Chinese cultural gala on National Mall

The annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival draws more than 1 million visitors to the National Mall in Washington. This year, China and Kenya were invited to participate.

Despite hot weather, opening day on Wednesday attracted enormous interest from visitors who discovered the rich cultural heritage from the Asian and African nations.

The festival, which runs until June 29 and then resumes on July 2 to July 6, has something for every age group.

Children can watch a puppet show, music lovers can listen to a performce by the Zhejiang Wu Opera or the pristine Dimen Dong Folk Chorus. And there were Chinese cooking demonstrations. Craftsmen from China will also make paper cuts, New Year's prints, clay figurines, kites, embroidery, batiks, porcelain and sachets that are used during annual celebrations. Some 120 Chinese artists and craftsmen are participating in the festival.

GREETINGS! At the entrance to the festival, a classical Chinese saying welcomed visitors, which translates in English to: "Good good study; day day up." The aphorism means study hard and make progress every day. Lin Meng / For China Daily

STITCH BY STITCH Liu Xingxiu, an embroidery artist of the ethnic Qiang group from southwest China's Sichuan province, does her needle work. Chen Weihua / China Daily

ON WITH THE SHOW! From left: Michael Atwood Mason, director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage; Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; Lu Kang, deputy chief of mission of the Chinese embassy in Washington; a Kenyan representative; Richard Kurin, under-secretary for history, art and culture at the Smithsonian Institution; Robert Vogel, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, National Park Service; and Sabrina Lynn Motley, director of the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival were on stage to open the 48th Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington on Wednesday. Chen Weihua / China Daily

SHARING SECRETS A Chinese folk craftworker (right) demonstrates how to make sachet. Lin Meng / For China Daily

HITTING HIGH NOTES Zhejiang Wu Opera Troupe members perform at the opening ceremony of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Chen Weihua / China Daily

SEWING SOLES Two ethnic Dong singers, from the Dimen Dong Folk Chorus of southwest China's Guizhou province, took the time to stitch traditional soles before the festival's opening ceremony. Stitched soles with traditional patterns are traditionally used as gifts. Chen Weihua / China Daily

FAMILY FUN Families with their children are having fun at the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington. Lin Meng / For China Daily

(China Daily USA 06/27/2014 page13)