Slideshows Yunnan · Honghe
Mile County 弥勒县

Mile County's Yi seem to specialize in a novel kind of festival: exclusively performed for paying photographers with a competition between the villages of who can host the most outrageous event. Hongwan went first and now a number of other villages have followed suit. This one here in Taowa eschews nudity but compensates with a not so novel use of big gourds. But everyone seemed to like it.

At the end of the Dragon Worship, which is now largely a paid-for performance for the benefit of photographers, each household in Taowa village receives a tray of food, each different. Here are some of them.

The Axi Yi fireworship festival is the grandest carnival in Yunnan and rapidly becoming extremely popular with tourist and photographers.