Opera masks are hand-carved and made of wood. Each has a different name due to its role in the play. Before they are used by the performers, a rooster will be slaughtered to splash blood over the masks while the mask carver chants blessings.
The leader of the theater said: "Only a blessed mask has a life, and thus carries the spirits of a character."
Other places worth a visit in Guizhou
Huangguoshu Waterfall
Guizhou boasts the biggest waterfall in Asia. Huangguoshu (Yellow Fruit Tree) Waterfall is 78 meters high and 101 meters wide. It is on the Baishui River in Anshun, 95 kilometers from Guiyang, the capital city.
You can hear its roaring sound about 200 meters away. The closer you approach, the louder the sound becomes.
A lane of narrow steps lead to a cave behind the waterfall and this is the closest you can get to touching the water.
Hongfeng Lake
Known as a place with very little flat land, Guizhou has a vast set of plains, mountains and plateaus. Karst areas make up more than 60 percent of Guizhou's topography. Among the karst parks is Hongfeng (Red Maple) Lake in Qingzhen County, 33 kilometers from Guiyang.
Billed as "the pearl of Guizhou Plateau," the lake is divided into four parts by a cluster of more than 1,000 karst hills: the north, the south, the middle and the rear lakes.
Covering an area of 57 square kilometers and holding 600 million cubic meters of water, it is the largest artificial lake in Guizhou, 10 times the size of West Lake in Hangzhou. The lakes are blue, the rocks red and the maple trees a blend of green and orange.
A lone Drum Tower etches against the clouded sky on top a nearby hill, speaking of a rare architectural construction of the Dong minority.
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