New China Archive

China in the 2020s

Bijia Village in Huangpi, Hubei

In 2020, between the rolling lockdowns that Wuhan was suffering, we ventured out into the countryside, to a village in the mountains called Bijiacun. The village was isolated and I was possibly the only White person who had ever traveled there.

Chickens in a village in Hubei, China. Small town life in China. 2020.
Some chickens wondering around the village center in Bijia Village (Huangpi, 2020).
This photo depicts a village in Huangpi, Hubei, China in 2020. Rural landscape.
Enjoying the village view with a cup of tea and a travel companion in Huangpi, Hubei.
This photo depicts a tea field in rural Hubei, China in 2020.
Bijia Villagers grow tea on the mountains that surround them. (Huangpi, Hubei, 2020)
This photo depicts a tea field bushes with pots in the mountains of Hubei, China in 2020. Village life.
Some pots in a green tea field in the mountains of Hubei (2020).

I asked the villagers if there was a temple nearby, and they were surprised I asked. They said there was an old abandoned one that sat about a quarter of a mile outside the village. We found it in a ruined condition, but it was still interesting.

This picture is of a half ruined temple in the mountains of Hubei, China in 2020. The temple is outside a village in rural PRC.
A village temple in Huangpi, Hubei (2020).
This photo depicts an old village temple in Hubei, China in 2020. The temple is surrounded by vegetable gardens. 2020.
We found a half ruined temple in the mountains of Hubei, China (June, 2020).

During our time in the village we picked tea, harvested some fruit, and ate a traditional dinner in the home of our friend’s grandfather.

This is a picture of a sunset in a Chinese mountain village in 2020.
Sunset over Bijia Village in Hubei, China (June, 2020).