Continuing heritage

The Spring Festival ICH shows were also an opportunity for local arts and traditions to be passed down to the younger generation.

On Feb 20, artists from the village of Xugou in Qingxu county held a beigun performance at the Taiyuan Zoo in the provincial capital.

Beigun — the art of balancing someone on a rod attached to another's back — features young children standing on small metal plates about 2 meters off the ground. The rods are connected to harnesses worn by adults standing below.

The traditional performance is said to date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) when toddlers sat on the shoulders of adults to watch festivities during Lantern Festival. That inspired villagers in Xugou to dress young children in elaborate costumes and then be carried on the shoulders of their parents to perform on the streets.

Over the centuries, the once crude art form developed into a highly sought-after dance show that adds to the New Year excitement in the village. In recent decades, the art has gone beyond the village and has been performed throughout Shanxi and China.

The art attracts audience members as it is a unique performance combining theater, dancing and acrobatic arts. It was inscribed onto the national ICH list in 2008.

Liu Yunyu, 6, was among the young performers of the beigun show. Prior to the performance, she told her adult partner "I'm ready" with confidence.

The girl began to learn the art when she was 3. Over the past three years, she has perfectly mastered the skills of her part, like balancing in the air and dancing to the carrier's movement, according to her partner.