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Documentary photograph by Yves Picq, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0.Source / rightsWikimedia Commons · explicit-license

Liping County

Southwest · Qiandongnan

Dong Shiny Cloth and Festival Silver

Liangbu, the indigo cotton beaten with egg white until it shines like tempered metal

Dong dress centres on liangbu: indigo-dyed cotton coated with egg white and beaten with a wooden mallet until the surface throws a purple-silver sheen, worn under heavy silver collars and crowns that answer the drums of the tower at the centre of every village.

  • shiny cloth
  • silver collar
  • drum tower
Spring

Sama festival processions

In spring the Sama festival honours the ancestral grandmother, and the grandmothers of today lead the route in full silver.

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09 · travel note

Dong Shiny Cloth and Festival Silver

City anchorLiping County

Best time
The Dong New Year around the lunar eleventh month, or autumn after the harvest for song gatherings in calmer weather.
Stay
Three days across Zhaoxing, Tang’an and Liping

A way throughBase in Zhaoxing village; the terraced walk up to Tang’an and the county town of Liping fill in the rest, with covered bridges and drum towers between.

On the wayTake the Guangzhou-Guiyang high-speed line to Congjiang station, then a short road hop to Zhaoxing; village guesthouses cover the overnight stays.

With respectSong is the Dong gift of welcome: sit through a grand-song set before photographing the silver, and never touch a collar without being invited.

A Dong woman in profile wearing a hammered-silver crown and collar over indigo festival dress.Real scene

Seasonal experience

A drum-tower evening in Zhaoxing

Watch the sheen move

Take a seat on the covered bridge or a tower bench as the evening crowd gathers: every turn of a head moves the beaten sheen of a collar or crown, and the drum tower above supplies the rhythm.

Why now
A collar’s weight and a crown’s height are read like an introduction: home village, family standing and occasion are all announced before a word is sung.
Time needed
One New Year evening plus a cloth-beating morning
Plan before you go
The Dong New Year follows the lunar calendar around the eleventh month, so the solar date lands in November or December; village schedules vary.
Photo: Yves Picq / Wikimedia Commons
Official tourismGuizhou Provincial People’s Government