Sisters' Meal Festival: ten thousand people in Miao silver, walking

What actually happens

The festival is named for the sisters' rice — glutinous rice dyed in four colours, which young women give to the men who court them, with tokens hidden inside that carry an answer: pine needles for “bring me embroidery thread”, garlic or chilli for a refusal. Around that core sit the parts a visitor sees. From the published 2026 programme:

• The grand costume procession — the centrepiece, 10:00 to noon on the second day, from the county administrative centre to Sisters' Square.
• Gan Miao Ji, the festival market, running all day along Sisters' Street and the old covered bridge.
• Long-table banquets in the squares, antiphonal singing (you fang) and Miao epic-song performances along the Wengni River.
• A bonfire night — open dancing until midnight.
• Fixtures that say a lot about modern Guizhou: a national basketball invitational at Taipan village (the home of “Village BA”), a free-fight tournament, a hill-running race, and an open-air concert.

Dates, and why we won't give you an exact one

The festival is anchored to the 15th to 17th day of the third lunar month. In 2026 that put the opening ceremony on 1 May and the procession on 2 May, inside a programme that ran from 30 April to 10 May — the county now builds the celebration around the May Day holiday. The same lunar anchor falls on 21 April 2027 by our own calculation, but the county has not published its 2027 programme, and recent editions have started before the lunar date and run well past it. Treat late April to early May 2027 as the window and watch for the announcement, which came in late March for 2026.

Getting in, and getting there

The official 2026 programme listed no tickets, no registration and no ID requirement, and everything happens in public squares, streets and riverbanks. We have not found an official statement that admission is free, so we will not print one — but nothing in the published material suggests a foreign visitor needs anything beyond turning up.

Kaili South on the Shanghai–Kunming high-speed line is about 50 km from Taijiang, roughly 40 minutes by expressway. During the 2026 festival the station ran a dedicated Sisters' Festival desk with taxi guidance and bookable shuttles. Coming from further afield, fly into Guiyang Longdongbao (KWE), take the train from Guiyang North to Kaili South, then a car.

If you want this arranged rather than improvised — the procession route, where to stand, a Miao-speaking guide — message us on WhatsApp. We are in Guizhou.

Status: Exact dates for this edition have not been announced by the organisers yet — we publish the month only, and update this page when the dates are confirmed. Held annually on the 15th to 17th day of the third lunar month, though the official programme now runs for ten days or more around those dates. In 2026 the programme ran 30 April – 10 May, with the opening ceremony on 1 May (the 15th day of the third lunar month) and the great procession on 2 May. The same lunar anchor falls on 21 April in 2027 by our own calculation — the organisers have not published 2027 dates, and recent years have stretched the programme across the May Day holiday. No ticketing or registration was mentioned anywhere in the official 2026 programme, and the events take place in public squares and streets — but we have not found an official statement that admission is free, so we are not calling it free. Confirm locally before travelling. Source: the Guizhou provincial government's published 2026 programme, China News Service and CRI reporting from the 2026 procession, and the national intangible cultural heritage register (listing X-22, inscribed 2006, nominated by Taijiang County) · checked 2026-08-22