Located in northwest China's Loess Plateau, Ansai is widely known for its unique folk art — the waist drum dance — a large-scale folk dance with a history of over 2,000 years.

In Ansai, the waist drum dance has become a part of everyday life. Almost everyone in Ansai can play waist drums. Incredible dance skills also seem to be in their genes.

In recent years, Ansai has made efforts to boost cultural tourism by integrating it with local folk arts. As a result, a cultural village, featuring waist drum performances and folk customs, opened to public in May last year.

Ansai villager Zhou Zhisai, 45, learned how to play waist drum from his grandfather at the age of 8. When he was 15, Zhou left Ansai and started to make a living from countrywide drum dance performances. Now, he is a professional performer, who teaches dance part-time.

Last year, after the founding of the cultural village, Zhou ended 30 years of vagrant life and returned to his hometown with his wife, who is also a top waist drum dancer.

Now Zhou and his wife Li Gaihong perform together in the village on a regular basis. According to Zhou, their family income has become more stable. Zhou's wife Li adds that after moving back, it's more convenient for her to take care of her two children.

Zhou and his wife are not alone. The cultural village has created over 100 new jobs and 2,000 part-time job opportunities for local villagers in Ansai.

The manager of the cultural village Zhang Guangjun introduces that "Ansai has a profound history and rich culture. We built this cultural village to explore the intersection between culture and poverty reduction." Zhang believes this approach will help transform the lives of local people.

The cultural village has attracted more than 600,000 visitors during the past year. Zhang says, they are preparing more interesting live performances to attract visitors this summer.

Ansai is trying its best to fight against poverty while preserving traditional folk art. In the cultural village, other than watching waist drum dances, tourists can also learn how to make waist drums and cut papers in the Ansai style.