Zhuang San Yue San Song Festival

The Zhuang San Yue San festival grew from ancient Zhuang ancestral rituals and harvest prayers, evolving into a folk gathering where young men and women sing antiphonal folk songs and seek partners; with a history of over two thousand years, it is the Zhuang people's grandest traditional holiday.

During the festival, Zhuang men and women dress in traditional costumes and gather by rivers and on hillsides for antiphonal singing, embroidered ball-tossing, colored-egg games and eating five-color glutinous rice. Competitive improvised singing is the heart of the festival—pairs exchanging witty verses on themes of labor, love and history.

Inscribed in 2006 on the first national ICH list, the festival is a concentrated expression of Zhuang folk literature, music and customs, and has become Guangxi's foremost cultural brand; since 2014 the third day of the third lunar month has been a legal public holiday in Guangxi.

Celebrations are held across all Zhuang communities in Guangxi; Nanning's Qingxiu Mountain and city squares host major modern events, while traditional village-style singing fairs continue in the countryside.