Culture of Wenshan City
Wenshan city is a multi-cultural city with many ethnic minority groups, including the Zhuang, the Miao, the Yi, the Buyi, the Hui, the Yao, and the Bai. They live together harmoniously and retain their cultural legacy and life practices. Varied eating habits, ceremonies, costumes, folk legends and festivals such as the Sanyuesan Festival of the Zhuang people, the Caihuashan Festival of the Miao people, the Panwang Festival of Yao people, and the Torch Festival of the Bai people, make Wenshan a colorful prefecture.The Zhuang people account for approximately one third of the prefecture’s total population, while the Miao and the Yi account for 12% and 10% of the total, respectively. Wenshan Zhuang-Miao Autonomous Prefecture is in southeastern Yunnan Province. To its east is Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Vietnam is to its south. Eight counties inhabited by 11 ethnic groups come under its jurisdiction, and Wenshan’s 3 million inhabitants encompass the Han, Zhuang, Miao, Yi, Luo (a branch of the Yi), Hui, Dai, Bouyei, Mongolian, Bai and Gelo ethnic groups. Ethnic minorities make up more than half the total population.
Four Seasons of Festivals
The Zhuang and Miao ethnic groups are famous for their folk songs, the Yi for their dances, and the Yao for their epic poems. Zhuang brocade and Miao batik are fashionable in the cities, and the batik workshops that pass on these ancient techniques draw the attention of fine arts students.
Wenshan celebrates festivals every month, like the Zhuang Double Third Festival, Miao Huashan Festival, and Yi Torch Festival, giving the prefecture an exotic ambience. They bring the opportunity to sample Wenshan’s colorful and delectable cuisine — chicken stewed with pseudo-ginseng, rice-flour noodles, Zhuang five-colored rice, and red bean stewed with cured meat.
There are also ethnic sports to be seen, like bull fighting, archery, upside-down pole climbing, folk martial arts, and wrestling. Wenshan has also produced a number of influential scholars. They include great writer Fang Youshi of the late Qing Dynasty, poet Ke Zhongping, and Chu Tunan, writer, translator and former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Yi People’s Hualian Festival 彝族花脸节
Address: Puzhehei in Qiubie county of Wenshan.
Time: May 2nd every year
Content: Wipe face carnival, Ritual performances by Bimo（毕摩祭祀表演），Yi People ancient song and dance proformance and all kinds of Traditional sports of ethnic minorities.
Name: Tiaogong Festival 跳宫节
Address: Puzhehei in Qiubie county of Wenshan.
Time : 8th of the calender or the June of lunar calendar
Content: Ritual performances to memory of their ancestors
Name :Panwang Featival 盘王节
Time : Farmers’s free time in winter 冬季农闲时
Content: Visiting relatives and friends
Name: Dabei Featival 打背节
Time:3th to 15th in Lunar New Year
Content: Yong people’s festival
Name :Caihua shan 踩花山
Time: 1st ,3rd,6th in Lunar New Year.
Content: Grant festival of Miao people.
Name: Huajie (Flower Street) Festival 花街
Time : Annually held around lunar March 3rd
Content: is one of the grandest traditional festivals of the Zhuang people living in Guangnan County. As a matter of fact, the Flower Street Festival is the “Valentine’s Day” of the Zhuangs.
