Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village is located in Leishan County, Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou Province. The village has a total of 1,468 households and more than 6,000 residents, of whom 99.5% of the original inhabitants are Miao. It is formed by more than 10 natural villages built along the mountains and is known as the largest Miao settlement in China and even the world.
Surrounded by mountains on all sides, with layered peaks and ridges, the terraced fields follow the mountain contours and stretch straight to the clouds. The Baishui River runs through the village, dividing Xijiang Miao Village into two parts. Within the village, stilted houses rise layer upon layer, built along the mountains and yet stretching continuously in magnificent grandeur. The Miao people's farming, festivals, silver ornaments, songs and dances, and their ancient customs are passed down from generation to generation here, preserving not only the purest natural beauty but also a profound cultural atmosphere. The profound cultural heritage of Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village displays the accumulation and sedimentation of the Miao people's long history of development. It enjoys such reputations as an "open-air museum" and "China's most beautiful Miao village," and is an excellent place for researching and exploring Miao culture.
Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village closely revolves around its core cultural resources in top-level design, factor aggregation, and feature enhancement, and boldly explores and innovates in scenic area management, organic village renewal, helping villagers escape poverty, tourism consumption poverty alleviation, cultural protection under the rule of law, tourism brand building, and social governance effectiveness by using efficient enterprise-oriented and market-oriented means. It has practiced the "Xijiang Model" of scenic area driving village development, driving 11 villages including Yingshang, Ganrong, and Maliao to develop rural tourism, linking Kaili and surrounding counties and cities to develop the tourism industry, forming a mountain tourism development model with Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village as the core for radiating and driving development, promoting the deep integration of culture and tourism, and achieving "common prosperity of clustered villages." The "Xijiang Model" has been listed as one of the 40典型案例 of Guizhou's 40 years of reform and opening up. Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village has successively obtained honorary titles such as "National AAAA-Level Scenic Area," "Chinese Historical and Cultural Town," "National Cultural Industry Demonstration Base," "China's 100 Most Beautiful Charming Towns," "Guizhou Top Ten Charming Scenic Areas," "Guizhou Most Charming Ethnic Village," "China Cultural Tourism New Landmark," "Top Ten Tourist Towns (Villages)," "Most Beautiful Original Ecological Open-Air Museum," "World Top Ten Rural Vacation Resorts," "National Civilized Village and Town," "Most Beautiful Chinese Folk Custom," "Ethnic Tourist Scenic Area," and "Internationally Renowned Tourist Resort." In 2022, it was selected as a national-level nighttime culture and tourism consumption cluster area. In May 2026, the country's first scenic area-operated travel photography robot landed in Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village.