FestivalHainan
Sanyuesan of the Li People
The oldest festival of love among the Li people: spring, with song as matchmaker and mountain-orchid wine as the pledge.
The oldest festival of love among the Li people: spring, with song as matchmaker and mountain-orchid wine as the pledge.
On the night of the third of the third month, bonfires redden half the hillside. The young man's nose flute carries long and far; the young woman's answering song comes back bright and clear. Those who match verses and then pledge themselves exchange tokens, and the mellow scent of mountain-orchid wine mixes with the bitter freshness of betel nut — the most intoxicating taste of a Li spring.
Courtship by song, a pledge sealed with wine: the Li spring begins in a question-and-answer of voices.
Traditions, echoed by a new generation
Effectively a large-scale spring social for the Li — match the antiphonal songs and you may walk away hand in hand.
Antiphonal singing, bamboo-pole jumping and firewood dance follow one another: a cultural experience you join rather than watch
Li brocade, the nose flute and mountain-orchid wine — all in one visit.
Events in Changjiang, Wuzhishan and elsewhere are free and open, giving a spring trip to Hainan one more reason to go deeper
History · Customs · Cultural meaning
Sanyuesan of the Li People · Origins
One line of descent · tracing the root
Sanyuesan, the third day of the third lunar month, is the traditional festival of the Li people, called 'Fulianfu' in the Li language. Legend tells that after a great flood only a brother and sister, Tianfei and Nanyin, survived; they parted to search for partners and agreed to meet again below Yanwo Ridge on the third day of the third month each year. From that day the Li have honoured their ancestors and celebrated new life.
The festival is also bound up with the social traditions of young men and women: falling just before the spring ploughing, it was the one chance in the year for young people scattered among the deep-mountain Li villages to gather.
Sanyuesan of the Li People · Customs
Seasonal rites · the life of people
On the day itself the villages are swept clean and families go to the resting places of their ancestors to make offerings. After dark, young men and women in their best clothes gather on the slopes and open with antiphonal song: verse answers verse, feeling deepens, and tokens are exchanged to seal a match.
No Sanyuesan is complete without bamboo-pole jumping, firewood dance and swing-riding. Every household steams three-colour rice and brews mountain-orchid wine, setting out the richest food they have for visiting guests.
Sanyuesan of the Li People · Cultural meaning
What the heart turns to · handed down through generations
Sanyuesan carries the collective memory of Li migration history and ancestor veneration, and it remains the most important setting for transmitting Li oral traditions — love songs, bamboo and wooden instruments among them.
Today it has grown into a festival celebrated across Hainan Province, shared by Li and Miao communities alike, and an important window onto the island's ethnic cultures.
Related customs
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Fact-checked October 2026 · every citation traceable
Primary sources are Chinese-language publications, cited for traceability. Bodies without a standard English name are listed by domain.
