Two People. One Bamboo Tube. A Love Song.

Yunnan, in southwest China, is home to 25 ethnic minority communities—the greatest ethnic diversity in the country. Many of their oldest traditions still survive in remote mountain villages. This video takes you to one of the smallest communities in Yunnan: the Mang people(Bulang), who live in the forests along China's border with Vietnam. Today, only a little over 700 people remain. I first discovered the Mang people through an old photo in a book. It mentioned a bamboo love instrument played by two people, where two breaths become one melody. At the end of a collapsed mountain road, one elder was the last person who could still play it. “Mountain Arts” is a documentary series exploring the living arts of Yunnan's ethnic minority communities—music, dance, dress, architecture, and crafts, far beyond the stage. Even the smallest community deserves to be heard.