Little people's tall story

They may be small in stature but these children are big news in the village of Nantianmen.

The youngsters are stilt-walkers and their boisterous performance grabbed the attention of the whole village in Fusong county, Jilin province on Jan 31, the fourth day of the Spring Festival.

The children, who performed with exaggerated movements and vivid facial expressions, are all aged around 10.

Nantianmen is known for its long tradition of stilt-walking, but in recent years most young adults have left the village and found jobs in cities. So it is left to the elderly and children who remain to walk on stilts and perform the customary yanko dance during the Spring Festival.

The children's stilt-walking team was established last year and is made up of 18 children, aged 7 to 16, says Wang Xiaodong, Party secretary of the village.

Zhuang Shumiao, 10, is head of the team. She learned stilt-walking from her grandmother Wang Zhenmei, who is best stilt-walker in the village.

"Whenever I listen to the drum and music, I want to put on the stilts. This folk art has to be passed on," says Wang.

(China Daily European Weekly 02/10/2017 page4)