锦绣华南 9

Like most Miao dwellings, the Songs' living room windows look out over the paddy fields.

From early spring, one of these windows is always left open to let the swallows come and go freely.

Each year,

granddad Gu notes the exact day the swallows return.

Miao people believe the birds' arrival predicts the timing of the season ahead.

This year, they were late.

So Gu and the other community elders have agreed that rice planting should be delayed accordingly.

As the Miao prepare their fields for planting,

the swallows collect mud to repair their nests and chase after insects across the newly ploughed paddies.