During festivities, it is common to see Zhuang male and females dressed in their customary best noir attire. While the color black is traditionally reserved for somber occasions in foreign cultures, black holds a different meaning for this community. In ancient times, this tribe worshipped the sun as a godlike entity. To be blessed by the sun was a privilege. As the strong rays of the sun turned people dark, the ancient Zhuang dressed in black as a reflection of their desire to receive fortuitous blessings from the sun.

　　Black was also their choice of daily wear for more practical reasons. Most Zhuang were rice farmers and worked all day in the wet paddy fields. The black color camouflaged the mud and dirt easily. In any case, the black dye was easy to make because it came from a mixture of two plants that grew abundantly in southwest Yunnan: Lan dian cao, which produces a blue-black color when mashed; and teng - a vine that produces a reddish-brown sap. Families could easily prepare the black dye at home any time. At one point, during the time of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1616-1911) dynasties in particular, the color black also became a way to discriminate the lower class from the privileged class. Central authorities of this period decreed that only the upper classes could wear colorful clothes; common villagers and slaves could only wear the colors black or blue.

　　Then, rich landowners and powerful herdsmen frequently exploited them because of their low social position as humble farmers or slaves. In fact, several uprisings by the Zhuang from the Tang to the Qing dynasties were the result of unbearable oppression by the ruling classes. The Zhuang have come a long way since those gloomy days. Over 20 universities and colleges have sprung up in this region of Guangxi over the last four decades; with Guangxi Ethnic Institute alone producing several thousand Zhuangs graduates in recent years.