[Photo/ Lin Jian]

[Photo/ Lin Jian]

[InKunming--Yunnan] Songming, a county administered by Kunming, has been titled the county of Chinese dragon and lion dance.

Staw dragon dance, which had been performed in the locality for over 120 years, is listed as an intangible cultural heritage.

In each year when Lantern Festival comes, Songming county will organize a dragon and lion dance competition. This year, 36 teams from places of Kunming joined into the competition.

[Photo/ Lin Jian]

[Photo/ Lin Jian]

[Photo/ Lin Jian]

The most attractive team among all the competitors is a famous team firstly established in Songming in 1982, and composed of 10 old-aged grandmas.

Among all team members, the oldest grandma is 83 years old, and the youngest one is 69 years old now.

Except for the team members’ age, another feature of the team is these grandmas’ bound feet, namely lotus feet.

[Photo/ Lin Jian]

[Photo/ Lin Jian]

[Photo/ Lin Jian]

Foot binding was a sign of old Chinese custom in which young girls' feet were tightly bound to restrict and alter the feet’s growth.

Although the team’s grandmas’ feet are not bound now, they can still wear beautiful embroidered satin shoes to compete the traditional straw dragon dance robustly and forcefully on Lanmao square in Songming.

Click here to view Chinese report.

　　　 (Editors: Cathy Chen, Tracy)