Taijiang County in Guizhou hosted the annual Miao Sisters Festival on Tuesday. This is centered around the romantic relationships between young people from the Miao ethnic group.

The main activities include singing, eating "sisters' rice," dancing to the sounds of the lusheng (a mouth organ made of bamboo pipes) and wooden drum, exchanging tokens, and even getting engaged. It is dubbed the "festival hidden in the flower bud" and is also known as the oldest version of Valentine's Day in Asia.

According to local legend, there was once a Miao village in Taijiang County that would send its men far away every year to hunt. As they wouldn't return for a long time, this left many unmarried young women in the village.

The women, or sisters as they called each other, would go up the mountain to pick fruit and work in the fields together. At home, they would spin yarn and weave cloth. However, they still felt something was missing and were not truly happy. So they decided to find new fields to tend to, and ultimately settled on a place with abundant water resources.

They put their minds into farming and raised many fish in the ponds. In the spring, they planted glutinous rice seeds in the field and in the autumn, they harvested a lot of glutinous rice and brewed many jars of glutinous rice wine. Despite having food, clothing, and shelter, the sisters still felt something was missing.

The elders understood their concern and came up with a practical solution. They suggested the sisters save the glutinous rice and rice wine they couldn't finish, and in the next spring, use it to catch fish and shrimp, and invite young men from far away to eat, drink, and dance together. Some of the sisters found their ideal partners and happily got married the following year. Since then, these activities have formed part of an annual ritual.

The formal festivities now take place from the 15th to the 17th days of the third month on the traditional Chinese calendar, marking the climax of the Miao Sisters Festival.

Nowadays, the festival centers around young women and features singing, dancing, and traditional clothing displays. The main activities include eating "sisters' rice" and exchanging tokens between young men and women. The festival has a large scale and unique, rich content.

"Eating sisters' rice" is a significant ceremonial activity of the Miao Sisters Festival. It serves as a token that girls give to their lovers to express their affection and is the festival's most important symbol.

The Taijiang Miao Sisters Festival is one of the most significant and culturally rich festivals in Southeast Guizhou. In June 2006, the Miao Sisters Festival was listed as one of the first national intangible cultural heritages.