism industry, which has attracted a large number of workers. No, most people who have gone out have come back, and the village is becoming more and more popular. "
We asked to take a look at the water cellar, and he took us to the home of villager Zhang Weixing. Pointing to a cement board in the corner of the yard, he said, "That was the original water cellar. After renovation, it was connected to tap water."
Zhang Weixing, the owner of the hospital, heard the sound and came out. Hearing that he was a guest from Beijing, the simple old man insisted on inviting us to have New Year's Eve dinner together. There were more than a dozen people in the room gathered around the steaming hot pot, with side dishes piled high on the side.
We declined Lao Zhang's kindness and took a family photo for this big family of four generations, wishing them better days.
(Members of the interview team: Guangming Daily reporters Wang Huimin, Xie Wen, Wang Jianhong, Zhang Wenpan, Cui Xingyi)
"Guangming Daily" (Page 01, February 17, 2026)
