Yan'an waist drummers to perform nationwide by high-speed train

A waist drum team from Yan'an, an old revolutionary base in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, took a high-speed train directly to Beijing for the first time in January 2026 to promote local folk art and culture in the Chinese capital.

Ahead of the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 17 this year, the high-speed rail line that connects Yan'an and Beijing via Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi, were put into service on Jan 26, just before the festival travel rush.

Before they went to Beijing, the waist drum performers in Zhaojia'an Village of Yan'an's Baota District had raced against time to rehearse.

Gao Saidong, the team leader, said that their performance had been fully scheduled during the Spring Festival holiday.

The trip to Beijing excited a veteran performer, Cao Yuanliang, Gao's master. At the age of 58, Cao rarely performs on stage now, but upon hearing that the team is going to perform in Beijing this time, he perked up again.

"We Yan'an people look up to Beijing. We have always kept this feeling in our minds since childhood, so whenever we talk about going to Beijing, we are happy and excited," said Cao.

When Cao went to Beijing for the first time in 1988 for performance, he toured by bus, which took him two days and one night. This time he feels much more reassured as he could travel by high-speed train. He already felt the vitality the Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway brought to Yan'an beginning on the first day of 2026 as many tourists took it to the city to enjoy their New Year holiday, according to Cao.

Upon hearing that a new train service from Yan'an to Beijing would be launched on Jan 26, Cao and his apprentices decided to take the train to Beijing.

"I want to tell our friends in Beijing that Yan'an not only boasts of old revolutionary sites and the Loess Plateau, but also has a new high-speed railway station. Now we Yan'an people are living a very prosperous life," said Cao.

The team embarked on their trip to Beijing aboard the G359 train at 08:39 on Jan 26.

Gao said he felt glad that his team could be busier this year as the high-speed railway facilitates their performance tour.

"I will go to Beijing twice more before Feb 5. We will perform at the Great Hall of the People on Feb 5. And during the Spring Festival holiday, I have to travel to Hangzhou and Chengdu. In the past when we went to Shanghai to perform at the Shanghai Tourism Festival, it took us 25 hours by train. Now, it takes only nine hours to get to Shanghai," said Gao.

After more than five hours of ride, the team arrived in Beijing. They dressed themselves up on the train as they would give a performance as soon as they get off the train.

"Look! We are ready. We can beat our drums as soon as we get off board," said Cao.

"The General Secretary said in his New Year message that 'when the happy hum of daily life fills every home, the big family of our nation will go from strength to strength.' Our waist drum team feels it has changed greatly every time we come to Beijing. This time I feel that we people from old revolutionary bases get closer and closer to Beijing. Our drums will be beaten louder and louder, and our life will be better and better," said Gao.

Yan'an waist drummers to perform nationwide by high-speed train

Displaced Palestinians in Egypt expressed hope of reuniting with loved ones after news of the Rafah border reopening, with the chance to reunite with family stirring both hope and painful memories of the war that tore them apart.

Egyptian authorities said tens of thousands of Palestinians have registered for two-way travel through the Rafah border crossing, though the permitted number of daily trips remains unknown.

Nearly a year has passed since Omar Zerib and his wife Hanin escaped the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Now settled in Al Arish, Egypt, Omar remembers with vivid clarity the day the onslaught began.

"I used to own a piece of land, that's where I worked from morning to night. On the morning of Oct 7, when we arrived at the land, we could see rockets flying everywhere. My neighbor was shot dead about 100 meters from where I was standing. His family were all martyred. I collected their remains myself to bury them," he said.

In May 2025, the couple got approval to accompany Zerib's critically ill parents for treatment to Egypt, leaving behind several family members.

"Contacting our relatives in Gaza is extremely difficult. It's nearly impossible because of internet and phone disruptions. Maybe every 10 to 15 days we would be able to contact," Zerib said.

Seeking treatment in Egypt, kidney patient Yasser Mahmoud longs for his sister to join him from Gaza once the border reopens. The war has already taken his son, a loss that shadows his family's flight from home.

"My son was martyred, my house was destroyed, the future of my children is unknown. All that we had been building is suddenly gone. In a minute. Everything just went away," he said.

For Mahmoud, the border offers a chance to reunite with his sister and children in Egypt. For Zerib, it is a path back to Gaza, where he dreams of rebuilding the life that was torn apart.

Displaced Palestinians eager to reunite with families amid Rafah border reopening