The Second Wenchuan Ancient Qiang Festival of China was held on Saturday in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, which was the epicenter of the magnitude-8.0 earthuqkae last May 12.

The festival staged in the county's Sanguanmian Village by the Minjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River in its upper reaches and 18 kilometers from the county seat featured sheepskin drum beating, Qiang songs and dances.

In the festival's opening ceremony held on Saturday morning, plates were conferred to inheritors of the Qiang nationalisty's intangible cultural heritage, the Wenchuan Qiang Cultural Protection and Deveopment Research Institute of China was formally set up, and weavers of the Qiang ethnic group demonstrated their skills.

In the venue of the festival's opening ceremony, visitors could appreciate an exhibition featuring embroidery of the Qiang people in different periods.

The festival is aimed at showing the world that Wenchuan is still beautiful and the people of Wenchuan are protecting the ancient Qiang culture and rebuilding their spiritual homeland, said county magistrate Liao Min.

As early as in the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC), Qiang civilization was recorded in the oracle. The Qiang people built flat-topped stone hourses in the mountains and painted colored patterns on the wall. They lived on raising sheep and planting corn.

Sichuan is the major habitat of the Qiang people. Some 300,000 Qiang people live in Wenchuan, Beichuan and Maoxian, three Sichuan counties hard hit in last year's quake.

The quake killed 30,000 Qiang people, damaged Qiang houses and endangered the inheritage of its culture, Liao said.

Wenchuan, which is one of China's four counties inhabited by the Qiang people, has a population of more than 110,000. Twenty-seven of its residents are of the Qiang nationality.

The First Wenchuan Ancient Qiang Festival of China was held in the county's Luobu Qiang Village. The Second Wenchuan Ancient Qiang Festival of China planned to be held last June was postponed because the quake almost reduced the village into rubbles.

(chinadaily.com.cn May 17, 2009)