A beautiful Miao village in Taijiang County, Guizhou Province

A local market in Shidong

Beautiful silver ornaments

Boat race

Bullfight is a must during the Sister Rice Festival

Enjoy sister rice meal with the locals

Every lunar March, when flowers bloom and creatures mate, Shidong's villagers cook colorful glutinous rice and prepare for the centuries-old celebration.

Every year, the festival attracts many shutterbugs from home and abroad

Fishing contest

In honor of the legendary seven sisters, and to promote healthy reproduction, the Sister Festival has been passed down through the generations.

In Shidong,the misty mountain air is refreshing, life goes on at an easy pace and everyone is hospitable.

Miao people are proud of their daughters because they believe that their daughters are the reincarnation of the seven sisters in the legend.

Sister Festival's popularity grows each year. As more people flock to Shidong in search of beautiful girls, the village will become more charming.

Some of the dyed rice is molded into balls that hold hidden treasures. These rice balls are presented to the young men who come to visit, and each treasure has a different meaning

The festival always begins with special family meals.

The Festival brings villagers from many remote areas together, the girls beautifully dressed in their embroidered costumes.

The festival takes place on a riverbank near the village of Shidong on the 14th to 17th of the 3rd Lunar Mouth.

The Miao girls wear their silver ornaments during the Sister Rice Festival

The Miao women, in fact, begin preparing the traditional, embroidered festival clothes soon after their daughters are born.

The most formally dressed are unmarried young girls and newlywed brides. They wear sophisticated and splendid silver apparels which weigh 10 to 15 kilograms.

The most popular event during the festival is playing drum dance which is a collective dance with drum beats.

The multicolored Sister Rice.

The process of creating the brightly-colored rice begins when the young women gather different kinds of leaves, flowers, and grass to make dye. The rice is then placed in dyed water, soaked for one or two days, drained, and finally steamed.

The Qingshui Riverside becomes lively and exciting as the music and dancing begins.

The silver apparel is the top-level festive apparel for Miao women. They wear them only at weddings or when they go back to their own parents' homes.

The temporary market by the Qingshui Riverside of Shidong Village

Women wear magnificent apparels and gather together to perform the dance