Events

10. Hunan (Nanshan) Double Six Folk Song Festival

With a history of more than 20 years, the Hunan (Nanshan) Double Six Folk Song Festival was listed as one of the province's four festivals with high brand value. The festival is held every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, and is an important event for ethnic groups to continue and pass on their folk song culture.

The 2018 festival was held in Chengbu Miao autonomous county, Shaoyang city in Hunan province and lasted for two months from May to July. The organizers invited 120 autonomous counties from across the country to send ethnic groups to participate in the festival.

Over years of development, the festival has become a name card of Chengbu Miao autonomous county, attracting a wide range of visitors and investors to boost the city's development. In 2017, the county received 1.5 million domestic and international visitors with tourism revenue of 1 billion yuan ($145 million), and its clean energy, dairy cattle, featured agriculture, and new industries have witnessed a boom in recent years.

11. Hunan (Liuyang) Dawei Mountain Rhododendron Festival

Dawei Mountain, a branch of Luoxiao Mountains, is located to the northeast of Liuyang city, Hunan province. It is the highest mountain in the eastern part of Hunan, standing at about 1,608 meters, and is at the head of Liuyang River. It is 119 kilometers from the provincial capital of Changsha city, and 67 km from Liuyang city.

Boasting the largest rhododendron area in Central China, Dawei Mountain has more than 67 square kilometers of azalea flowers featuring more than 38 species.

The Hunan (Liuyang) Dawei Mountain Rhododendron Festival has been held annually on the mountain every April to May since 2009. A wide range of festivities and celebrations centering on admiring flowers, folk performances, operas, special food activities, photography competitions and cheongsam (a traditional Chinese body-hugging dress) shows are staged during the festival.

Sponsored by Changsha forestry bureau, Changsha culture and tourism bureau and Liuyang municipal government, this year's festival started April 20, and closed May 26, attracting more than 20,000 visitors a day.

12. Dong Year

The Dong Year is the traditional festival of the Dong people. The Dongs in the Rongjiang River celebrate Dong Year from the end of October to early November of the lunar calendar. Prior to the festival, every family cleans their house and slaughters swine and sheep.

During the festival, people dress up, dance to melodies played on lusheng (a reed-wind instrument), and enjoy a collective dance party and bullfighting. The celebration is held one month later in the Jinping area, where similar large entertainments take place, and people visit their friends and relatives as well as hold weddings.