In the north of Rongjiang County, hundreds of Miao people live in Kongshen and Konglie of Liangwang Township. Women of this Miao tribe wear cone-shaped headscarves and pleated skirts that are only about 16 cm long. They are known as the hometown of the world's miniskirts. This Miao tribe is hardworking and skillful. Except for embroidery silk threads and silk for the base, the skirts they make are all made of cotton they grow themselves, spun into yarn, woven into cloth, dyed and sewn by themselves. The clothes they wear have large and short sleeves and full collars. Most of them are inlaid with colorful railings and embroidered with exquisite patterns. They are simple, generous and chic. Young women also wear a loincloth embroidered with exquisite and vivid patterns of fish, insects, flowers, grass, etc., and put it around their waists, which makes them graceful, like swans, lotus flowers emerging from water, and fairies, competing with the world for beauty. With silver cores, silver flower hairpins, silver earrings, silver necklaces, silver bracelets and other silver ornaments, they look like flowers dancing in the wind, dazzling. In April 2000, at the Costume Performance Festival held by Qiandongnan Prefecture in Kaili City, the capital of the prefecture, Kongshen young women dressed up to participate in the performance, which was highly praised by relevant leaders and experts, and highly praised by Chinese and foreign tourists, who called it "unique in the world". Their cultural taste is as simple and pure as nature. Everyone who is there is deeply impressed by their singing and dancing skills and hospitality. This short-skirt Miao people do not marry from March to June every year, but with the arrival of the spring season, cicadas and birds are chirping in the forest, and young men and women here invite each other to visit the village at night, and have a tryst at the foot of the house or the side of the barn. What attracts more attention is their annual "Mao Ren Festival". "Mao Ren Festival" is one of the oldest and most unique ethnic customs for them to commemorate their ancestors' arranged marriages and pursue a happy life. According to legend, in ancient times, the ancestors of this short-skirt Miao people were expelled by foreigners and fled to live on the hillsides of Kongshen and Konglie. In order to jointly resist plunder, they became brothers and stipulated that short-skirt Miao people could not intermarry, and they lived in unity and harmony like brothers. Therefore, young men here have to find families in faraway places such as Leishan and Taijiang to marry and girls have to marry. It is difficult for girls who marry far away to return home. It takes three to five years at the shortest and eight to nine years at the longest to return home to reunite with their parents and siblings. Every spring, when the mountains are green and the azaleas are in full bloom, the relatives miss their daughters and sisters who have married far away and shed tears. So some people go to the top of the hill to plant a row of Mao Ren. The tallest one in the middle symbolizes the eldest sister, and the ones on the sides symbolize the younger sisters. When they miss their relatives but cannot meet, they climb to the top of the hill and see the Mao Ren, just like seeing their own relatives. Since then, every year from February to April of the lunar calendar, they have to go to the beautiful top of the hill to plant Mao Ren and sing love songs. The "Mao Ren Festival" was formed. As time goes by, after the young men and women of this short skirt Miao ethnic group intermarry, the "Mao Ren Festival" has evolved into an important social activity for young men and women to talk about love and freely choose their ideal partners. Playing "Mao Ren Slope" is an interesting activity for the short skirt Miao, and it is also a major way for young people to fall in love. This activity is generally carried out before planting rice from February to April of the lunar calendar. During the season when the orioles grow, young men choose a good day to go up the mountain and make straw men with straw and small tree poles (straw men should be single, not double), and stick them on the top of the hillside near the village. Girls (married women can also participate) dress up happily and carry a small basket to pick bracken. Young men (married men can also participate) carry hatchets or axes to chop wood. After they meet at the "thatched slope", they sing songs for fun. The songs usually include "first meeting" (i.e. meeting song), "praise song", "inquiry song", "missing song", "courtship song", "pledge song", "farewell song" and so on. After meeting, the men happily sing first: Today is a good day, white clouds without rain and wind. Clouds will rain, snow will wind, river banks will meet Jiangdong. Garlic moss will meet radish, leeks will meet green onions. Peacocks