Girls from the Long Horn Miao, a branch of the Miao ethnic minority group, taking part in the annual flower festival or "Tiaohuajie" in the village of Longjia in China's Guizhou province to celebrate Chinese New Year. The dozens of dancers stood out with their towering black headdresses - made from wool, string and the hair of their ancestors, and wrapped around animal horns with white fabric. The Miao ethnic minority is made up of some nine million people, found mostly in China's south-west. Of those, around 5,000 "Long Horn Miao" live in a dozen isolated villages in Guizhou. Their headpieces are passed down through generations and worn on a number of occasions to honour their ancestors and preserve their traditions.