Methodology

How We Verify Event Dates

Every date on our events calendar is computed, sourced, and dated, never typed by hand. This page explains how, and lists every correction we have made.

How dates are computed

Most Yangshuo festivals follow the Chinese lunar calendar, so their Gregorian (Western) date shifts every year. We never type a Gregorian date by hand. Instead, each event's underlying lunar day (or solar term, for events like the Winter Solstice) is stored, and the Gregorian date is computed at build time by a tested conversion module. A lint rule rejects any event file that contains a hand-typed Gregorian date.

In years where a lunar month occurs twice (a "leap month"), each event specifies which occurrence to use, and that choice is documented.

Source tiers

Tier A: Primary / official

Municipal or provincial government portals (yangshuo.gov.cn, gxzf.gov.cn), culture bureaus, Xinhua, Guangxi Daily, or the organizing body itself.

Tier B: Chinese encyclopedic / academic / local news

Chinese-language encyclopedic entries (Baidu Baike, Wikipedia), regional news portals, intangible-cultural-heritage registers, local lifestyle portals.

Tier C: Secondary / aggregator

English-language travel guides, general aggregators, commercial tour operators. An event is never published on Tier C sources alone.

An event is never published on Tier C sources alone. "Officially confirmed" status requires a Tier A source dated within the current calendar year; without one, the badge reads "Traditional date: not yet confirmed" even if the date itself is confidently computed.

What the status badges mean

officially_confirmed

At least one Tier A source dated within the current calendar year confirms this year's programme.

traditional_recurring

The date is computed from a documented lunar/solar-term rule, but no current-year Tier A announcement exists yet.

dates_tbc

The organizer announces exact dates shortly before the event (e.g. an annual sports festival); no fixed calendar rule exists.

discontinued

Documented as no longer held.

Currently low-confidence events

These events are published with a "low" confidence rating because a key source could not be independently verified (blocked access, unreachable server, or only one source found for a high-impact claim). Each event page lists the specific limitation under "Sources".

Correction log

Every substantive change to an event's facts, sourcing, or status is logged here, most recent first.

Migrated from the hardcoded array. Corrected unverified '500 participants/30 nations' claim (actual Tier A figure: 300+, 4 countries named) and location (Gaotian Town, not West Street).

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Migrated from the hardcoded array. Specified the exact Guanyin observance day (9/19, enlightenment not birthday), corrected 'sacrificial rites' to incense/temple ceremony, added 对山歌. Confidence kept low pending human verification of two blocked/unreachable sources.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Migrated from the hardcoded array with heavy caveats. Corrected 'hundreds of bamboo rafts' claim, flagged contradictory date claims (May-June commercial package vs lunar 8/15 folk claim), flagged for possible reclassification off the events calendar.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration, could not confirm this is a genuine dated public festival.

Migrated from the hardcoded array. Switched date_basis from a hand-typed Gregorian date to a computed solar_term. Corrected '2,000 years' to '2,500 years' with two Tier A sources. Removed unsupported Banyan Tree Yangshuo venue name.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Migrated from the hardcoded array. Confirmed as a genuinely distinct festival via a Tier A municipal-newspaper source; flagged the 1999 founding year as weakly (not firmly) sourced.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Migrated from the hardcoded array. Corrected name/translation (十成节/十月香, not 'October Sweetness'), added deity names and temple, separated the masked 傩舞 from the dragon/lion dance. Exact lunar day flagged as an inference, not a confirmed fact.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Renamed from 'Folk Song Singing Festival' to 'Mid-Autumn Moonrise at Moon Hill'. Removed unsupported Zhuang courtship-song claim; kept sourced moon-viewing/lantern-riddle/lion-dance/lantern-making activities.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration, core claim of the original event could not be verified.

Migrated from the hardcoded array in EventCalendarPage.jsx to the new event data model. Removed unsupported 'Yangshuo Park' dragon-dance claim, replaced with sourced Xingping grass-dragon-dance and West Street parade info, added firecracker-zone restriction detail.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Migrated from the hardcoded array. Corrected venue from fictitious 'Lijiang Opera House' to outdoor Li River venues. Confirmed event is real and well-documented, kept status dates_tbc since 2026 dates are not yet announced.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Migrated from the hardcoded array. Corrected deity names, food description (三酿), and activity list; dropped unsupported tiger-dance/floats/films/competitions claims; added Qing-dynasty origin dating.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Migrated from the hardcoded array in EventCalendarPage.jsx. Corrected location from 'Li River & Yulong River' to Yulong River only. Softened unconfirmed zongzi-in-river ritual claim.

Reason: Fact-check audit during event data model migration.

Migrated from the hardcoded array in EventCalendarPage.jsx to the new event data model. Name corrected from 'Baisha Guanyu Festival' to 白沙试新节 (current local name per source). '抢花炮'/fireworks-show description corrected to 抢炮. 'Horseback parades' claim removed (no source coverage found). Triennial cycle added as a caveat (previously presented as an annual event without qualification). Status kept at 'traditional_recurring' with confidence 'low' due to the missing Tier A source.

Reason: Fact-check audit during pilot migration to a verifiable event data model.

Report an error

Every event card has a "Report an error" link. You can also contact us directly, mentioning the event name or ID.

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