The 2026 Shaoyang (Suining) Miao Siyueba Girls' Festival opened at the Suining County Ethnic Sports Stadium on May 24, the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. The Sasui Ethnic Theater Troupe from Tongdao Dong Autonomous County took the stage at the opening ceremony with their performance "Endless Echoes", extending a sincere invitation to visitors—"Come to enjoy heavenly sounds and celebrate the most beautiful Girls' Festival."

Themed "Siyueba Once Again: The Return of Girls," this year's Girls' Festival focused on the main line of "Her Power, Rural Revitalization, Beautiful Suining." Adopting a "main venue + sub-venues" integrated model, the event featured over 10 exciting activities, including the opening ceremony and cultural performance, "Stories of Our Girls" Writing Session, "Her Wisdom Revives the Countryside" Hunan Suining Girls Conference, Miao Skateboarding Cultural Carnival, "Girls' Market" Food and Creative Cultural Carnival, a drone performance show, "Happy Homecoming" Immersive Intangible Cultural Heritage Tour, "Forest Breathing" Light Hiking, Wufan (black rice) Flavor-Seeking Season, and intangible cultural heritage folk customs experiential activities in villages.

The Suining Miao Siyueba Girls' Festival, also known as the "Black Rice Festival" or "Flower Dance and Moon Dance Festival," originated from the legendary story commemorating the Song Dynasty heroine Yang Jinhua (Yang Li'niang), who cleverly rescued her brother Yang Wenguang. In 2008, the festival was included in the national representative list of intangible cultural heritage items, and it is now one of Hunan Province's top ten ethnic festival events. The festival won the "China Festival Excellence Brand" Two-star Award in 2023.

On the opening day, Miao girls welcomed guests with traditional ceremonies such as lanmen wine and Miao drum performances. The Huayuan Pavilion National Wetland Park simultaneously hosted the "Happy Homecoming" intangible cultural heritage tour, while Shangbao Dong Village, Dayuan Village, Datuan Village, and other villages joined hands to carry out folk customs experiential activities such as ancient village wedding procession, Taigushi (a folk performance during which children dressed up as heroes and heroines in traditional Chinese fairy tales and local operas, perform on planks carried by adults), folk song duets, leaf blowing, straw dragon dances, and bonfire parties, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in Suining's unique charm.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn