Four eco-ecomusems were built in Guizhou under the Sino-Norwegian joint cultural project.Three eco-museums established in Shuoga, Zhenshan and Tangan represent Miao, Bo-i and Dong cultures respectively. While the fourth one in Longli tells of the story of how a handful of Han soldiers and their families in a distant military fort established themselves among the ethnic minorities. They became the "inorities" among the minorities.
The Longli Fort Eco-museum is located in Longli, 52 km from Jinping County of Guizhou. The 600-year old fort still preserves the basic framework of the military fort. The fortification, the fort entrances, the local school, the ancestral temples, water wells, stone monuments etc stand testimony to more than 600 years of history. Han traditions like dragon dance, Han operas, story-telling etc from Central China are kept intact and are still very much part of the lives of Longlii people today.
The fortification of Longli started as early as A.D. 1386, soldiers and their families were sent there subsequently to maintain peace and order against local minorities "ebels" Accordingly to local records, 360 soldiers and 13 officers were sent in the beginning, and they were ordered to station there permanently: No one is allowed to leave the locality and return without permission, and their sons and grandsons will take up their roles perpetually. Later, the Qing dynasty adopted the same policy.
Today, Han traditions are still being observed and maintained by the people living in Longli Fort, and they rarely inter-marry with the neighboring minorities. The place is now a part of the Autonomous Region of the Miao and Dong in South-East Guizhou, but still the people of Longli seem to resist any acculturation with their neighbors and stick steadfastly to their Han traditions.