Lusheng

The lusheng is used primarily in the rural regions of southwestern China (e.g. Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan) and in nearby countries such as Laos and Vietnam, where it is played by such ethnic groups as the Miao (Hmong-Hmyo-Hmao-Hmu-Xong) and Dong.

The lusheng has special cultural significance in the Miao regions due to its role in marriage and religious ceremonies.

The lusheng production technique has been recorded in China's State-Level Non-Material Cultural Heritage List since May 20, 2006.

After spreading to the rural regions of southwestern China, lusheng became one of the favorite traditional instruments in several Chinese minority ethnic groups (in particular, the Miao, Yao, Dong, and Yi).

People struggled to survive and built huge bows and arrows, shooting down eight of the nine suns.

[4] The mouthpiece is thin bamboo, which is connected to the air feed pipe and the sheng dou (笙斗, body);[5] six bamboo-made sheng guan (笙管, pipes) of different lengths and with reeds at the bottom are inserted into the sheng dou (笙斗, body), each of which has a press hole and is equipped with a bamboo resonator tube at the upper or lower end of the different bamboo pipes.

[6] Then two halves will be glued after loading into the sheng guan (笙管, pipes) with seven turns of thin gabions around the outer part.

[6] The sheng dou (笙斗) often has the color of light yellow, decorated with tung oil on the outside.

[2] When a Miao man picks his mate, he will play lusheng songs like "asking for a flower belt" and ask for a love token from the woman.

[2] In the Miao religion, they believe lusheng is a spiritual instrument (an animism belief) and has a certain effect on the gods.

[2] During that period, Miao people will wipe the lusheng clean and tie it with red cloth, plugging the sheng guan with cotton flowers and placing it in the reed-pipe hall.

[1] The players with more tunes and brighter sounds will win and their lusheng will be hung with red ribbons, as a symbol of honor in the village.

[9] Other activities also take place during lusheng festival to increase the jubilant atmosphere, including horse racing, bird-fighting, and cock fighting.