During our WildChina trip before arriving in Jishou, we spent multiple nights in Miao villages, watched countless Miao performances, and learned all about their culture. Some fun facts that I learned about the Miao people on WildChina include:

• They are found all over world, from California to Vietnam and Thailand.
• They can be divided by their clothing and hairstyles. Among these categorizations are mini skirt Miao, long skirt Miao, long-haired Miao, Japanese, and Miao Miao.
• Miao women love to get drunk off rice wine when they are happy. We witnessed this first-hand when we were greeted by a group of drunk women upon our arrival to Wugao.
• Miao houses have three stories: the bottom floor is for farming tools, the second floor is the kitchen and living room, and the third floor are the bedrooms.
• Miao women love to sing and teach you their songs, which include a lot of high-pitched yelling, whistling, and other vocal sounds we can’t quite achieve.  They also expect you to learn their songs after hearing it only once.

After living in Miao villages and experiencing their culture first-hand, “Make Me Miao 2012” became a running group joke. This would be a reality TV show that would take American women and put them in Miao villages. The winner of the TV show would be the girl who can master the different levels of Miao life. The levels would include things such as farming, learning how to do your hair like the Miao woman, serenading the Miao men by learning the Miao songs, cooking in a Miao village, using a Miao bathroom (not as easy as it sounds…), and Miao dancing. The final prize would be becoming a Miao princess.

I think that after WildChina we have all gotten past most of the levels. Given our Miao-style welcoming ceremony when Alex arrived three weeks ago, we are all expert Miao singers and dancers. This weekend in Fenghuang, Arianna and I were able to complete the final stage and become Miao princesses.

When walking through the crowded Fenghuang streets, one is attacked by vendors holding posters of tourists dressed in traditional Miao clothing. Arianna and I immediately gave in – there was no way we were missing the opportunity to dress up in Miao clothing and get a photo shoot in the middle of Fenghuang. So we followed two of the women and used our magnificent pointing skills to communicate with them and pick out our Miao outfits. Then we proceeded to our hour-long photo shoot in our Miao princess outfits, complete with tacky Miao poses we were commanded to do and complements on complements from our photographers. Not to mention all of the Chinese tourists amused by the Westerners dressed in Miao outfits. I knew Chinese women loved taking pictures of themselves and everything around them, but I did not think an hour of photos would be necessary. Apparently it is part of the process of becoming a Miao Princess.

And that is the story of how we became Miao princesses. Here is the proof.