Kedao (record by carving) of the Miao minority, also called the marital song there, is a kind of Miao toast song in Shibing County. The general content of the song is carved on the cylinder bamboo or wood club and the Miao people would hold it and sing, hence its name. Kedao is popular mainly in Shibing County, Guizhou, which is also the most ancient sign in existence for recording events among the Miao minority in China.
Simple and colloquial in language, the marital song features its strong flavor of life as well as rich and magnificent imagination. It mainly describes a girl of Miao minority who dares to pursue love and freedom, displaying the Miao people's persistent pursuit and longing for blissful marriage. Gentle and full of repetition, the song is very popular for all the time. In the marital tradition of Miao ethnic group, people will sing the marital song in turn and the one who fails to continue would be punished to drink wine. With tens of thousands of lines and rich contents, the Miao ancestors had to record the song by carving it on the song club similar to the flute in size in the form of a catalogue. Some people would insert it in their sleeves so that they can touch the club to remind themselves in case they forget the lyrics.
The Miao marital song came into existence after the transition from maternal clan society to the paternal clan society in Miao Minority. It records the marital source, its evolvement and progress in the form of the toast song, thus it is called the "living fossil of the Miao marriage" by the ethnologists and experts on folklore.