For two places 2 or 3 miles apart, the customs will be entirely different. This saying reveals one of the salient features unique to different localities in China in terms of customs and habits. This has something to do with the country's vast size, as well as the fact that the Chinese nation is a very creative and innovative group.  Chinese customs and habits constitute the nation's cultural wealth and are an important part of the world's cultural heritage. This TV series shows the typical varied customs in China. Produced with state-of-the-art audio-visual technology, MTV-like editing, movie structure and an untraditional production approach, it offers audiences a better understanding of the landscapes, traditions, customs and cultures of China.

Bamei -- Beautiful Land away from the World

Bamei is a village housing people of the Zhuang ethnic group, who inhabit lava water caves in eastern Yunnan Province. Located in Guangnan County, Wenshan Prefecture, the village is screened by mountains on all four sides and is thus inaccessible by highway. The villagers have to travel in and out of the caves by boat or bamboo raft, which move slowly in the gloom and quiet of several kilometers of tunnels. These people retain the ancient traditions of the Zhuang ethnic group in terms of life customs and habits, and worship beliefs. Image you are moving on rippling waters in 4m-wide lava caves hidden in emerald mountains before you reach a bright open land of the fabled Shangri La!

Huangluo -- Village of Long-Haired Women 

Hongyao, a part of the Yao ethnic group, is found mainly within Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Hongyao women are adept in embroidering and wearing bright red clothes, hence becoming known as Hongyao, meaning Red Yao. Hongyao women by tradition cultivate and wear their hair long. No matter how old they are, they have neat black hair free from any graying. Huangluo Yao Village in Heping Town of Shengxian County is widely known as ¡°Long Hair Village¡± simply because of the 60-odd long-haired women living there. The village has been recognized by the Guinness Book of Records.

Houses in Bamboo Groves

This refers to large tracts of bamboo growing in the southern mountain ranges between Changning and Jiang'an counties of Sichuan Province. These bamboos, covering an area of some 4,060 hectares spanning 28 peaks and some 500 hills, look like a green ocean. Our lens then turns to the people who are weaving with bamboo slips. This shows how the locals live on bamboos resources.

Xiaohuang -- A Village of Dong Songs

Xiaohuang is a mysterious yet poetic village inhabited by people of the Dong ethnic group. Of the cream of the Dong customs, Dong singing is famous enough to earn the village the title of Home of Dong Songs. Featuring unique Xiaohuang tunes, Dong singing is conducted totally without conductors and instrumental accompaniment. With a history of some 500 years, Dong singing joins the Dong Village Drum Pavilion and Dong Flower Bridge in forming the Three Treasures of Dong Culture. Xiaohuang singing is a brilliant chapter of the Dong and even Chinese music.

Heshun -- Hometown of Overseas Chinese

Tengchong County is referred to as the Overseas Chinese Town as, ever since the ancient times, numerous Tengchong people shuttled between China and overseas to gain a meager living. This gradually led to the formation of the Overseas Chinese Culture unique to Tengchong itself.

Representative of this culture is the ancient town of Heshun that perfectly combines overseas customs with traditional Chinese culture. Heshun impresses visitors with its unique pavilions and small bridges spanning rippling streams.
The Overseas Chinese Town is also a land of rice and fish, a land of business and a land of rich culture. However, its profound culture is still awaiting further exploration and exploitation.

Xidi-Ancient Village in the Picture

Xidi, the most typical ancient village of China located at the foot of Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province, contains close to 200 well-preserved houses dating back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911). These houses show the basic features of Ming and Qing villages. With an exquisite layout and rich culture, they form the cream of the Anhui ancient dwellings.

Basha -- the Last Tribe of Musketeers

Basha Village is an ancient cultural ecological museum of the Miao ethnic group. Located in Yueliangshan Mountain in the hinterland of Guizhou Province, it retains a well preserved primitive eco-environment with good vegetation and towering ancient trees. Basha people lead a simple life, women weaving and men engaged in farming and hunting. They worship the Tree God and Sun God. Given that it carries the folklore and culture of an ancient tribe, Basha is honored as a living fossil of Miao culture.

Women Script in Jiangyong

A strange form of Chinese script prevails among the women in Jiangwei Township and the neighboring area in Jiangyong County, Hunan Province known as Women's Script. With the death of Yang Huanyi, the last one who inherited the art, this is now cloaked in even more mystery.

