We set out early the following morning for Chejiang, on the northern outskirts of the county seat. Our guide told us that Chejiang is an ancient village and is now home to the largest Dong community in China.

We saw 100-year-old banyan trees standing tall on the riverbanks in the autumn drizzle, each with thick foliage. The silhouettes of hills were reflected in the river, while boats moved slowly by and fishermen were casting nets.

As we were getting out of the car near the village, we heard the sweet sound of the lusheng, a reed-pipe instrument. The villagers were playing music to welcome us, said our guide, and would soon offer us lanlu (blocking the way) wine.

At the entrance to the village, under a tall banyan tree, two bamboo poles had been set up horizontally to block the road. Embroidered shoe-pads made by young women in the village and eggs dyed red for auspiciousness hung by red thread from the poles. The young women were dressed in traditional Dong clothes and were holding ox-horn cups filled with rice wine while they sang behind the poles.

The language of the Dong people has no writing, and we could not understand the song, but the singing was sweet. Then a young man shouted something rhythmically, and the women echoed it loudly and stretched out their hands to offer us the ox-horn cups. We drank the lanlu wine, the young women hung the shoe-pads and red eggs around our necks, and we went under the poles and entered the village.

We were escorted to the singing-and-dancing ground in the center of the village accompanied by the sound of lusheng music. Under an ancient banyan tree, children performed caigetang, a traditional dance. They were followed by young women who formed a circle and began singing and dancing to the sound of the lushengs. Tourists stepped forward, held the women's hands, and danced joyfully to the lively rhythm.

The Dong people are known for their singing and dancing. Parents teach their children to sing when the children are barely able to speak. When girls reach the age of five and begin to wear skirts, they are organized and taught singing under the instruction of a tutor invited by young men in the village, and they continue till they marry.

The songs and dances of the Dong ethnic group are rich in content and form and cover a wide range of subjects: fairy tales, love stories, or the tradition and history of the Dong minority group. The songs fall into two categories in form, ye and ga. Ye is a combination of songs and dances usually performed without musical accompaniment. Ga is composed of folk songs, wine-drinking songs, blocking-the-way songs, and songs sung to the accompaniment of the pipa, a four-stringed Chinese lute, in chorus, solo, or responsive style.

At noon, the performance came to an end. The villagers put tables and benches end to end in a row that stretched for more than ten meters under the banyan trees. Young women with bamboo baskets began to set food on the tables. There were glutinous rice, boiled pumpkins, salted fish, and rice wine, all prepared by old women of the village. After the guests and villagers were seated, the young women sang drinking songs and invited us to enjoy the wine. The people of the Dong ethnic group have a saying: "Food is good for health, and wine is good for the mind."

(China Pictorial 03/16/2001)