A young contestant wearing the traditional Chinese costume performs the art of guzheng playing during the first guzheng art festival held in Wuxi, on July 3. [Photo/wxrb.com]

Even the heavy rain couldn't drown out Wuxi's inaugural guzheng art festival which kicked off on July 3, according to Wuxi Daily.

The two-day festival attracted roughly a thousand participants from cities including Wuxi, Nanjing, Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Wenzhou and Changsha to show their skills on the guzheng, a traditional Chinese plucked musical string instrument.

In addition to the guzheng invitational, a grand guzheng performance by some well-known artists wearing traditional Chinese costumes also served as a highlight of the festival.

Huang Yu, chairman of the municipal guzheng association, said that there are currently more than 5,000 guzheng lovers in the city, and that more and more teenagers consider the guzheng as their preferred choice when learning traditional instruments.