In the deep mountain of Guangxi Province, there lives a group of women, who wear traditional costume with beautiful ornaments; they are gifted at being outgoing and optimistic; and when they laugh people seem to hear silver bell ring. These women are called “Hongyao”, who gave the Huangluoyao Village the reputation of “the village of longest hair”.

Huangluoyao Village is located inside the Longji Scenic Area, about 100km away from Guilin. It is reachable bycoachbuses running between Guilin and Longsheng or coaches departing from Guilin Railway Station to Jinkeng Terrace. The village lies in the foot of Pingan Terrace; it is the only Yao ethnic dwelling among Longji's thirty villages.

In Huangluoyao Village, there lives about 60 Hongyao families. About more than 80 Hongyao women out of 120 keep their hair longer than 1.4 meters, with the longest hair as long as 1.8 meters. The group has been listed by Guinness World Record as the “longest hair group”. Each Hongyao woman has three tufts of hair, except for the first tuft grown on the head, they keep the second tuft cut at their eighteenth and the third tuft collected daily when they do up their hair. The three tufts of hair must be bound in the head every day.

Hongyaos are blessed to have bushy and luxuriant hair, as long as the beautiful face is covered by wrinkles, the black and flowing hair never change. For Hongyaos, hair is as important as their life. Normally Hongyao women’s hairstyle could only be seen by their husband, so unmarried girls always cover their hair using a piece of black cloth until they get married. After giving birth to a baby, they would add a small topknot on the head representing having a child, so by seeing their hair, people could know whether this woman is married and how many children she has.

For Hongyao, long hair stands for long life, wealth, prosperity and auspiciousness. From about twelve they start to keep their hair long, and if hair grows too long they cut a part from the bottom and keep them. Hongyao’s hair features black. White hair is seldom found even when they get old, as the secret lies in the wooden comb and special shampoo made of herbes and water used to wash rice.