Tuzhang Houses in Cangtai Village, Jianshui County, Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan are called "The Potala Palace in Ailao Mountains".[Yunnan.cn]

[InKunming--Yunnan]  At the end of July, National Building Department with the other three national departments issued a notification about the first series of traditional villages in China that to be protected with central financial support in 2014. Thirty-eight traditional villages in Yunnan, ranking first in the country, were listed in the list.

However, 356 villages in Yunnan still have not got central financial support. Take Cangtai Village as an example, the village, expositing to Yuanyang village, holds continuous terraces and many special things that are valued in Yunnan, but it is not honored as a World Natural Heritage as Hani Terrace and has no close relations with National famous historical and cultural city Jianshui County.

Cangtai Village, 25 kilometers away from Jianshui County, is actually unknown to many tourists, although the village has many unique resources to attract them. Special things like Tuzhang Houses(Soil-made Houses), Suoluo Dance of Yi People, Bimo Sutras Chant of Yi People, within the village are still well kept.

Up to now, over 1,200 villagers are living in the village, among whem one third are old people. Most of the old people in the village are more than 50 years old. A plenty of young people and a few children had departed the village for living a better life. On this occasion, culture and history within the village can not be inherited to younger generations. Those special things mentioned above may not be seen one day in future.

To develop economy in the village, villagers upgraded roads connecting to their village by themselves with the help of local government. They also grow commercial crops such as dragon fruit, mango to earn money. Till now, local transportation conditions still not meet a standard to develop tourism.

National Building Department has dispatched a working team to have a field visit in Cangtai Village. Maybe in next step, the Cangtai village will be protected with an amount of fund.

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(Editors: Cathy Chen, Tracy)