The Cultural Commission of Hunan Province and the local government are working on construction of the Jiangyong Women's Script Culture and Ecological Reserve in the hope that this culture on the verge of extinction will be restored and better preserved.

Ancient Town of Dork Zong in Shangri La

Dork Zong in Shangri La County, Diqing Prefecture of Yunnan Province, has a history of more than 1,300 years. Located along the ancient Tea-Horse Trade Route, the ancient town is a window on the cultural exchanges between the Tibetan and the Han. In history, it played an important role in trade in the Sichuan-Tibet-Yunnan region. Almost all the houses are wooden structures. People there maintain a lifestyle combining Han and Tibetan features. Thanks to the fact that the town sits on the ancient trading route, travelers left behind their different cultures and stories still told today.

Cangyuan -- A Mysterious Village of Wa Ethnic Group

Cangyuan is the county inhabited by more people of the Wa ethnic group than anywhere else in the country. Wa villages in the county still retain their traditional lifestyle. Whenever a celebration comes along, Wa people, good in singing and dancing, dress up and hold colorful cultural activities including performing Wooden Drum Dance and Hair Swinging Dance. Unique Wa songs and dances and costumes join Wa culture, art, and food in earn fame. Hence Cangyuan is affectionately referred to as Chinese Land of Wa Culture.

Xiakeng -- A Place of Farmer Painters

Xiakeng, a historical and cultural city located at the foot of Huangshan Mountains, is an enchanted land of beauty. When spring comes, rape flowers bloom. The picturesque township has nurtured a galaxy of masters in calligraphy and painting. Farmers here are also master painters recording the beauty of their hometown with brushes in hand.

Colorful Miao Villages

Of the many ethnic minorities in China, the Miao retain their ancient culture. It comes via many branches, including the eastern branch within the Southeastern Guizhou Miao Autonomous Prefecture. It stands out conspicuously in terms of customs and costumes. People of the Dong Miao are good at weaving, cloth dyeing and embroidering. Their silver products are known for their exquisiteness and elegance. Their festivals are especially colorful.

Tantou -- Hometown of New Year Pictures

Tantou is a tiny, yet ancient town in southwestern Hunan Province. It has a prolonged history of making colored paper, fragrant paper and New Year Paintings. Of the three native products of Tantou, New Year Paintings are the most famous. Hand-engraved, they are unique to Hunan Province. They feature bright colors, and exaggerated figures using locally available materials and exquisite painting and engraving skills.

Zhong Haixian, 75, and his wife, Gao Lamei, are the last two guardians of the art.

Tea Houses in Chengdu

Sipping tea is an age-old customs of people in Sichuan Province. This is why tea house businesses flourish everywhere in the province -- in bustling streets or in the quiet lanes. This is especially the case with Chengdu, the capital city. All the tea houses are rich in local culture, featuring low cost and needy service. People could sit in the tea houses for almost a whole day while enjoying the tea and some snacks. They sip tea while discussing almost everything with friends. This has become a part of city life, yesterday, today and even in the future.

West Street -- Global Village of Yangshuo

West Street is an old street in the Yangshuo County Seat. Lined with rows of houses of the Ming and Qing periods, it is both traditional as well as somehow foreign. It is flanked by wax printed cloth, embroidered fabrics, writing brushes and stationery, antiques and paintings stores, as well as bars and cafes which add a foreign element. It attracts an endless flow of visitors, who, in turn, make the street the largest English Corner or the Global Village in China.

Terraced Fields

Yuanyang County in Yunnan Province is known for a magnificent view of terraced fields totaling more than 11,333 hectares each with a sloping angle of 25-75 degrees. They form the core of the terraced fields of the Hani ethnic minority in Honghe area. Yuanyang County is home to seven ethnic groups who live along the mountain slopes. People of the Hani ethnic group have been cultivating rice in terraced paddy fields for more than 1,200 years. These constitute human innovation in getting along with nature.

Cave Dwelling in Loess Plateau

Such dwelling caves are found mainly in northern Shaanxi Province. They refer mainly to the dwelling caves in Yan'an and Yulin. They are built in the loess mountain slopes or underground. Warm in winter and cool in summer, they are loved by the locals also because they do not occupy farmland and their construction does not cost much. This program shows in great detail the dwelling caves in northern Shaanxi Province, telling their history and evolution, structural form and features, living style of the dwellers, as well as folklore related to dwelling caves such as paper cuts and window adornments.

