The third of March in the Chinese lunar calendar is the birthday of the legendary North Emperor. It falls on April 11 this year and local people in Guangzhou Liwan District's Pantang held a temple fair to celebrate the tradition.

Over 30 lion dancing troupes from Guangzhou and neighbouring cities of Nanhai and Panyu performed at the fair and Cantonese Opera fans also hit on the stage to entertain the audiences. This year's event attracted nearly 20,000 citizens and tourists. Citizens said they quite appreciated the performance.

The event funding about 200,000 yuan was all raised by the Pantang community. Local people told us why they wanted to hold the temple fair, 'We want to carry on the tradition. If we stop holding the traditional event, the traditions will gradually disappear. The good thing is when we posted the notice of fund raising, many people forwardly came to donate money. We didn't even need to have a meeting to mobilize the people.'

Editor: Catherine

Editor: Catherine