Ethnic groups celebrate Double Third Festival across China

People celebrate the Double Third Festival with a dancing show in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on April 11, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of Guangxi Daily

People in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region enjoyed a two-day holiday starting from Thursday to celebrate the Double Third Festival on April 11, a traditional festival observed by a number of ethnic groups across China.

During the holidays, the subway lines in Nanning, capital of Guangxi are free of charge for residents and visitors, meanwhile a string of local cultural activities are being held to showcase folk customs such as singing performances, ancestral worship ceremonies, bamboo pole dancing and Zhuang Opera performances. 

Meanwhile, residents from the island of Taiwan gathered with mainland compatriots in Fu'an, East China's Fujian Province at a gala show on Wednesday to celebrate the occasion which is also known as Sanyuesan Festival, which falls on the third day of the third month in the Chinese lunar calendar. 

Jiang Erxiong, a vice governor of the Fujian, said that she hoped friends from all walks of life on both sides of the Taiwan Straits continued to care and support traditional Chinese ethnic festivals such as Double Third Festival, and work together to build a common spiritual home for all ethnic groups across the Straits, promoting a sense of unity among compatriots on both sides, and building a demonstration zone for integrated development across the Straits.

Formerly known as "Shangsi Festival," the third day of the third month of Chinese lunar calendar is a traditional festival observed by the Han people and a number of ethnic minority groups.

In 2014, it was listed in the fourth batch of representative projects of the national intangible cultural heritage.

On Tuesday night, tens of thousands of residents of Li and Miao ethnic groups took part in a dancing show in the streets and squares of Wuzhishan, South China's Hainan Province to celebrate the folk custom. 

The Double Third Festival is the grandest traditional ethnic festival in Hainan, which embodies the hopes and aspirations of the Li and Miao ethnic groups for a better life, according to an official with the culture and tourism bureau of Wuzhishan. 

The mass dance event showcases the rich ethnic cultural heritage of Wuzhishan and promotes unity and cultural exchange. In the future, more diverse cultural activities will be held to enhance the residents and visitors' experiences of minority communities' customs and traditions, said the official.