The Achang Ethnic Group of Yunnan: Knife-Forging Mountain People and the Best Way to Meet Them

Introduction: Who Are the Achang People of Yunnan?

The Achang ethnic group (阿昌族) is one of Yunnan's seven smallest officially recognized minorities, with a total population of roughly 40,000 people concentrated in the western borderlands of Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture. If you have traveled to Kunming, Dali, or Lijiang and have not yet reached Dehong, you have missed one of Yunnan's most rewarding cultural corners. The Achang are called the people who lean on the knife (“倚刀而歌”), and the title fits: their most celebrated craft is the Husa knife, forged by hand for over six centuries and named a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2006.

What makes the Achang worth your travel time is not a single landmark but a living culture. They have their own language with no script, a famous creation epic called Zhepa Ma and Zhemi Ma, a signature festival known as the Alu Woluo Festival, and a cuisine built around the beloved guoshou mixian (rice noodles eaten by hand). Most Achang live in two clusters: Husa Township in Longchuan County, home of the knife masters, and the villages of Lianghe County, where the creation culture runs deepest.

In this leaderboard-style guide, we rank the ten best ways to experience the Achang ethnic group, then give you a practical, human-designed itinerary so you can meet them as more than a passing glance. Whether you are a culture traveler, a family, or a photographer, this is the quiet side of Yunnan that rewards travelers who slow down.

Top 10 Ways to Experience the Achang Ethnic Group (Ranked)

A quick note on how we ranked these. Every entry weighs three things: how authentic the experience is, how accessible it is for international visitors, and how much it stays off the beaten tourist path. Where a competitor might bundle ten generic “scenic spots,” we have chosen experiences you can actually join, taste, watch, and remember. Yunnan rewards depth over checklist ticking, and the Achang are the perfect place to practice that principle.

1. 1. Watch a Husa knife forged by a national inheritor

At Mangdan New Village (芒旦新寨) in Husa Township, national inheritor Xiang Laosai (“King of the Husa Knife”) and his apprentices still work the furnace by hand. You can watch the ten-step process—selecting steel, shaping the blank, hammering, tempering, polishing, carving, fitting the handle and scabbard—and feel the heat of a craft that turns out the “soft enough to wrap around a finger, hard enough to cut iron” blade. Many workshops allow short hands-on forging sessions.

2. 2. Eat guoshou mixian the proper way — by hand

The signature Achang dish is guoshou mixian, literally “passing-through-hands rice noodles.” You scoop a small ball of soft, warm noodles into your palm, top it with minced pork, sour bamboo shoots, chili and herbs, and eat it straight from the hand. Locals insist this is the only authentic way. In Husa and Lianghe, farmhouse restaurants serve it with a small pot of self-brewed rice wine.

3. 3. Join the Alu Woluo Festival in late March

The Achang's grandest celebration, held each year around March 20, brings villagers together to dance the deng woluo (“dance of joy”), perform with lion, elephant and double-dragon props, and hold knife contests. The festival emblem is the blue dragon and white elephant, and the square fills with singing, food and rice wine. It is the single best day of the year to see Achang dress and music.

4. 4. Walk the stone alleys of Jiubao Ancient Town

Jiubao (九保) in Lianghe County is a thousand-year-old town where Achang, Dai and Han cultures meet. Old stone paths, Ming-Qing houses, paper-making and pottery workshops make it a gentle, uncrowded version of Yunnan's popular ancient towns—without the commercial gloss.

5. 5. Visit the Achang Ethnic Museum and creation center in Guanzhang Village

In Guanzhang Village (关璋村, about 90% Achang), the Achang Ethnic Museum and the Zhepa Ma & Zhemi Ma Teaching Center tell the story of the creation epic and display traditional clothing, brocade and knives. Entry is free, and the exhibits explain more in an afternoon than most travel books cover in a chapter.

6. 6. Learn the deng woluo dance with villagers

The circle dance is a participatory, all-ages activity. Led by an elder singer, the whole group shuffles in a ring, calling out “woluo” as the steps change with the melody. Visitors are welcomed in, and joining is both fun and a genuine window into Achang community life.

7. 7. Discover silverwork in Mingshe Village

Silver crafting is a lesser-known Achang skill. In Mingshe Village (明社村, Husa Township), artisans hammer traditional jewelry and ornaments. You can watch a silversmith at work and, with notice, commission a small piece—a memorable, handmade souvenir.

8. 8. Visit Huangge Temple and the Thousand-Year Couple Tree

Huangge Temple in Husa Township is a 600-year-old fusion of Buddhist and Taoist architecture with fine carvings. Nearby, the legendary couple tree—two trunks grown together—is a favorite local landmark and photo stop.

9. 9. Cycle the rice paddies of Husa basin after rain

Husa is a flat, irrigated basin where rice fields, canals and villages sit close together. Cycling the quiet lanes is the best way to see the whole scene. After a rain shower, the paddies turn brilliantly green and the mountains sharpen—photographers, bring a camera.

