The festival is one of the biggest for the Miao people and every family in the region prepares what's called sisters' rice. The rice is sticky and it's cooked with some flowers.

The sister's flowers are small yellow flowers. Days ahead of the festival, people gather the blooms from the mountains and dry them. Then the day before the main event, the dried flowers are boiled and discarded. It's the boiled water that's the key ingredient for cooking the rice. The Miao people believe sticky rice is the best kind and, around the festival time, they all eat it.

Before it's cooked, the sticky rice is soaked in the boiled flower water for hours.

This sends a message about the vitality of nature being transferred into human life. Eating such rice is believed to bring productivity and prosperity.

Yellow is just one color for the sister's rice. The other colors come from different food dyes. Every family must have a banquet on the sister's festival where girls and boys sit together as if they're on a group date. According to Miao custom, people invite you to drink, in a very civilized way, by singing to you. If you don't drink, they won't stop singing. The Miao people are good singers and their songs are often bold and unrestrained. People called them flying songs.

To show their hospitality, some times they put a red dot on your face. One dot for one drink.

All dressed up, the silver can weigh some 10 kilograms. These people are on their way to a dance but I'm interested in dragon boat racing. It all starts around noon.

Dragon boat racing is popular throughout China, but here in Shidong, you see a kind of competition you can't see anywhere else in the country, it's uniquely Miao. Instead of sitting, the racers stand in the boats and row with a single stick as their oar. As no women are allowed on board, a boy dressed up as a girl sits in the boat and sounds the gong. The drum is being sounded by a respected old man from the village.

Each year in late May, there's a festival dedicated to boat racing. Each village sends its own team and people bring gifts as a blessing for the race. Young girls all dress up for the occasion and tens of thousands of people gather along the river to view the spectacle.

Photographers also come and reel off hundreds of frames.

All done with the boat races and we head way down the river to see some dancing at a big, open-air party. The sister's festival is the time young people date and old people meet their previous sweethearts, married or not.

It's easy to feel underdressed at a party like this. But it's also the best time to see the young Miao girls at their brightest. The Miao girls dance in a circle and usually the boys stand by to see who's the fairest and best. It's a competition not only among girls, but among families.

The dancing continues all the way into the night and this is when the real courtship beginss - people start singing to each other. Singing is the best way to reach another person's soul and that's certainly true for the Miao.

The festival is also a big fair. It's no exaggeration to say that the things on sale could fill a museum of ethnic dress. You can find not only Miao outfits and accessories, but also decorative clothing from all the ethnic groups around the region. You may not intend to shop but it's hard to say no to the luxurious colors and complex designs.

Editor: Li Guixiang.