Huangluo village in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in China is home to descendants of the Yao ethnicity. The women here are characterised by their red embroidered dress and their long hair, which is long enough to have their home recognised as the “world’s longest hair village” by Guinness World Records. To 51-year-old Pan Jifeng, the long hair that women of the Yao ethnic group have kept for generations is a symbol of auspiciousness. “We do not cut our hair from birth. When we reach the age of 18, we get our first haircut as part of a coming-of-age ceremony, which signifies that the girl is now an adult and can marry. The hair cut off at the ceremony is not to be thrown away, but preserved. After marriage and childbirth, this section of the hair is weaved and worn in the form of a hairpin so to speak, as a distinction between married and unmarried women,” Pan said.