10. 10. Share a festival feast of tuba bowls and rice wine

On festivals and holidays, Achang families lay out tuba bowls, a spread of meat and vegetable dishes, and offer sweet home-brewed rice wine to guests. Sharing a meal in a family courtyard, with song drifting from the square, is the most human experience of all—and exactly what Human-designed Travel is about.

Who Are the Achang? Origin, Language, and Beliefs

The Achang ethnic group traces its roots to the ancient Di-Qiang peoples who once lived along the Jinsha, Lancang and Nujiang rivers of northwestern Yunnan. Over centuries they migrated south, some settling in the Husa basin of Longchuan and others moving through Yunlong, Baoshan and Tengchong before settling in Lianghe. The name “Achang” first appears in Yuan-dynasty records such as the Zhaobao Zonglu, though earlier sources referred to them by names like Echang and Mengsa.

Linguistically, the Achang language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. The Achang have no writing system of their own and use Chinese characters. This has made oral tradition central to their identity: creation epics, folk songs, proverbs and stories carry their history across generations. The most famous is the epic Zhepa Ma and Zhemi Ma, which tells how the sky father Zhepa Ma and earth mother Zhemi Ma created the world. It was inscribed on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2006, the same year as the Husa knife craft.

Belief is a blend shaped by geography and history. Under strong Dai influence, Achang in the Husa area follow Theravada Buddhism, with temple architecture resembling the neighboring Dai. Other traditions include nature worship, ancestor worship, and elements of Han Buddhism and Taoism. Many villages maintain small shrines, and the spring and autumn rituals that honor the village god remain woven into farming life. In the Achang view, a person has three souls—one at the grave, one at the family altar, and one in the village—so domestic rites are quietly observed year-round.

The Husa Knife: Six Centuries of Forging Mastery

If the Achang ethnic group has one symbol, it is the Husa knife (户撒刀), also called the Achang knife. The craft began around the Ming dynasty when garrison soldiers at Husa introduced Chinese forging techniques, which the Achang refined into their own style. Historical records note that during the Ming campaigns against Luchuan in the 1440s, Husa effectively became an arms workshop. By the late Qing and Republican era, the craft reached its peak, and Husa knives were traded across Yunnan, to Tibet and Qinghai, and exported to Southeast Asia.

Making a Husa knife is a ten-step, fully manual process: selecting material, drawing the blank, shaping the blade, initial grinding, decorating the blade face, tempering, polishing, making the handle, making the scabbard, and final assembly. The decisive step is the tempering, where heat treatment balances hardness and toughness. The classic praise is that a good Husa knife is “soft enough to wrap around the finger, sharp enough to cut a hair, and hard enough to carve iron.” Masters guard their own quenching methods closely, and a knife carries its maker's mark—often a single character from the smith's name stamped into the blade.

The craft is organized by village specialization: some hamlets make small pointed knives, others long blades, sickles, horseshoes, or scabbards. In 2006, the Husa knife forging technique was listed in the first batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Xiang Laosai was recognized as a national inheritor in 2007, helping to revive the once-endangered “seven-color” knife technique. Today the industry supports more than a thousand workers across some four hundred households in Husa, selling over forty thousand knives a year with an annual value exceeding forty million RMB. For visitors, this means the craft is not only alive but thriving—and you can watch it happen.

Festivals, Food, and Dress of the Achang People

The Alu Woluo Festival

The Achang's grandest celebration merges two older festivals: the woluo festival of the Lianghe area, which honors the creation ancestors, and the a-lu festival of the Husa area, tied to Theravada Buddhist traditions. Officially unified as the Alu Woluo Festival and fixed each year around March 20, it is a two-day gathering of dance, song, costume, sports and the famous knife contests. The emblem of the celebration is the blue dragon and white elephant, and thousands of Achang from across villages dress in their finest to join in.

Food

Achang cuisine is rice-centered and boldly flavored. Guoshou mixian is the signature dish, eaten by hand with minced pork and sour bamboo. Sour bamboo shoots, pickled vegetables and grilled meat are common; the festive tuba bowls lay out a spread of meat and vegetable dishes. Home-brewed rice wine is the standard welcome, and during the harvest the New Rice Festival celebrates the season when the first rice is tasted. Many families also drink a slow-roasted bamboo tube tea and the traditional “baisou tea,” a heavily roasted pot tea.

Dress

Achang clothing differs subtly between the Husa and Lianghe communities. Men traditionally wear blue, white or black front-buttoned jackets with dark trousers; Husa men favor a white turban, while Lianghe men often wear black. Women wear long-sleeved round-collar jackets with skirts and silver necklaces and bracelets. Lianghe married women wrap a striking tall headdress about thirty-three centimeters high, while Husa women wear a round black turban. Young women's festival dress includes embroidered aprons and flowers in the hair—a vivid splash of color against the green paddies.

