Foreigners celebrate Chinese New Year in Yulin City: learning Northern Shaanxi Folk Song and Yangko

YULIN, China, March 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from Yulin Media Center:

On the 14th day of the first lunar month, a group of international visitors arrived at the Northern Shaanxi Folk Song Museum. Wang Zhixing, a professional folk singer, started the cultural tour with his impromptu singing. Northern Shaanxi folk songs, with high-pitched tunes and lingering rhymes, have been sung for generations on this land. From work chants to love duets, from weddings and funerals to festivals and rituals, Northern Shaanxi folk songs are a true reflection of the people's emotions. In 2006, they were included in the first batch of China's National Intangible Cultural Heritage List. After listening to the song, a foreigner said: "this song shows the beauty of China, I do not understand but can feel everything."

At the Yulin Folk Art Research Institute, a group of artists are making final preparations for the 2025 National Yangko Performance Exhibition. Originated from the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shaanbei Yangko is an entertainment combined dance, opera performances and folk rituals for farmers in their leisure time, which shows the optimism of Loess Plateau people. In 2008, Northern Shaanxi Yangko was included in China's National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

There are not only Yangko teams from all over China, but folk art troupes from Bulgaria, Thailand, South Korea and Russia in Yulin Lantern Festival in 2025. This fusion of Eastern and Western cultures gave new life to the ancient Shaanxi Yangko. Foreigners commented: "I like their performance and dancing, because it was amazing. The collective celebration of the Chinese New Year breaks the Western model of family-style festivals." By participating in Yangko parade, foreigners not only appreciated the charm of intangible cultural heritage, but also understood the deeper significance of cultural inheritance. "The cultural self-confidence reflected in the eyes of performers lets us see 5,000 years of civilisation. I respect and love this culture".

From the soundscape of the Folk Song Museum to the immersive experience of street Yangko, Yulin has built cross-cultural bridges with intangible cultural heritage arts for friends at home and abroad. These leaping notes and dance steps are vivid Chinese New Year gift, as well as the code for the world to understand the culture on this land, injecting new era vitality into Northern Shaanxi intangible cultural heritage.

source: Yulin Media Center