The eighth annual Mount Tai Shigandang cultural festival is being held in Tai'an, Shandong province from Sept 5-7.

Shigandang was according to legends a brave and strong man from Mount Tai who was renowned for warding off evil spirits. His spirit lives on today through an ornamental stone tablet engraved with the Chinese characters of Shigandang, which is often found erected at certain points on bridges and roads, or inlayed in the walls of houses across China.

The Shigandang customs of worshiping spiritual stones has long been a common belief for Chinese people, and was listed among the first batch of national intangible cultural heritages announced by the State Council in 2006.

Jointly organized by Tai'an's propaganda department and its tourism bureau, this year's cultural festival provides a variety of cultural activities for guests, including art exhibitions, a short video shooting competition on the short video app Douyin, experiential activities of traditional Chinese arts, and exhibitions of clay figurines of the 108 heroes in the Water Margin as well as paper-cutting works.

First held in September 2011, the annual Shigandang cultural festival has become an important part of the Mount Tai International Climbing Festival.

The opening ceremony of the eighth annual Mount Tai Shigandang cultural festival is held in Tai'an, Shandong province on Sept 5. [Photo/DZWWW.COM]