How to Visit the Achang: A 5-Day Human-Designed Itinerary

The best base is Dehong's airport city, Mangshi (Luxi). From Mangshi, Husa Township and Lianghe are easy to reach by car. We recommend a slow five-day loop that lets you meet the Achang ethnic group properly. This itinerary is deliberately paced—it is the opposite of a rushed “ten sights in two days” tour, and it is exactly the kind of route we design for travelers who want depth rather than distance.

Day 1 — Arrive in Mangshi, settle into Dehong

Fly into Mangshi, the gateway to Dehong. Take the afternoon to adjust and sample Dehong's relaxed border-town pace. An early night sets you up for the days ahead.

Day 2 — Lianghe: Jiubao Ancient Town and Guanzhang Village

Drive to Lianghe County. In the morning, wander the stone alleys of Jiubao Ancient Town, visiting the paper and pottery workshops and the old residences. After lunch, head to Guanzhang Village for the Achang Ethnic Museum and the Zhepa Ma & Zhemi Ma Teaching Center. Join the deng woluo circle dance if the villagers invite you. Stay overnight in Lianghe.

Day 3 — Husa Township: knives, silver, and the basin

Travel to Husa Township and begin at Mangdan New Village, where you can watch a Husa knife forged and try a little hammering yourself. Visit the Husa Knife Culture Museum, then stop in Mingshe Village to see silverwork. In the late afternoon, cycle the rice paddies or walk the lanes as the light softens. Stay in a local guesthouse and enjoy a bonfire and guoshou mixian in the evening.

Day 4 — Huangge Temple, the couple tree, and Longchuan

In the morning visit Huangge Temple and the Thousand-Year Couple Tree. Then continue to Longchuan county town for its night market and snacks. This day mixes spiritual history with local food life.

Day 5 — Mangshi and departure

Return to Mangshi. If time allows, explore the Dai-influenced gardens in the city before your flight back to Kunming or onward. From Kunming, the rest of Yunnan—Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Xishuangbanna—is a short flight or train away, and Kiki Holidays can extend your trip into a full Yunnan journey.

Best time to visit

Late March for the Alu Woluo Festival. June to August for the water and torch festivals, cooler mountain weather, and lush paddies. September to October for golden rice fields and the New Rice Festival. The rainy season, oddly, is often the most atmospheric in Husa—after a shower the basin is at its greenest.

How to get there

Fly to Mangshi (Dehong Mangshi Airport) from Kunming or major cities, then drive about two hours to Husa or one hour to Lianghe. Alternatively, combine Dehong with a longer Yunnan itinerary by road or train. For international visitors who want a seamless, expert-guided experience, a custom private tour removes the logistics and puts the culture first.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Achang Ethnic Group

Q: Where do the Achang people live?

A: Almost all Achang live in western Yunnan's Dehong Prefecture, mainly in Husa Township of Longchuan County and in Lianghe County's Nangsong and Jiubao townships. Small communities also live in Baoshan, Tengchong and Dali's Yunlong County.

Q: Why are the Achang called the knife people?

A: Because of the Husa knife. For over 600 years the Achang have forged knives by hand, a craft named a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2006. The knives are prized for being both flexible and extremely sharp.

Q: What is guoshou mixian?

A: It is the Achang signature dish—warm rice noodles eaten by hand, topped with minced pork, sour bamboo shoots, chili and herbs. Eating it with your hands is considered the only authentic way.

Q: When is the Alu Woluo Festival?

A: It is held every year around March 20 for two days, featuring the deng woluo circle dance, lion and elephant performances, knife contests, costume parades and shared feasts.

Q: Can visitors try forging a Husa knife?

A: Yes. At Mangdan New Village in Husa Township, several workshops offer short hands-on forging sessions alongside demonstrations by experienced smiths.

Q: Do the Achang have their own written language?

A: No. The Achang language is spoken, and the Achang use Chinese characters for writing. Their history and literature are carried mainly through oral tradition, including the creation epic Zhepa Ma and Zhemi Ma.

Meet the Achang the Human-Designed Way

The Achang ethnic group is a reminder of why Yunnan rewards slow travel. In a region full of famous ancient towns and crowded viewpoints, the Achang villages of Husa and Lianghe offer something rarer: a culture you can join rather than just photograph. You can feel the heat of a blacksmith's furnace, taste rice noodles from the palm of your hand, and dance in a circle with people who welcome you as a guest.

At Kiki Holidays, we design private, human-designed journeys across Yunnan—from the well-known lakes and old towns to the quieter valleys of Dehong where the Achang live. Whether you want a full Yunnan itinerary that reaches the knife masters, or a family-friendly cultural experience, we build it around you: your pace, your interests, your comfort.

Talk to us about adding the Achang ethnic group to your Yunnan trip. We will handle the roads, the language, and the introductions—so you can focus on the moments that make travel unforgettable.

Kiki Holidays · Human-designed Travel · Yunnan Specialists · Kunming