龙胜和平乡黄洛瑶寨--天下第一长发村 Huangluoyao Village

天下第一长发村
广西龙胜县和平乡黄洛瑶寨，被誉为“天下第一长发村”，这里住着三百多位红瑶瑶民，因拥有六十多位头发在一点四米以上的女性，创造了吉尼斯世界纪录。

红瑶是瑶族的一个支系，主要分布在广西龙胜县和平乡。红瑶自古以来有着留长发的习惯，她们平时用经过处理的淘米水洗发，至老头发都乌黑油亮。红瑶女性有世代相传的蓄发、梳妆发型的习俗和护发秘方。红瑶女从十二三岁开始蓄发，长到一定长度后可以剪下长发珍藏起来，等到三十岁左右，已经生儿育女的红瑶嫂可以将头上长发和珍藏的剪下长发一同盘起。广西龙胜县和平乡黄洛瑶寨现有400多名居民，寨里180名女性头发的平均长度为1.7米，最长的达到2.1米，有“天下第一长发村”之称。

红瑶女性的梳长发表演每年吸引了大批游客，仅2002年“五一”长假，就有一千多游客入住黄洛瑶寨农家旅馆，旅游收入达五十多万元。她们每为游客表演一次梳发便收费二元，村里一位八十多岁的老奶奶不甘寂寞，也加入了这一行当。广西龙胜县便以此大力发展旅游业，以旅游和扶贫相结合，由政府投资八百万元，给农民建农家旅馆，培训红瑶瑶民说普通话和外语。旅游业的发展，为黄洛瑶寨农民带来了年人均一千八百余元的纯收入。

Huangluoyao Village is located inside the Longji Scenic Area, about 100km away from Guilin. It is reachable by coach buses 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 the Longji thirty villages.

In Huangluoyao Village, there live 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 meter. 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 tuft 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 child she has.

For Hongyao, Long hair stands for long life, wealth prosperous and auspicious. From about twelve they start to keep their hair long, 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 they get old, the secret lies in the wooden comb and special shampoo made of herbal and water used to wash rice.