Tianlong -- A Town 600 Years Back

Anshun of Guizhou Province is home to a group of people who, although they belong to the Han ethnic group, are different from their Han counterparts: They wear Han costumes unique to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Moreover, they speak a dialect and maintain a lifestyle also full of ancient Han features. This makes them totally different from other Han villages in the surrounding areas. Legend has it that they are offspring of the Ming troops stationed in local castles. Their Han culture has been known as the culture of the castle defenders, and Tianlong Town is typical of this.

Ancient Village in Southern Sichuan

The village is located 18 km to the south of the seat of Longchang County, Sichuan Province. Located atop Yunding Mountain with an elevation of 530 meters, the village was built more than 600 years ago by the Guo clan, a wealthy family in southern Sichuan. The typical clan village, covering about 16 hectares, has a surrounding wall extending 1,640 meters. Inside the wall are 54 buildings of Chinese and Western styles, built during different feudal dynasties. Hence it is mentioned by specialists as living fossil of eastern Sichuan folklore.

Longchang stone arch, close to the village, is one of the best preserved stone arches in China. It commands high art value and witnesses many legendary stories.

Acrobatics of Wuqiao

People in Wuqiao of Hebei Province cherish the tradition of performing acrobatics and this has become a local custom. All people in the place, from those aged over 80 to toddlers, are fond of performing as part of their daily life. This program shows the classic performances given by Wuqiao people and contains interviews with representatives of different age groups. It paints a picture of Wuqiao folklore by dwelling on its acrobatic tradition, inheritance of the skills, and stories related to the art.

Shanxi Wheat Food

Shanxi Province has a recorded history of more than 2,000 years in making wheat flour food, due to bumper wheat harvests resulting partly from rich experience in cultivation. Local chefs make nice products to the amusement of diners. Although Shanxi wheat food lacks variety, it tells of the rich folklore and tradition of local people.

Yu County Paper Cuts

Yu County in Hebei is known as the land of Chinese folk paper cuts. Yu paper cuts have evolved from casual cutting of paper by local women for entertainment into a business. Thanks to efforts made over the past few centuries, Yu paper cuts have grown into a treasure of Chinese folk art, featuring exquisite workmanship. Unlike traditional cutting ways prevalent in other parts of China, Yu masters cut the paper in a way that stresses details in highlighting the theme. Coloring adds a finishing touch to the artistic product.

Chengdu Snacks

Chengdu snacks, like Sichuan cuisine as a whole, enjoys good fame in China. This is why people say "Chengdu snacks are of the best tastes in China". Located on the Chengdu Plain, Chengdu is richly endowed with material resources. It attracts an endless flow of business people. Throughout the long history, Chengdu people have developed good skills in cooking. Snacks they make are of pleasant color, flavor and taste.

The Paradise

In the hinterland of the transversal mountain range and the central section of the Three Rivers drainage area, some old handicrafts still go the rounds. In the villages in the remote mountains and near the rivers, the people still produce ancient daily commodities such as black pottery, Tibetan sword and wooden bowl. We walk along the ancient road with a history of thousands of years, experiencing the unique traditions and folk customs here. The special geographical structure and topography of the Laterite Plateau formed a unique culture that has been carefully preserved.

Mysterious String-Pulling Opera

People in Heyang County of Shaanxi Province have been performing puppet shows for more than 2,000 years. Also called Heyang String Pulling Puppet Show, it is similar to ones performed outside China. However, Heyang Puppet Show is complete with puppets playing such roles needed for a drama troupe. During the performance, the operators stand behind a cloth curtain to pull the strings. The number of strings linking up with each puppet varies with the role. While one has 5 strings, another has 10. As the longest string measures 3-4 meters, controlling the puppets to be lifelike is not easy. However, local farmers are adept enough to make the puppets perform like real artists.

Wuqiang New Year Paintings

Wuqiang County is famous for its New Year Paintings, which are wood block printed in varied colors including black, red, green, yellow, purple and pink. The local artists engrave printing blocks based on paintings they have drawn, and then manually print them. The Jia family in Jiuchengcun Village has been engaged in the work for six generations. At peak times in history, the family sold more than two million pieces of New Year Paintings; but, plagued by incessant wars, the family business declined to the extent that there are two sons sharing some 520 sets of printing blocks. In 2003, however, the Jia family discovered 159 complete pieces of New Year Painting printing blocks in a wall when the house was being restored. This makes it possible for traditional New Year Paintings unique to Wuqiang to flourish again.