Lusheng festival in Kaili

Lusheng festival is a general name for the important courtship festivals held annually on a designated site called a 'flower ground', which coulde be translated as 'choosing a lover'.

The Lusheng festival usually takes place in January and February and are spectacular.

Despite the cold weather, don't miss he opportunity to visit them. Several villages and generations will join the festival. Mothers bring their daughters' finery which consists of embroidered costumes and silver jewelry.

In only a very few areas will boys wear traditional dress; for the most part, men have lost this costume. Festivals are usually held over a three-day period, the second and third being the most important. Girls arrive dressed in their festival costumes or put on their gorgeous attire on site.

A wide range of courtship rituals are practiced. At Zhouxi, near Kaili, man boys of each village play Lusheng pipes while forming a circle, girls follow with a relatively simple dance step to show off their costumes to best advantage.

Time of Lusheng Festival in 2011
On Feb 21, big ceremonies will be hosted by local government, people dress up to take part in all kinds of activities, and it is also one of the few chances for professional photographers.

Singing and dancing ceremony

As the music and dancing begins, the whole village is cheering up. The lovely Miao girls walk and dance in the sun and their cheeks burn with excitement while they flirt with handsome young men, each of whom is searching for a beauty worthy of his strength and handsomeness. At the same time, you will find many elders are happily watching the the cock fighting competitions, trading at the daylong markets, etc.

Where is the best place

The grand opening ceremony for Lusheng Festival is the best chance for photos. It is a great honor to host the ceremony, so it makes the local government lots of time to decide! In fact, we are informed the place only untill 3 days prior of the Lusheng Festival.

The good news is: lots of interesting small villages hidden in the high mountains, we organize groups to follow the locals to visit dozens of villages in Kaili area for 3-4 days, many of them have not been exlored and known to the outside world. Our tour guide will telephone to confirm the exact day of the opening ceremony and take you right there.

Frankly speaking, in the period of festival season, we always do not have enough good tour guides in Guizhou, so we have to work in "first come, first service" policy. If you need to sign up for this trip, please do it now!

Stories of Lusheng
Lusheng is an antique reed instrument. The longest one is more than 1 Zhang (a unit of length, 1 Zhang = 3 1/3 meters); while the shortest one is less than 1 Chi (a unit of length, 1 Chi = 1/3 meter).

Some have a maximum of 10 reeds in one Lusheng; some have only single reed or two reeds. The most popular ones have 6 reeds, with forceful but low and deep tone or clear and melodious tone.

During the long history of the development of the Miao's culture, Lusheng has been not only regarded as the symbol of their people, but also mixed together with dance music, acrobatics and Wushu (a form of physical culture) etc.

With the communication and interaction of the culture among various national ethnic groups, the Lusheng dance is also popular in Dong, Shui, Buyi, Yao and Yi people.

There are nearly 100 tunes and dance paces with the Lusheng dance, of which, 10-odd are most popular, in lively rhythm and in bold, rough and warm style.

The Lusheng dance may be like this: women's dance accompanied by men's playing or women's and men's dancing accompanied by their own playing. Also Wushu activities and some extremely difficult acrobatic feats of the Miao people have been assimilated in Lusheng dance, which are especially loved by the masses.

Must-see Villages in Guizhou and Guangxi
Basha Zhaoxing Tang'An Xijiang Sanjiang Longsheng