The 2026 Miao Ganqiu (Autumn Welcoming) Festival was held in Biancheng Chadong, Huayuan County, in Hunan’s Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, coinciding with the Start of Autumn solar term.

Structured into three segments — greeting, worshipping and reveling in autumn — the event opened with a morning parade featuring hundreds of participants. More than 10 troupes marched to the festival grounds, including ceremonial autumn deity teams, Liujin scarf dancers, dragon-welcoming performers, eight-person swing operators, Miao martial artists, and dragon and lion dancers. Locals in silver-adorned costumes filled the streets with drumbeats and folk songs.

Highlights included folk song choruses and traditional stunts such as fire-spitting and walking on hot ploughshares. Young Miao women sang romantic ballads atop the iconic eight-person swings.

Added to China’s national ICH list in 2014, the festival was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List in 2016 as an extension of the 24 Solar Terms. It is held annually to honor the Grain God and pray for harvests.