Many Miao(Hmong) people live in Leishan, a mountainous area in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province. What these honest people await expectantly in their prosaic life is the annual autumn harvest. Its arrival sees them reaping the rewards of a year of hard work and preparing to welcome their New Year, an event they began looking forward to many months before. For the Miao(Hmong), the lunar New Year celebrations take a back seat to their traditional festival.
    Recent years, have seen increasing levels of prosperity among the Miao(Hmong), in part due to government policies to improve their living standards. Today they are not only self-sufficient in  terms of grain yield, but also have a small surplus. In addition, development of household sideline production is helping them to get more non-staple foods on the table.
    This year’s bumper harvest augurs well for the coming year and is the signal for a celebration to match.
    Growing interest in traditional customs and ways of life, particular among visitors from overseas, is also impacting the material prosperity of the Miao(Hmong).
    The development of the tourist industry in the west of China, in particular, has seen visitor numbers swell. And it was perhaps not surprising to see some faces from foreign lands Ñ the United States, Japan, Europe Ñ joining the traditional Miao(Hmong) New Year festivities.  Other ethnic groups, especially the predominant Han nationality from other parts of the country, are also more and more in evidence.