Walk through Jinghong, the capital of the Xishuangbanna region in the far southwest of China, in the middle of April and you’re likely to get wet, very wet. The culmination of the three day-long water-splashing festival that marks the Dai New Year is a riot of people racing around the streets of Jinghong and the surrounding villages, soaking every person in sight with buckets of water, hoses, water-pistols and water-filled balloons.
Foreigners come in for special attention; it’s not unusual for visitors to be drenched the moment they get off the bus in Jinghong, which lies close to the border with Laos and Myanmar in the deep south of Yunnan Province. But there’s far more to the water-splashing festival than just the chance for a free shower, because Jinghong and Xishuangbanna is where China meets Southeast Asia.
The water-splashing festival is perhaps the prime example of the trans-cultural nature of Xishuangbanna. Celebrated from 13-15 April, the festival marks New Year for the Dai ethnic minority, who make up one-third of the population of the region. Closely related ethnically, culturally and linguistically to the Thais, as well as to the Tai Lue people of northern Laos and eastern Myanmar, the water-splashing festival is the Dai version of Songkran, the Thai New Year that takes place at the same time.
At one time, Xishuangbanna, which is a corruption of the Thai ‘Sipsawngpanna’, which means ’12 Rice-Growing Districts’, was part of a Dai kingdom that stretched south as far as Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. The Dai had their own King until 1953, when he abdicated under pressure from the ruling Chinese Communist Party. But far more than many of China’s ethnic minorities, the Dai have managed to maintain their cultural identity and traditions.
That’s despite an influx of Han Chinese, who make up the majority of China’s population, into Jinghong. The water-splashing festival is when the Dai assert their difference from the Han, who celebrate New Year in late January or early February. Nevertheless, the festival has become enormously popular with Han Chinese tourists, who flock into Jinghong to get soaked alongside the locals and foreigners.
For the first two days, however, the festival is comparatively restrained. People wear their best clothes, while older women in the nearby villages don traditional costume such as printed sarongs and black headdresses decorated with silver jewellery, and gather with their families before visiting Dai temples and monasteries. There, they wash the statues of Buddha with water, a practise known as ‘Bathing the Buddha’.
Once the festival finishes life in Xishuangbanna returns to its normal sleepy state. No one rushes in the tropical heat and life in the hill villages hasn’t changed radically, despite the fact that the region is now on the tourist map. Treks into the countryside offer the chance to meet not just the Dai, but the Wa, Jinuo, Hani and the Bulang minorities, all of whom have their own languages and customs. Just remember to take a towel if you’re in the area in mid-April.
If you are still lost in the charming natural scenery, you can have a Guilin tours with its captivating rivers and mountains.
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