In steep and lush and misty mountains in a hidden valley in western China, a village of peasants holds the hidden treasures of rural China: exotic characters in old-fashioned clothes, wooden houses that are wonderful setpieces, ancestral temples that survived the revolution, forests rich in wild flowers and animals, inhabitants who are innocent and hospitable, and celestial mountain scenery. Few people know the village exists, and virtually no outsiders except guests of Pepper Mountains have ever been there – we organise short weekend trips to the area.