Keeper of old times

A city offers daily glimpses of an ancient lifestyle that is rarely visible in modern China. Wang Kaihao reports from Qingzhou, Shandong province.

While on an electric-car ride through the alleys of ancient Qingzhou city in eastern China's Shandong province, I became a time-traveler - enjoying folk music, dance shows and traditional handicraft. Nearly 400,000 tourists from different parts of the country visited the attraction during the National Day week earlier this month. Qingzhou draws tourists because it still offers daily glimpses of an ancient lifestyle that most other modern cities in China no longer do. Mobile barber shops, dough sculptures portraying the Monkey King and old street-style selling of goods, are some of the typically traditional aspects of life on display here.

Zhao Lianju, 64, has learned bajiaogu (drum) singing of the ethnic Manchu people. The singing, which dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was taught to him by his grandfather when he was a child. Now, he wears a traditional long gown and uses a snakeskin tabor while performing.