Into the unknown: Finding wonder in Guizhou

As a participant in the 2026 China Storyteller Partnerships — Global Media and Content Creators Explore Colorful Guizhou trip, I had the pleasure of being disabused of my ignorance, not through internet searches and social media snippets, but through firsthand immersion in the cities of Tongren and Guiyang. And yet, with a loaded five-day itinerary, I still experienced only a small taste of what the province has to offer.

With saving the beginning for the end in mind, I'll start with day two on Fanjing Mountain and an admission: as someone with a fear of heights, if I had known what was awaiting me, I probably wouldn't have made it as far as I did.

A 20-minute cable car ride that shoots you up the mountain and high above the clouds was just the beginning. From there, it's a kilometer-long hike up a winding wooden staircase through the surrounding forest — the exclusive home of the critically endangered Guizhou snub-nosed monkey. Then, the big reveal: the Red Cloud Golden Summit, a 2,572-meter-high pillar-like mountain peak split by a narrow gorge with twin temples crowning each side. A string of expletives left my mouth. Even if I had seen pictures or videos beforehand, the reaction would have been the same. Nothing can prepare you for something so magnificent.

So, how do you get to the top? More stairs. With a journalist's commitment to the truth, it is my sad duty to report that I made it only about a quarter of the way to the summit, to where the stairs reached a point where the banister drops straight off a cliff ("Don't look down!" Yeah, I know, whatever, I'm scared) and I had to gracefully bow out. Maybe next time.

The next day, we took a boat through the Lizhi Gorge. For over an hour, we gently floated on the surface of the Wujiang River, whose waters are a shade of blue-green that I had never seen before in nature. The weather was gloomy, with intermittent rain and thick clouds of mist rising like smoke from the trees. It would have felt ominous if it weren't so beautiful.

Surrounded on both sides by cliffs, mountains, and forests, sitting atop the vibrant river, it felt as if we were in a scene from a sci-fi movie — you know, right before something really bad happens. But, luckily, this isn't a sci-fi movie; this is Guizhou. This is China, where human development coexists with the protection of natural assets, like lucid waters and lush mountains.

However, natural beauty isn't the only thing Guizhou has in spades. Indeed, the province's ecological variety is matched only by its ethnic diversity, with 17 indigenous ethnic groups, such as the Miao, Dong, and Bouyei, each preserving their own traditions and customs, which leads me back to how the journey began.