Qiubei County Culture

The Bridge Worship Festival

The Bridge Worship Festival is a traditional festival of Miao people in Qiubei .People build and worship the bridges, praying for good weather, a flourishing population, and good luck.

All people join the festival will dress up with their best clothes. Women and men go to the bridges, burning paper money and incense, pouring down the rice wine on the ground for the bridges and their ancestors. After they finish burning incense and paper money, they will play lusheng (a Miao music instrument) and dance, while some people will hold bull fight near their villages.

The Yi Torch Festival

This is one of the biggest events of the year for the Yi people from the south-west of China. This festival occurs on the 24th of June every year and is a truly great sight to behold.

During the festival, numerous torches are lit and the celebrations continue for three days. Yi culture is far removed from life in Western countries, the British countryside, pubs, video games, partypoker are very different to the ancient and little-changed traditions of the Yi. The Torch Festival is one of the aspects of the local cultures that is fascinating to outsiders.

It is thought that this tradition originated because the ancestors of the people now living in south-western China used to worship fire. It was their belief that fire repelled insects and evils, as well as protecting the growth of crops. As night falls in the villages, the torches light up the sky and singing and dancing commences. This is a magical time when parties last all night and prayers for a good harvest are made.

There are also many more activities which go on as part of the festival. The Yi people hold horse races with torches as hurdles, as well as arrow-shooting and tug-of-war. In Sichuan, grand torch parades are held by the Lisu people which is a very impressive sight to see.

A prominent thing about this festival is that it provides an opportunity for many young men and women to find their prospective spouses. The women dress up in costume, and there is even a costume contest in the afternoon for both men and women from the respective tribes. All assemble on stage and are judged.

Perhaps the most spectacular sight of the whole event occurs when the fire-worship ritual really begins. Light fills all corners of the field, a ceremony with prayers is undertaken, before celebrations and dancing around bonfires.

Hualian Festival

Hualian means to enforce somebody to wear collies. Hualian Festival is special of Yi Minority in Qiubei County, Wenshan Prefecture. Yis there also claim themselves to be Sani branch like that in the Stone Forest. Yi ancestors in Qiubei were said to wear black collies on their faces to drive away evil spirits thus Hualian Festival was brought forth, and it has become a golden opportunity for young generation to develop new romances because they could, on that day, “mark the faces” to express love.

The Cave of the Immortal

The Cave of the Immortal(仙人洞), a Yi village in Puzhehei Resort, is noted for its Hualian Festival and beautiful landscapes around. The elderly say that Hualian Festival has been celebrated for nearly one thousand years. Legend goes that: Demons once committed invasion to the village and tried to kidnap Yi lasses. Villagers racked their brains and finally figured out a smart idea: dressed up by wearing collies on their faces to make them look ugly and unpleasing; when the demons suddenly saw the “ugly” people of the village, they got scared and “disappointed”, and finally gave up. In order to memorize the great event, Yi people in Puzhehei would spend Hualian Festival to “exorcise” ominous matters and celebrate happiness every year. Other paints have also come with collies.