Meet Gulpiya Jelili, princess of the tightrope

URUMQI - As the brisk sound of fingers plucking the rawap, a traditional Uygur musical instrument, echoes across the room, 10-year-old Gulpiya Jelili flexes her foot and begins to dance along an rope 18 millimeters in diameter that's suspended in the air.

The performance is called dawaz, or aerial tightrope walking, a traditional form of acrobatics in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The performer holds a balancing pole, tiptoes along a rope and performs various movements, including walking, lying down and jumping.

Dawaz has been protected by the State Council, China's Cabinet, which added it to the national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2006.