Fire-Dragon Dance Festival

This trip takes you to Guizhou to visit the famous Huanggoushu Waterfalls and the different sub-tribes of the Miao and their festivals. The following are the festivals to be attended.

Tiaohuacha Festival of Long-horn Miao in Longga, Guizhou
This festival takes place on the 4th – 14th of the 1st lunar month. It is a time for young people to look for friends and potential marriage partners. Each evening during the festival, young boys from a village go together to another village to look for girls. At the same time, the girls in the village gather together to wait for the boys coming. When the boys arrive, they all sit together in a communal room with a fire in the middle. Here they sing to each other to express their affections throughout the night. The boys go home the following morning and return again in the evening if they find the girls likable. The highlight of the festival is on the 10th day when locals from all the villages gather together in their best outfits to sing and dance throughout the day in the open air.

*Long-horn Miao: There are only more than four thousand Long-horn Miao people living in 12 villages around Longga in Guizhou. Poor transportation has prevented them from the outside world and life has changed little, keeping the old traditions alive. Even today, marriage is still arranged within the tribe.

Lusheng Festival around Kaili, Guizhou
Lasting two days in each village, this festival takes place on the 5th - 23rd of the 1st lunar month in different villages around Kaili. During the festival, Miao villagers gather together and dance in the village square, wearing their finest costumes. These outfits can be so complicated to dress and undress that the girls’ mothers are always in attendance to lend a hand. In the square, people dance in circles while in the middle folk musicians play the Lusheng. As the girls dance in the square, the men watch buffalos fighting in the fields.

Fire-Dragon Dance Festival in Leishan, Guizhou
On the evening of the 15th of the 1st lunar month, the town of Leishan enjoys the most exciting night of the year. When it’s getting dark, 20 to 30 firework-laden dragons will dance through the streets of the town with people setting off the fireworks on the way. They dance from one family to another to give blessings and good wishes for the coming year. No festival is as exciting as the Fire-Dragon Dance Festival in Leishan.

Itinerary

Day 1, Arrive in Guiyang
Guiyang is the capital of Guizhou province, Guiyang is located in central Guizhou province, situated on the east of the Yungui Plateau, and on the north bank of the Nanming River, a branch of the Wujiang River. The city has an elevation of about 1,100 meters. It has an area of 8,034 square kilometers. The birds and flowers market is a nice place to walk around.

Day 2, Visit Huanggoushu Waterfalls
Drive to visit an old Han Chinese village Tianlong, these Han Chinese people in the history during the war between Han and ethnic people here, they moved here and settled down forever. Han Chinese in other places lost the traditions but people here still keeps them, now; it’s like a living Museum of Han Chinese. Drive to visit the biggest waterfall in Asia: Huanggoushu Waterfalls with the longest drops of 84m in Asia. We climb on the steep steps and hopefully walk behind the falls into the impressive 100m long water curtain cave.

Day 3, Attend Tiaohuacha Festival
Two and half hours drive on the zigzags to Longga village to attend the Tiaohuacha Festival of the Longhorn Miao people, the 12 Longhorn Miao villages are all next to each other in the mountains here, all the people would gather together to Longga for the festival during the day, we can also look into the villages to see the traditional houses of the people with stone walls and grass roofs. Drive to Anshun after the festival.

Day 4, Drive to Kaili
Visit to a Bouyi village where the houses are all built out of stones near Anshun, people in the village are still wear their traditional clothes made from Batik, traditional way of farming are still kept here as well. Drive to Kaili via Guiyang on the highways. Kaili is a small town of the southeast Guizhou prefecture lived by Miao, Dong and Buoyi people. Vegetable market is interesting.

Day 5& 6, Attend the Lusheng Festivals.
Lusheng Festival takes place everyday in different villages near Kaili, we will drive to the villages and attend the festival and back to Kaili for the nights. During the festival, Miao villagers gather together and dance in the village square, wearing their finest costumes. These outfits can be so complicated to dress and undress that the girls’ mothers are always in attendance to lend a hand. In the square, people dance in circles while in the middle folk musicians play the Lusheng. As the girls dance in the square, the men watch buffalos fighting in the fields. It is also the time for people to relax and visit each after the hard working of the year.

Day 7, Visit Xijiang, drive to Leishan
Drive to visit Xijiang, the biggest Miao village in China, the village is built on a small hill in a valley, with wooden houses and tile roofs just in the middle of the fields. We can walk through the village with visits to some farm houses and possible have a traditional Miao dinner with a family. From the village, we can have a good view of the terraces nearby. After Xijiang, we drive to Leishan and visit some villages along the way.

Day 8, Visit Leishan and Attend Fire-Dragon Dance Festival
Visit Peika and Shuidian villages in the morning with some walks in the fields and visits to the Miao houses in the area, you can still see the water wheels are still used here to get the water from rivers to the fields. In the afternoon, we look to the market in Leishan and look to the people who prepare for the Festival in the evening to find out how these fire dragons are prepared. Attend the Fire-Dragon Dance Festival in the evening. When it’s getting dark, 20 to 30 firework-laden dragons will dance through the streets of the town with people setting off the fireworks on the way. They dance from one family to another to give blessings and good wishes for the coming year.

Day 9, Drive to Guiyang
Drive back to Guiyang and free time, overnight hotel and tour ends.

Departure:
Feb.10th – Feb.18th, 2011

Price:
US$ 890.00 Per person
US$ 220.00 Single Supplement

The price includes:
Hotels with breakfasts
Sightseeing Programs & entry fees
English Speaking Guides
Transfers and transportation by private vehicles

Group Size: 06 - 12

You may prefer a different date and time frame for this tour, or wish to adjust the itinerary to suit your interests. We will do all we can to meet your preferences. Please note that tours of less than six persons may cost more per person, and other expenses may increase as a result of customization of your tour. In all cases, however, we are committed to providing the best value for your experience.