6-Day Minority Festival Tour

Experience the Splendid Culture of Minority Festival

Highlights

• Join in festival gatherings and watch a series of special events.
• Admire and try on stunning Miao costumes, with intricate embroidery and bright colors.
• Learn how to make paper in the original way, in a special village
• Take a closer look at China's 57th nationality

Recommended Festival in 2024

With a variety of celebrations almost every month of the year, we've selected four important festivals for you. Let us know if the festival you have in mind is not featured below.

Lusheng Festival (Feb.25th-29th/Oct.29-31st)

• Folk singing and dancing contest. Has a history of more than 400 years.
• Activities include: lusheng (a Chinese reed instrument) dance competition, folk-singing contest, bull-fighting and horse-racing.
• Usually lasts 3 days, the second and third of which include the main highlights.

Sister's Meal Festival (Apr.23rd-25th)

• Renowned as the Oriental Valentine's Day. It is the most important festival when young people woo their lovers by a series of interesting acts.
• Activities include: dragon-boat races, bull-fighting, wooden-drum dancing and a local market.
• Usually lasts 3 days, the second and third of which include the main highlights.

Miao New Year Festival (late Oct)

• The most celebrated festival to celebrate the rice harvest and wish for good luck.
• Activities include: dressing-up and parading to a neighboring village, worshiping ancestors and antiphonal singing.
• The festival is celebrated at different times of the year in different regions, usually from October to November, and usually lasting 3 to 5 days.

Itinerary Details

Minority people's festivals today evolved from solemn ancient rituals, so they tend to take the ceremonies seriously. They put on their best costumes and gather most of the villagers together to demonstrate the village's vitality and prosperity, and to honor long-held beliefs.There is no better way to immerse oneself in the rich cultural heritage of a destination than by joining in one of its important local festivals.

This tour offers rare opportunities for photographs and for visitors to dive into minority tradition and enjoy colorful minority customs.

breakfast & lunch

Guizhou Province is home to dozens of China's 55 official ethnic minorities. The Miao are a large ancient group with many subgroups, embracing a myriad of cultures. Today you will explore the charms of the Miao.

Settled deep in the mountains and with access to limited resources, rural people tend to be good at improvising: for example, making paper from wood pulp. Visit a village where people are still today making paper like their ancestors.

Together with your guide, find the local expert at traditional papermaking and learn how intelligent his ancestors were thousands of years ago, making paper from wood, without any smart machines.

Use your imagination and make a unique paper craft with your own hands, under the guidance of an experienced natural-paper maker.

Have lunch in a farmer's house, cooked with fresh ingredients. Then visit a small yet unspoiled village famous for its dustpan-like shape. Stroll along the bluestone path, allowing you to have a closer look at the daily lives of minority people.

Hotel options:
Heaven Sent Dragon Hotel

Handmade Paper

breakfast & lunch

Apart from Han and the 55 official ethnic minorities, there is another sub-group of Miao, claiming that they don't belong to any tribe, but instead, should be recognized as the 56th ethnic minority. They feel they are too different from everyone else, but they have been fighting for recognition of this for years.

If you are interested in the facts behind this divergence of views and would like to interact with the villagers, your guide can arrange a short visit to a local family.

Unlike most Chinese antithetical couplets written on red paper, these people hang a pair of dyed cloths on the door. It is thus obvious that batik is valued by the people, who dye white cloth using indigo plant and paint their totems with wax in order to demonstrate awe and worship.

You will have a chance to step into their dye-house and see how to make a fine batik.

After lunch, visit another special Miao village, famous for its gorgeous mini-skirt costumes and unique creative centuries-old way of storing food.

Dyed Cloths as Antithetical Couplets

Trip Notes

Every element of the tour above can be tailored. Feel free to tell us your ideas and we will be happy to make adjustments for you.

1. Extend the Tour

• Zhenyuan: Add a day to take a relax gorge cruise and peaceful ancient town.
• Anshun: Add a day for China's biggest waterfall and karst park.
• Guilin and Yangshuo: Add 2-3 days for Li River Cruise and Yangshuo countryside.
• Zhangjiajie: Add 2-3 days to Zhangjiajie.

2. Hotels and Meals in Remote Areas

China Highlights has carefully selected the best restaurant and hotel available, based on criteria like location and environment. Your private guide will assist you in ordering the dishes you like and will accompany you to check in to your room.

3. Transportation

As China's new big data valley, the network of Guizhou high-speed rail now links to many directions over the country.

Guizhou is a mountainous province but roads to every villages are accessible. So car is a ideal vehicle when transferring between villages. To provide you with a comfortable experience, private car is provided.

Tour Price

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An amazing experience in Beijing ! We had a wonderful time visiting the Beijing Zoo and the Great Wall with our guide Paul! He was exceptionally kind and knowledgeable and took exceptionally good care of us. We enjoyed conversing with him and learning about life in Beijing as well as the history of the Great Wall. He was also helpful in finding us food to fit my dietary needs which I appreciated. Everything about our trip has been smooth and we had such good fun. I would absolutely recommend China Highlights and Paul for their professionalism! more Sep 2024, Ann-Marie M@E2527CAannmariem

Family Fun Beijing! Great experience with China Highlights!!! Great sightseeing, wonderful people! Thank-you Selinda (Tour guide) for a wonderful time! more Sep 2024, DSD

Guide Olivia Olivia was an excellent and thoughtful guide. Would highly recommend. H as d an excellent trip to Beijing in September 2024 more Sep 2024, RupertL