Cultural Performance

The cultural performances at Xijiang take place twice daily — at 11:30 and 17:00 — in the main square near the entrance to the village. The programme includes lusheng (bamboo pipe organ) music and dancing, singing in the Miao language, and a demonstration of traditional dress. The performers are village residents rather than professional entertainers, and the performance has the directness of something done by people who are comfortable with what they're doing.

The 17:00 performance, after most of the day-trip coaches have departed, is the better version. The square is less crowded, the performers less distracted by the volume of tourists, and the late afternoon light on the wooden buildings behind the stage gives the whole thing a better visual quality. The performance lasts about 45 minutes and is included in the village entrance fee.

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A story
The performance held twice daily in Xijiang's main square includes lusheng dancing — a collective circle dance performed to the sound of bamboo mouth organs — and a lusheng competition between performers. The lusheng is the defining musical instrument of the Hmong-Miao people across southern China and Southeast Asia, and the version played here is one of the largest types, standing over a metre tall, with a tone that carries across the valley. The instruments are made locally by craftsmen who maintain the proportional system that determines the instrument's pitch.

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