Guilin Festivals And Customs

Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Contest is held on May 5th in Chinese lunar calendar. Guilin Dragon Boat Contest is held every 3 years. Participants train very hard to be in the best physical condition for this important and prestigious event. The banks of the Lijiang River are crowded with spectators on the day as the dragon boats race on the river with the deafening sounds of dragon boat songs, bells and drums. The winners are awarded the traditional prizes of silver coins and treated to a roasted pig.
Guilin held its first International Dragon Boat Contest in 1998, which attracted Dragon Boat troupes from South East Asian Countries, Hong Kong SAR, Macau, and China 's Taiwan .
This festival is full of color and traditional and would be well worth including on your itinerary.

Lusheng Dance

Lusheng is a reed-pipe wind instrument. Lusheng Dance is a traditional recreation in festivals of Miao Nationalities. Young men play the Lusheng together. Ggirls are dressed in their traditional, costumes, wearing dragon and phoenix silver caps, silver hair clasp, and silver comb dance to the rhythm of Lusheng. Young people fall in love with each other through the dance.

Bull Fighting

Minority nationalities in the northern counties of Guilin have many festivals and folk customs, such as bull fighting, horse racing, and the Lusheng dance.

Ziyuan River Lantern and Song Festival

Held from July 13 to 14 in the Chinese Lunar Calender, River Lantern and Song Festival is the traditional festival from Ziyuan County which is 107km away from Guilin city.
During the festival, large gatherings will be held by Han, Yao , Miao and other nationalities. Lion dance groups, dragon dance groups, river lantern groups and arts troupes from all villages will combine together for colorful folk art shows. When night falls, people take the river lantern to the river to commemorate their ancestors and pray for the good fortune for their children. The river lanterns make a fabulous dispaly at night on the river. The art performances and singing contests last all night. The following day the market will be crowded with people who carry on the celebration.

Longsheng Red Clothes Festival

Longsheng County is an autonomous county with many nationalities. The Red Yao are a sub-group of the Yao Nationality in Longsheng whose women wear Red as there national costume. The Red Clothes Festival, also known as Zhaina, is held on March 15 in the lunar calendar each year at Sishui Town . During this festival, Red Yao people gather in Sishui Street to exchange agricultural implements and products, buy daily necessities, or visit their friends and relatives. The young people take the chance to try to find a potential husband or wife.
Red Yao people enjoy singing and dancing. Folk sports such as bamboo pole balancing, tug-of-wars and rooster fighting are practiced by the Yao . Women of Red Yao have extremely long hair and they wear it in a coil on top of their head.
The Red Yoa like to have beauty contests. A beauty contestant in Red Yao criteria must be pretty, knowledgeable, be able to speak well, sing well and have good moral standard.

Zhainai festival programs will contain singing in antiphonal style, long drum dance, sports contest, hair competition, and a Miss Village contest.

With the development of the tourist industry, Red Clothes Festival has become a festival for all nationalities. It it is held on March 15 in lunar month, or April 8, at Zhaina ( Sishui Village ), or at the foot of Longji Mountain .

Guilin Mountain and River Festival and Exposition
Guilin Mountain and River Festival is grand ceremony hosted by Guilin Municipal Government for tourists and tourism represenatives from home and abroad. It has been held several times in recent years and will be celebrated again from the 31 October to 8 November 2004. The events aim is to integrate mountain and river sightseeing with local folk lore and arts performances. These activities are designed to attract tourists and enhance economic trade. During the festival there are evenings to showcase Guilin 's natural elegance and beauty, folk customs, history and culture and recreational activities. Expositions and trade fairs will allow those people involved in the tourism industry to meet and extend business contacts.