A museum displaying the original life of Blang ethnic group opened Monday at Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbannan in the southern part of Yunnan Province in Southwest China.

Without surrounding walls, the museum located in Zhanglang Village is themed to show visitors the true scenes of ancient culture and traditional life of 200 Blang families living in a 1,000-year old Village.

The construction of the museum started in early 2005 with the renovation and restoration of old architecture. Local villagers have been taught to better protect their traditional customs.

The Blang ethnic group has a population of about 100,000, living mainly in Yunnan. The Blang has only a spoken language. Themajority of Blang people are engaged in agriculture, especially good at growing tea and cotton.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2006)