LONGJIA, China: Girls with large headpieces made from the hair of their ancestors and wearing intricately patterned dresses danced in isolated villages in southwest China to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Against a stunning mountain backdrop, dozens of girls and women of the Long Horn Miao ethnicity performed for the annual flower festival or ‘Tiaohuajie’, held in Guizhou province on Thursday.
Onlookers watched — smartphones in hand — as the women swirled across a meadow, wearing dresses and jackets embroidered with pink roses and geometric patterns.
But it was the towering black headdresses of the dancers that really stood out — made from wool, string and the hair of their ancestors, and wrapped around animal horns with white fabric.
“It’s really special to be at the center of attention like this. I feel quite proud,” said Yang Yunzheng, 16.
“We organize this festival once a year when we wear these headpieces. That doesn’t change with modernization.”
The Miao ethnic minority is made up of some nine million people, mostly found in China’s southwest. Of those, around 5,000 “Long Horn Miao” live in just a dozen isolated villages in Guizhou.
Their headpieces are passed down through generations and worn on a number of occasions to honor their ancestors and preserve their traditions.
The festival is held on the 10th day of the Lunar New Year.
Girls sport their ancestors’ hair for Lunar New year in China
Girls sport their ancestors’ hair for Lunar New year in China
- The headpieces are inherited and used in a number of occasions
- They are made from wool, string and the of ancestors, all wrapped around animals horns using white fabric
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
