Marriage customs (Yao marriage customs), folk customs of the Ba Pai Yao in Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Guangdong Province, are one of the national intangible cultural heritages. Pai Yao is a unique branch of the Yao ethnic group, and has settled in Liannan area for more than 1,000 years. The marriage customs of the Ba Pai Yao are unique folk customs formed and developed by the local Yao people in the long historical process. The Yao marriage customs are representative of oriental marriage customs. The Yao marriage customs are divided into five processes: engagement, recognition of relatives, selection of auspicious dates, wedding ceremony, and return to the parents' home, which fully reflects the national culture and living customs of the Yao ethnic group. Pai Yao is a unique branch of the Yao nationality, and has settled in Liannan area for more than 1,000 years. In the "Mo Yao Song" written by Liu Yuxi, the governor of Lianzhou during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, it is said that "Mo Yao grew up naturally, and their names are not recorded in the books. They trade with mermaids in the market, and marry woodcutters. They occupy the springs and light fire on the mountain ridges. They cross the Qianren River at night, and cannot shoot sand." Yuan Yongxi's "Lianzhou Chronicle" in the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty recorded that "there are eight rows of cave Yao in Lian, and they are located in the mountains." The Yao marriage customs are representative of the oriental marriage customs. The Yao marriage customs are divided into five processes: engagement, recognition of relatives, selection of auspicious days, wedding ceremony, and return to the parents' home, which fully reflects the Yao nationality's national culture and living customs. The marriage proposal between Pai Yao men and women can be arranged by their parents, which is called "engagement", or the young men and women can fall in love freely. The young man can express his love to the girl he likes by singing, which is called "Ou Sha Yao" in the Yao language. Men and women who are in love will give each other tokens of love. The girl will give her own embroidered flower hanging bags or belts, and the boy will give earrings, silver hairpins, bracelets and other ornaments in return. The man can ask a matchmaker to propose to the girl. On the day of engagement, he will prepare gifts such as meat, wine, fried tofu, chicken, etc. and send them to the girl's family, and invite uncles and other relatives. After the engagement, the "Mr. Gong" will choose the day for recognition. After obtaining the consent of the girl, he will use three taels and six coins of silver, pork, rice wine, fried tofu, etc. as recognition gifts. Both parties will invite relatives and friends, and the marriage cannot be regretted from then on. The marriage date is decided by the "Mr. Gong" based on the Pai Yao date selection book and the birthdays of both parties. It is usually between the 16th day of the 10th lunar month and the 28th day of the 12th lunar month. Before the marriage, the girl to be married should embroider flower clothes, flower skirts, flower headscarves at home, and prepare dowry, etc. On the night before the wedding, the groom needs to bring gifts to the girl's house, and the bride will fry soybeans and make strong tea to entertain him. After bidding farewell to the groom, the bride invites her sisters and ex-boyfriends to eat fried soybeans and sing separation songs until dawn. On the wedding day, after offering sacrifices to the ancestors, the bride is led out of the house by the groom's uncle, and the matchmaker leads the way with a rooster on a bamboo pole. On the way, whenever they cross a bridge or a river, the groom must carry the bride on his back. When they arrive at the entrance of the man's village, singers block the way and sing songs. After several rounds, the wedding procession can enter the village. The "Mr. Gong" holds an exorcism ceremony for the bride at the door of the man's house before they can enter the hall. The bride must burn incense to the ancestors before she can be introduced to the elders and relatives at home. The newlyweds must hold a wedding banquet for three consecutive days, and the bride and groom are not allowed to - , respectively, with the best man and bridesmaid. After the third day of "returning to face", they can start normal married life. The Yao ethnic group's marriage customs are widely popular and folk-inherited, and have important reference value for studying their ethnic origins, history, social production and life, and religious beliefs. The wedding customs contain a lot of traditional folk arts of the Pai Yao people, such as folk songs such as the entrance song, the wedding song, the wedding farewell song, and the moral songs, and the colorful embroidered costumes of the bride and groom, all of which have high artistic and appreciation value. In November 2014, the wedding customs (Yao wedding customs) declared by Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Guangdong Province were approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to be included in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list (No.: -139).