The Grand Song of the Dong People is a cultural treasure which has been sung for more than 2,500 years by the ethnic group. After being recognized as a world intangible cultural heritage in 2009, the government and locals have worked to promote and protect the songs. A festival in its name is now held in south China’s Guizhou province.

In its thirteenth year, a festival devoted to the Grand Song of the Dong People was held at a park in Guizhou province's Congjiang county this weekend.

In its 13th year, a festival devoted to the Grand Song of the Dong People was held at a park in Guizhou province’s Congjiang county this weekend. The county is part of a Miao and Dong ethnic prefecture, and is known as the birthplace of the Grand Song.

More than 1,000 people dressed in traditional clothing, belted out folk songs simultaneously to open the annual festival. The lyrics of the songs contain a wealth of cultural legacies for the Dong people. Their themes range all aspects of their lives, including history and legends, sacrificial rituals, farming on the fields, love and marriage, and human affairs. 

The songs’ choruses rest entirely on oral tradition, so they are like an encyclopedia of Dong social customs. Singing is such an important part of the Dong peoples’ lives that there is a saying: “rice nourishes the body, while singing nourishes the soul.”

More than a thousand people dressed in traditional clothing, belted out folk songs simultaneously to open the annual festival.

The Grand Song of the Dong people is performed without the aid of any musical instruments. And without the benefit of a conductor, it is all the more impressive given its complex structure and the rapid changes in cadence of the chorus. That is why its significance was recognized by UNESCO back in 2009.

This year, the festival featured a contest where more than 1,000 singers battled it out in the finals. The oldest contestant was 80 and the youngest was only four years old. They were chosen from more than 5,000 hopefuls from hundreds of Grand Song troupes scattered throughout Dong villages. The winning singers and troupes will further promote the song on a variety of occasions. 

The Grand Song of the Dong People festival has been a calling card to draw tourists from far and wide. Coupled with tours to their ethnic houses and farmlands, tourists can get an all around experience of the mystic culture of the Dong people.