will meet phoenixes, and carp will meet golden dragons. If there is a destiny, we will meet thousands of miles apart, if there is no destiny, we will not meet each other. The woman then sang back: When we first met, the silver-hoofed white horse met the golden street, the thrush first met the golden rooster, and the mountain boy first met Zhu Yingtai. The stream met the river, the horse met the saddle, and the winding road met the green mountain. The bee met the peony, and the butterfly met the peony. If I had known that there was a good companion in Lishan, I would have packed food and asked for directions and come to play earlier. After singing the song of first meeting, they sang the praise song and the interrogation song. The man sang first: You can sing a lot, you sing so much that the parrot is afraid to sing, you sing so much that the dried fish opens its eyes, you sing so much that the sparrow is reluctant to open its mouth, you sing so much that the man blushes, I am willing to worship you as my singing teacher. Then they sang the interrogation song: I have a lot of songs, and the man wants to ask me about the upside-down songs, what upside-down is going to chop trees, what upside-down is going to dig slopes. After hearing this, the woman immediately sang back: The man wants to interrogate the upside-down songs, and the girl answers the man about the upside-down songs. The hoe is upside down to chop trees, and the axe is upside down to dig slopes. They sang like this, you sang and I answered, you interrogated and I answered, humorous and funny. When they sing to the point of being in love, the young men and women start to talk about love. In the thatched grass and bushes on the hillside, couples sing love songs to each other. The man sings: The fields near the village are the most valuable, and the fields at the foot of the village are valuable. You can buy them with money, as long as you add more silver. My sister is the most obedient, skillful and smart. She is worth a thousand taels of gold, and she is worth ten thousand taels of silver. My sister, I am poor and miserable. I have no stone to shoot rock eagles. I think about you all day long. I want you to be with me. If you dislike me, you can only live with me and live a bachelor life. The woman then responds and sings: Fairies are the most beautiful, and immortals are the smartest. Who dares to predict that I will live forever? There are talented people from generation to generation. My sister is a poor girl, and my sister is a passerby. As long as we are good to each other, we can work together and have a deeper love. My sister, as long as you don’t dislike me, I am willing to accompany you and live a lifetime. The love songs became more and more passionate, and the whole "Maorenpo" was immersed in the ocean of songs. Sometimes the songs were bold and unrestrained, echoing in the valleys and forests, sometimes they were leisurely, floating in the clouds in the sky, and sometimes they were affectionate, like the gurgling water. They sang and enjoyed themselves to their heart's content, and the more they sang, the deeper their affection became, as if they were intoxicated. Married adults deepened their friendship, resolved old grievances and hatreds, and enhanced unity through duets. Unmarried young people looked for their respective lovers through duets. Sing and play, until the sunset sprinkled on the hills, and then they sang farewell songs to each other reluctantly: We are separated, and we should not be distracted. We should learn from the long-flowing rivers and not from the temporary fragrance of flowers. We went and came back again, Shanbo couldn't bear to leave Zhu Yingtai. Carp can't bear to leave the beach water, and bees can't bear to leave the sweet-scented osmanthus. The next day, according to the agreed time and place, they gathered on the slope again and continued to talk about love. When they were in love, they sang the companion song: The thrush borrows the mountain to rest, and the carp borrows the water to return to the pond. Brother does not borrow money and rice from sister, but borrows sister to connect the heart. Bitter melon is connected to green ivy, kites are connected to mountain eagles, bees are connected to butterflies, and brothers and sisters should be connected in heart. Companionship is connected to love. If the relationship is good, you and I will be together for sixty years, and we will never be separated in life and death. When the companion singing reaches its climax, the apple-like face of the loved one will be shy and fly, and they will hand each other precious tokens. They will leave the crowd and whisper in the forest at the bottom of the valley, spending a happy time. This activity is both primitive and warm, mysterious and unrestrained, free, and full of romantic mood. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)