The Maolong Festival of the Gelao ethnic group, a national intangible cultural heritage, was recently held in Shiqian, southwest China's Guizhou Province, to celebrate the upcoming Lantern Festival, a traditional Chinese festival celebrated on the 15th day of the first month of the traditional Chinese calendar, which falls on February 12 this year.
Sixty-eight local teams joined the Maolong Festival with more than 10,000 spectators to greet the Lantern Festival in Shiqian’s unique celebrations to convey wishes for a good harvest.
The Maolong Festival, as a folk custom of the Gelao ethnic group to celebrate the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, dates back to the Tang Dynasty over 1,000 years ago and is prevalent among the ethnic villages in Shiqian. It was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.