On June 20, Shaoyang City announced that the “2014 China Hunan (Nanshan) June 6 (Chinese lunar calendar) Folk Song Festival” is slated for July in Chengbu Miao Autonomous County of Hunan Province.
The June 6 Folk Song Festival, originating from Chengbu, is an ancient custom inherited by minorities including Miao nationality. On June 6 according to the Chinese traditional lunar calendar in the fifth year under Emperor Qianlong’s ruling (1740) when a peasant uprising broke out in Chengbu, and the people encouraged soldiers to keep up high morale by singing folk songs. From then on, the festival gradually evolved to be a local holiday activity till nowadays.
As one of the nation’s five Miao autonomous counties, Chengbu County has abundant ecological travel resources and profound folk cultural accumulation. The festival has become a brilliant brand of Hunan local culture for 16 sessions. The festival this year, themed “Folk songs along the road to Nanshan”, attracts more than one thousand figurants from 30 plus nationalities, seven cities of Hunan, Guangxi, and Guizhou. At present, all preparatory work has been done.
Translator: Hao Jingru