"Tao Liao Gui" is the most grand and solemn traditional festival of the Huayao people every year, which has a history of thousands of years. "Tao Liao Gui" is the transliteration of the Yao language. "Liao" means "curse" and "gui" refers to Bodhisattva. "Tao Liao Gui" means to walk through the curse of Bodhisattva. In Chinese, "Tao Liao Gui" is called "driving Miao". The original meaning is to drive away the Miao barbarians ("Miao barbarians" is a derogatory term for ethnic minorities). It is generally not said in Yao villages and is a taboo. Later generations beautified its meaning into "pulling off the extra seedlings". "Tao Liao Gui" is a traditional festival unique to the Longhui Huayao. It is spread in the Longhui Huayao settlements such as Huxingshan Yao Ethnic Township, Xiaoshajiang Town, Dashuitian Township, and Matangshan Township in the northwest of Longhui County, Hunan Province. In 2008, the Huayao "Tao Liao Gui" was identified as a project in the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Hunan Province. The "Tao Liao Gui" of the Longhui Huayao originated from the struggle of the Huayao ancestors against the oppression of the feudal court in history. In the first year of the Tianqi reign of the Yuan Dynasty (1358), the ancestors of the Huayao people, whose ancestral home was in Ji'an Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, were driven away and killed by soldiers and fled everywhere. Many old, weak, women and children could not escape, so they had to hide under the cucumber and melon racks on the Goose Neck Hill to escape. In order to thank the cucumber racks for saving their lives, the Huayao people vowed to "pass down to their descendants forever that they can only eat cucumbers and melons after the second day of the seventh month of the ancient calendar." They also decided to offer sacrifices to their ancestors from the second to the fourth day of the seventh month to commemorate them, which was called "Tao Liao Gui" (meaning escaping from the evil Bodhisattva). In the first year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty (1723), the Han gentry Liao Yuanweng led more than 200 people to hunt down the seven Hui sisters in Madong. After being defeated, they lied to the court that the Yao people were rebelling. The Qing court sent tens of thousands of troops to suppress the rebellion, but later negotiated peace after failing to conquer them for a long time. To commemorate this war, the ancestors of the Huayao changed the "Tao Liao Gui" originally scheduled to be held in Datuo from the second to the fourth day of the seventh month to be held once every year from the eighth to the tenth day of the seventh month. It was originally held in Chongmutang and later moved to Xiaoshajiang Street. It was hosted by the Shen family. The basic content of the Longhui Huayao Tao Liao Gui: 1. Studying the national development policy. In the old days, the Longhui Huayao used the "Tao Liao Gui" festival as an opportunity to worship their ancestors and discuss strategies to deal with the enemy to prevent invasion by government soldiers. After the founding of New China, its main nature is to implement the party's ethnic policy, study the development and prosperity of the ethnic group, and discuss major issues related to national unity. 2. Display and exchange national culture. "Tao Liao Gui" is a grand festival for the Longhui Huayao to display and exchange national culture. Its main contents are: (1) Clothing display. During each festival, Huayao women wear the most exquisite embroidery clothes they made by themselves to show their beautiful style and exquisite craftsmanship. (2) Exchange of embroidery skills: Every year, Huayao women take advantage of the "Tao Liao Gui" opportunity to bring their carefully embroidered embroidery products to the festival to exchange skills with their sisters, so that the Huayao embroidery skills can be continuously improved; (3) Singing folk songs: Singing folk songs is an important part of the "Tao Liao Gui" festival. Regardless of gender, age or status, everyone will show off their singing voices, and the singing will rise and fall, one after another, and it will be fascinating. (4) Talent display: During the "Tao Liao Gui" festival, Huayao men and women compete to show off their talents, and the performances are rich and colorful and interesting. 3. Talking about love: Huayao compatriots are limited to marrying within their own ethnic group. Therefore, "Tao Liao Gui" is the best occasion for Huayao young men and women to talk about love and find their ideal partners. Young unmarried men and women express their love to each other through singing during the "Tao Liao Gui" festival, thus concluding a happy marriage. 4. Exchange of production technology: With the progress of society, scientific farming is becoming more and more important. The Longhui Huayao often use the "Tao Liao Gui" festival to learn scientific information, exchange scientific farming and honeysuckle cultivation techniques, and promote production development. 5. Visiting relatives and friends: Visiting relatives and friends, building harmonious relationships, and enhancing unity are important contents of the Longhui Huayao during the "Tao Liao Gui" festival. 6. Border trade: The Huayao settlement area is located at the junction of Shaoyang and Huaihua. During the "Tao Liao Gui" festival, Huayao compatriots put their own agricultural and local products on the market, and foreign merchants will also take the opportunity to come to trade. Nowadays, border trade has become an important part of "Tao Liao Gui". During the "Tao Liao Gui" festival, the festival site is full of various stalls, with food, clothing, and daily necessities, whether it is local specialties or foreign fresh goods, everything is available, which has effectively promoted the development of border trade. "Tao Liao Gui" is a traditional festival of the Huayao people in Longhui. It has been passed down from generation to generation. The related embroidery skills, Huayao folk songs, and joint banquets and drinking customs are all inherited together, and there is basically no distinction between schools, masters and apprentices, and genealogies. "Tao Liao Gui" is not only a festival for the Huayao people, but also a grand event to promote 1. During the festival, countless compatriots of all ethnic groups from Longhui's surrounding areas and all over the country came to share the joy of the festival. Everyone gathered in the beautiful Yao Mountain and composed moving songs of unity.