Dai love songs: People cover their faces to sing

In south Yunnan’s Yuanjiang County, the Dai people sing love songs with their faces covered and they have 720 face-covering love songs within 72 tones. The love songs are rich in content, mainly about praising others and telling personal feelings.

Dai people are obsessed with singing. In order to sing, they will finish the work ahead of schedule. Even the elders would urge young people to finish their work early and go to the singing gathering.When singing love songs, Dai men and women stood on each side respectively. They only sing when they meet their loved ones.

In the past, Dai people used to sing in the woods, and nowadays they sing during the Flower Street Festival which is held biennialy. On the event, they sing love songs, throw embroidered balls and enjoy the delicacies. It is the event as grandest as the Spring Festival.

Surprisingly, while singing, Dai people there usually cover their faces with  handkerchiefs. The locals explain that the singers are shy and its inner feeling can only be told through their melodious singings.

Source: Daguan Weekly

Photographs by Meng Zhigang and Tao Libin

Editor: John Li