Miao ethnic group gathers for a 'pohui' bash in Guangxi

The Gulong Pohui Festival, an annual celebration during the Spring Festival period, created scenes of jubilation in the Rongshui Miao Autonomous County of Liuzhou City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on 25 February, with tens of thousands of villagers dressed in traditional Miao costumes taking part in a range of folk activities.

Held in Xiangfen Township, the Gulong Pohui Festival features a variety of folk events, including lusheng competitions (a reed wind instrument popular with the Miao, Dong and Yao ethnic groups), horse fighting, group antiphonal singing and the Lusheng Caitang, a traditional Miao dance accompanied by the sounds of the lusheng. 

The festival is an occasion for participants, mainly the Miao people, to mourn their martyrs, pray for disaster relief and wish for a promising new year. It's also a chance for young festival-goers to express their romantic interest in one another.

The Gulong Pohui Festival is not the only "pohui" in Rongshui. For over a hundred years, people throughout the county have held these gatherings on different days of the first month of the traditional Chinese calendar. As a result, a series of these festivals have been held every year during this month. In 2006, the Miao "pohui" gatherings were listed as national intangible cultural heritage. The Gulong Pohui Festival is considered to be one of the largest and most famous of its kind.

With the growing popularity of Miao "pohui" gatherings, more and more people are coming from all over China to take part in the celebrations, providing an opportunity to share the region's unique ethnic culture with a wider audience.