Taoping is one of those tiny out of the way villages that got famous quick in the last five years after some enterprising backpacker visited the place, took a picture of a beautiful minority girl and posted it on his blog.

That might have stirred the imaginations of millions of Chinese, but once they arrived in out here, deep in the mountains of northern Sichuan in the Tibetan and Qiang minority dominated Aba Prefecture, other wonders took a hold of them.

Ironically, the Qiang minority people of Taoping built their mountain fastness according to IChing philosophies — a philosophy that has been chased out of every urban area in the rest of the country — and that style of planning enabled the village to defend itself, feed itself, keep water running and keep the community intact for two millennia. 

The interconnecting lanes of the village and the watchtowers (Diaolou in Chinese) as well as the simple and efficient waterworks astounds visitors as muich as the beauty of the people.

We'll see if the fastness can hold out against this new, most insidious invader: the tourist!

(As far as we know, the Qiang have adapted to tourism quite nicely, without sacrificing too much of who they are — please report back if you happen to pass through Taoping anytime soon....)

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