Dragon dances fire up enthusiasm

The Baiye dragon dance has stamped a route to grand occasions, including the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last year. It has also represented Zhejiang in international cultural events, including those in Russia, New Zealand, France and South Korea.

Gu reminisces about the diverse dragon dance forms he witnessed at the Huizhou parade, which consisted of 18 dragon shows that have been granted national intangible cultural heritage status and a performance from Hong Kong and Macao, respectively, complemented by 31 provincial intangible cultural performances from Guangdong.

"It speaks volumes about the country's rich heritage of dragon dances," he says.

More than 1,200 performers joined the parade along a 3.6-kilometer route, attracting more than 150,000 onlookers. More than 18 million people watched the parade online. The event was co-hosted by the intangible cultural heritage department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Guangdong provincial culture and tourism bureau and the Huizhou government, and aimed to create a festive atmosphere to celebrate the Chinese New Year and strengthen the promotion, interpretation and inheritance of traditional Chinese culture.

Venezuelan vlogger Rafael Saavedra got a good understanding of the festivities during the parade.

"Seeing teams from different provinces, I feel the diversity and fascination of Chinese culture," says Saavedra, who now lives in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

"I've fallen in love with the profound and vast traditional culture of China, and this is what I want to share with other countries around the world," he says.