American girl joins thousand-year-old song festival in Jianchuan

The annual Jianchuan Shibaoshan Song Festival was held in Shibao Mountain, Jianchuan County in west Yunnan’s Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture from August 27 to 29. And an American girl from the United States joined this year's event and sang songs in Bai language.

The Shibaoshan Song Festival dates back to more than 1,000 years ago. It is the cradle of the folk music of Bai people, and a platform for folk art exchange and inheritance.

According to the American girl, when she first came to Jianchuan ten years ago, she was enchanted by the Bai language and music. So she decided to stay and learn from local artists. Now she can not only speak the Bai language, but also sing the Bai tune.

As a traditional celebration as well as a collective exhibition of the folk customs in west Yunnan, the Shibaoshan Song Festival was inscribed into China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2008. When the event comes, tens of thousands of people gather in Shibao Mountain, singing, dancing, making friends and praying for good fortune. (Zhuang Junhua, Huang Xingneng)

Editor: John Li