Village with a long, long tradition

Pan Jifeng has not cut her hair since she was 18. None of the women in her village have. It's tradition among the Yao ethnic group passed down for generations.

"We do not cut our hair, starting at birth," explains the 51-year-old, her long, dark tresses flowing over her red embroidered dress.

"When we reach 18, we get our first haircut as part of a coming-of-age ceremony, which signifies the girl is now an adult and can marry," she says.

Long hair is seen as an auspicious sign for women in her village, Huangluo, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

"The hair cut off at the ceremony is not to be thrown away, but preserved," she adds. "After a woman is married and has a child, this hair is woven and worn in the form of a hair fastener, so to speak, as a distinction between married and unmarried women."

The secret to keeping the hair long, shiny and dark, Pan says, is washing it in water that has been used to clean glutinous rice. But young girls are no longer willing to use it to wash their hair today.

huoyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/12/2016 page4)