Local folk dance takes center stage

At the opening ceremony of the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, the warm-up performance featured the Mulberry Leaf Dragon from Deqing county and the Bamboo Leaf Dragon from Anji county, both in Zhejiang province, which were impressively showcased at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium.

As a Zhejiang provincial-level intangible cultural heritage, the Mulberry Leaf Dragon has become a significant representation of local folk culture.

Tang Yongming, the deputy secretary of the village Party committee, explained that this dragon is 22 meters long with a total of 11 parts. Its body is woven from bamboo strips, and it is so named because the scales are shaped like mulberry leaves. The 16 members of the Mulberry Leaf Dragon performance team are all local villagers who have been learning the dragon dance since childhood.

The program Dragon Soars in the Bamboo Sea presented by Anji county is also a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage.

It involved 35 performers with disabilities from the county's Disabled People's Federation Art Troupe.

The performance is based on Anji's bamboo culture and the Bamboo Leaf Dragon, incorporating over 20 bamboo musical instruments, such as pipe organs, flutes and drums.

The team's instructor, Gan Huifen, said, "All the performers prepared diligently, rehearsing for over three months, striving to deliver their best performance."