Miao Hill-Climbing Festival 苗族爬山节

In March 2025 I dropped in on a Miao hill-climbing festival southeast of Kaili, near the high-speed south train station.

Climbing the hill

Originally these festivals were for youngsters from villages either side of the hill to hike up, sing love songs to each other, and go off into the bushes together. Nobody out of their teens would attend – “why would I want to see my younger sister flirting?” as one man put it to me.

Stalls. Lots of local honey and dog meat

Nowadays these events are open to all, with basketball competitions, pop singers, bullfighting, food stalls and funfair attractions for kiddies. What with modern methods of courting, only old folk remember the traditional love songs, and still gather to sing them quietly to each other.

Young bulls, not really that keen to fight – the older ones can really hammer each other. They cost a lot of money so, though injuries do happen, usually the owners rush in to separate them if things get too serious. The small-horned one won.

The vocabulary of the songs is so archaic even my Miao friend had trouble understanding them, but basically " I remember the sound of your songs even when working hard in the fields; it is our secret, I will never forget you"

Many thanks to Lee Maoqing