Guizhou Festival Activities

Time: July to August (Gregorian calendar) Venue: Zunyi City, Maotai Town of Renhuai City, Chishui City and other locations Main Activities: A grand theatrical performance will be staged for the opening ceremony. Visitors may tour the Site of the Zunyi Conference, Moutai Distillery, Shizhangdong Waterfall in Chishui and other scenic spots. For liquor lovers, the biggest highlight is tasting a full range of local fine liquors.

Time: The 3rd day of the third lunar month Venue: Northern Guizhou Main Activities: Regarded as the Spring Festival of the Gelao people, this festival sees locals prepare chickens, wine, meat and rice to worship the Mountain God and God of Earth. The Gelao people believe these deities will bless them with peace and safety. After the worship rituals, people gather on mountains or at village gates to share the offerings together.

Tips: As the oldest indigenous ethnic group in Guizhou, the Gelao people mainly reside in this province and call themselves the "natives of Guizhou". With a total population of over 50,000, they live in scattered communities across southwestern and northern Guizhou. The Gelao have their own language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. Most Gelao people can also speak Chinese, Miao and Buyi languages. They have no written script and use Chinese characters in daily life. Their costumes are largely similar to those of the Han people and neighboring ethnic minorities.

Time: The 1st day of the tenth lunar month Venue: Northern Guizhou Main Activities: The Ox King Festival is a grand traditional festival of the Gelao ethnic group. On this day, locals slaughter chickens, prepare wine, light incense and candles, and set off firecrackers. They pay homage to the Ox King Bodhisattva at the entrance of cattle sheds, praying for strong and disease-free farm cattle. People also decorate the cattle with red ribbons and hang glutinous rice cakes on their horns to celebrate the "birthday" of the oxen.

The Guizhou Flower Lantern is a popular folk entertainment combining singing and dancing. It falls into two artistic categories: flower lantern song and dance, and flower lantern opera.

Flower lantern song and dance, also locally known as ground lantern, gong-and-drum lantern or drum dance, features simple and short performances without complete dramatic plots. It mainly expresses emotions or conveys simple morals. Performers dance and sing while holding silk fans and handkerchiefs. Rhymed dialogues are sometimes inserted during the show. Singing forms include antiphonal singing, round singing, unison singing and chorus.

On the night of the 15th day of the first lunar month and on major festivals, people hang up lanterns and decorations to gather for the flower lantern show, also called singing or dancing with flower lanterns among locals.

Renhuai City boasts abundant underground heat sources and numerous hot springs. Well-known ones include Yanjin River Hot Spring, Tanchang Hot Spring and Tuanjie Hot Spring