I. What are the folk songs, musical instruments, and festivals of the Miao, Yao, and Dong? (***Three big questions, of which this is one)

I. Miao folk songs can be divided into several categories according to their contents, such as travel songs (love songs), fly songs, wine songs, bitter songs, anti- songs, funeral songs, labor songs, current affairs songs, children's songs, riddle songs, etc., with different tunes. Musical instruments are mainly Lusheng. There are many Miao festivals, the more grand festivals have been "Miao New Year", "April 8", "Dragon Boat" festival, and so on.

There are many Yao festivals, including big ones and small ones. The big festivals are Panwang Festival, Spring Festival, Danu Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, Shewang Festival, Qingming Festival, etc., and the small festivals are held almost every month. There are no less than 20 kinds of Yao music tunes. For example, there are eight tunes in Mianyao's "Panwang Da Song", namely "Sanfengxian Qu", "Sanjianzhen Qu", "Lotus Leaf Cup Qu", "Nanhua Qu ", "Fei Jiangnan Qu", "Ya Liu Qu", "Niujiaojian Qu", "Jiaxian Qu" and so on. "Xiangli Song" and "Shigong Tune" of Lajia Yao, "Yo Hi Song" and "Ah Bo Liao Song" of Pingdi Yao, "Wine Song" and "San Wang Song" of Bu Nu Yao and "Loud Song" of Au Yao, etc., etc., are just to name a few. All these tunes have ethnic and local colors. Many songs are named after their liner notes. Among them, "Wine Song", "Butterfly Song", "Lafa Song" and "Xiangli Song" are the most famous. Musical instruments are mainly drums.

The Dong musical instruments include pipa, ox-legged zither, Dong flute and lusheng. Folk songs can be roughly divided into "big songs", "small songs", "square songs", "narrative songs", "Songs for drinking parties" and "Songs for roadblocks". Festivals such as the Spring Festival, the Cow God Sacrifice (on the eighth day of the fourth month or the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar), and the New Eating Festival (in the seventh month of the lunar calendar) are more common. In some areas, the Year of the Dong is also celebrated in October or November. Due to the interaction between ethnic groups, the Dong also have Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chung Yeung and other festivals.