Music is never far away in the Dong villages of Liping County in Southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Dong folk music at its finest was showcased at a festival during the National Day holiday in Liping County, which is home to 320,000 Dongs.

Folk singers of the Dong and Miao ethnic groups from Guizhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Central China's Hunan Province took part in the three-day festival.

For generations, Dong folk singers have developed a unique style of chorus called "dage" in which a group of mostly young men and women sing without any instrumental accompaniment.

Known as the birthplace of dage, Yandong Town, located 28 kilometres from Liping County, has cultivated generations of well-known folk singers such as Wu Peixin.

In 1957, Wu dazzled a Western audience with her wonderful singing in Moscow. It was not until then that Dong folk singing was known to the world.

In October 1986, when the dage Chorus of Dong Ethnic Group participated in the Paris Art Festival, the beautiful and pure human voice emulating the sound of cicada enthralled Western audiences and musicians.

Some researchers of Dong ethnic history believe dage came into being during one of the prime times of the group's history, because without such an era of prosperity it's difficult to explain how an ethnic minority with a population of only 1 million could retain such mature and harmonious music.

For the Dong people, singing has always been an indispensable part of their lives. They like to sing after a day's hard work, at festivals, weddings and funerals, and to communicate happiness and wishes. The songs are about anything they see and hear, or anything they feel and think.

Most Dongs begin to study singing in their early childhood - generally with their mothers as their first teachers.

By the age of 6 or 7 they join a singing group, which is formed by several clan members or relatives, and become apprentices of a well-known master singer in the village. They start their study from the basic singing techniques to the traditional folk songs.

Teenage singers start to take part in singing gatherings, where they are able to further their studies, without the guidance of their parents. Within a few years most are able to sing several traditional folk songs, and they start to participate in formal singing competitions.

From then on, they will step into the golden time of their singing career.

On the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the local Dong people dress in their best festival attire and gather at the Yandong Town to watch bull fighting, local Dong Opera and demonstrate their singing skills in friendly competition.

(China Daily October 10, 2003)