Folk cultural performances such as a long drum dance, rattle stick dance, bamboo pole dance, and Xianglong dance, which utilizes a straw-made dragon inserted with incense sticks, were among the highlights animating the 2nd Matzu Cultural Festival of Pingle county on May 3.

Nearly 1,000 visitors joined people of the local Yao ethnic group to celebrate the culture of Matzu and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China amid the pounding drums and blazing trumpets.

People of the Yao ethnic group perform a Xianglong dance, spotlighting the straw-made dragon inserted with incense sticks, at the 2nd Matzu Cultural Festival of Pingle county. [Photo provided to en.gxzf.gov.cn]

Matzu, also known as Tin Hau and Mazu, is a legendary goddess of the Southern Sea revered by worshippers for bringing wellbeing, prosperity, and favorable weather.

With a history of nearly 1,800 years, Guilin's Pingle county is steeped in folk culture. It is now home to eight autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritages and 15 municipal intangible cultural heritages.

A long drum dance is performed at the 2nd Matzu Cultural Festival of Pingle county. [Photo provided to en.gxzf.gov.cn]

In recent years, the county has made great strides in the protection of intangible cultural heritages by extracting their essence, making innovations on their content, and promoting them on platforms such as the Matzu Cultural Festival.

In 2018, Pingle was committed to developing countryside tours centered on ecology and folk culture. The number of visitors it welcomed last year increased by 96.34 percent to 2.45 million , with local tourist revenue rising by 94.47 percent to 2.18 billion yuan ($323.7 million).