Frog Festival

Asia is the most active region in the international dissemination of the Maguai Festival. Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia are connected with Guangxi through geography and cultural affinities, and the Maguai Festival has generated strong cultural resonance among visitors from Southeast Asia. Thailand: linguistic affinity, cultural closeness Thailand provides one of the most striking examples of the Maguai Festival’s international reach. On the second day of the second lunar month in 2025, more than ten thousand people gathered to celebrate in Baying Village, Bachou Township, Donglan County, Hechi City, Guangxi—the birthplace of Zhuang Maguai Festival culture. At the venue, hundreds of bronze drums were arranged along the riverside walkway of the Baying River to welcome guests, their thunderous sound resounding into the sky. Thai visitor Nacha made a special journey to Baying Village to experience the Maguai Festival. She deliberately dressed in Zhuang attire and tried both weaving Zhuang brocade and playing the bronze drum. “This is my first time in Guangxi. Seeing people in the Zhuang village worship the maguai and perform the ‘Maguai Dance’ left a deep impression on me and gave me a deeper understanding of Chinese culture,” Nacha said. She found Zhuang clothing exquisite and the folk culture of the Zhuang region novel and interesting, and hoped to return to Guangxi again. Another Thai visitor, Sun Jiayan, found a sense of familiarity in the similarities of language and culture: “The Zhuang language, a Guangxi dialect, is very similar to Thai. Traveling in a Zhuang village makes me feel especially at home even though I am in a foreign country. People in northern Thailand also have a tradition of playing bronze drums. Thailand and China share affinities in language and ethnic culture, bringing us closer together.” This Southeast Asian cultural resonance is not accidental. The Zhuang, Thai, Lao, and related peoples all belong to the Tai-Kadai language family and share deep historical connections in language, agricultural culture, and bronze-drum traditions. The frog worship and rice-farming culture embodied in the Maguai Festival possess an intrinsic affinity with the belief traditions of many Southeast Asian peoples. Ming Meiying, a retired teacher from Bangkok, Thailand, was likewise drawn to the mysterious culture of the maguai: “The Zhuang customs here are very appealing to me, and the Zhuang Maguai Festival is also highly distinctive. Baying Zhuang Village has fresh air and is beautiful and pleasant to live in. It is wonderful to see how happy the elderly and children are here.” Participation by Southeast Asian international students The Maguai Festival has attracted not only Thai visitors who make special trips for the occasion, but also Southeast Asian students studying in China. International students from the United States, Thailand, Indonesia, and other countries have attended Maguai Festival activities after hearing of its reputation. At the venue, they performed with an auspicious dragon and offered blessings to local residents and visitors. Their participation has helped extend the influence of the Maguai Festival into Southeast Asian countries through the social networks of international students. Reflections of a Pakistani international student After experiencing the Maguai Festival, Niz, an international student from Pakistan, remarked: “It is truly very lively. The Zhuang clothing is beautiful and the singing is extremely pleasant. Although I do not understand what they are singing, what belongs to an ethnic people belongs to the world. I have gained a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.” Cultural connections with Cambodia The Maguai Festival has also attracted attention in Cambodia. The Zhuang Maguai Festival and Cambodia’s traditional agricultural culture share similarities at the level of their spiritual core—both are rooted in rice-growing civilizations and both contain prayers for rainfall and abundant harvests. The ecological wisdom of “harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature” carried by the Maguai Festival likewise finds cultural resonance in Cambodia.

The influence of the Maguai Festival has crossed the Pacific and reached the American continent. Visits by scholars and online personalities from multiple countries During the 2023 Maguai Festival, folk performances in Donglan County attracted international visitors from countries including the United States, Iran, Bangladesh, and South Africa. Scholars and online personalities from different countries celebrated the Zhuang Maguai Festival together with the warmly welcoming local Zhuang people, personally experiencing the distinctive appeal of this ancient ritual tradition along the Hongshui River. Participation by American visitors The Maguai Festival has attracted not only scholars but also ordinary American visitors. At the festival venue in Baying Village, visitors from the United States joined Zhuang residents in performing bamboo-pole dances, playing bronze drums, and experiencing the appeal of intangible cultural heritage. For American visitors, the ancient Zhuang tradition of revering frogs and praying for blessings—a belief system deeply bound to nature—offers a worldview markedly different from that of Western culture. International online communication breaks beyond its circle In February 2023, Donglan County organized and planned coordinated external communication, strengthening international online dissemination and helping publicity for the “Donglan Zhuang Maguai Festival” become widely popular online. Scholars and online personalities from Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, and other countries participated and reported on the festival. Through their own social media accounts and media coverage, these participants and reporters carried the spectacle of the Maguai Festival back to their respective countries. Coverage by Bangladesh National Television An important milestone in the international online dissemination of the Maguai Festival was its first appearance on Bangladesh National Television. This marked the first time the festival entered mainstream television media in a South Asian country. Coverage by Bangladesh National Television brought the Maguai Festival broad public attention in Bangladesh.

The Maguai Festival has spread in Europe primarily through two channels: visits by scholars and media reporting. Participation by British scholars During the 2023 Maguai Festival, scholars from the United Kingdom traveled deep into Baying Village in Donglan County to explore its folk performances. Together with local Zhuang residents, they took part in ritual activities, watched Maguai Dance performances, and listened to the thunderous sound of bronze drums. For these European scholars, the Maguai Festival provided a distinctive window onto Zhuang agricultural civilization and folk beliefs. Attention from mainstream European media A number of mainstream media outlets in China and abroad republished scenes from the Baying Maguai Festival in different languages. The reputation of the Baying Maguai Festival in Bachou Township, Donglan, consequently spread further. European media coverage brought this ethnic festival from southwestern China into the public view of European audiences.

The influence of the Maguai Festival has also extended to Oceania. During the 2023 Maguai Festival, international visitors from countries including South Africa traveled to explore and experience the celebrations. Although the festival’s dissemination in Oceania is still at an early stage, personal experiences by international visitors and the spread of content through social media are allowing more and more people in Oceania to learn about the Maguai Festival. As cultural exchange between Guangxi and Oceanian countries such as Australia and New Zealand grows increasingly close, the Maguai Festival is expected to gain wider visibility in Oceania through cultural exhibitions, tourism promotion, and other channels.