A series of grand performances embracing China's intangible cultural heritage, staged in anticipation of the upcoming Spring Festival, have ignited joyful spirits across the country and boosted domestic tourism.
The Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, is the most important traditional holiday in China. This year, it falls on February 17, ushering in the Year of the Horse.
In Wuyuan County, east China's Jiangxi Province, a series of Spring Festival folk activities has been rolled out.
Among the performances was a bench dragon dance, in which wooden benches are connected and filled with lanterns to form a long, flexible, and glowing dragon. Also featured were carp lantern parades, molten iron flower performances and fireworks shows, drawing visitors from across the country to experience the festive charm.
"I didn't expect to see so many intangible cultural heritage performances. They were truly impressive, especially the traditional Nuo opera, fish lantern parades and molten iron flower shows. They are very local and give a strong sense of bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new one. The Spring Festival atmosphere is really great," said a tourist named Tian Kexin.
Further east, a grand drone show lit up the night sky of Pinghu City, Zhejiang Province on Saturday evening.
Some 700 drones rose into the air above Donghu Lake, continuously shifting formations to present vivid images, offering visitors a visually stunning, technology-driven spectacle.
In Taixing City, east China's Jiangsu Province, a unique and traditional fishing performance attracted visitors from neighboring cities. Alongside the waters, local people dressed in traditional clothes and danced to music as they pulled on a large net.
As part of the festivities, the fish that were caught during the performance were later enjoyed as food.
"It fills me with joy and brings back cherished childhood memories. Catching fish and hauling in the nets truly captures the spirit of the New Year," said local resident Zhao Yijie.
At a Spring Festival Intangible Cultural Heritage event in Taixing's Zhangqiao Town, children learned traditional sugar-figurine blowing techniques under the guidance of heritage inheritors, creating lifelike sugar horses.
Sugar painting experiences were also popular, with children posing for photos with their works to capture joyful moments of the 2026 Spring Festival.
Folk activities light up China ahead of Spring Festival
Folk activities light up China ahead of Spring Festival
South China's Guangdong Province is accelerating its transformation into an international medical tourism hub, positioning itself as a destination for patients worldwide seeking affordable, high-quality care.
The push follows a joint initiative announced in late March by nine Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, aimed at boosting spending by foreign tourists and enhancing exports of tourism services as part of broader efforts to expand the country's service sector.
Every day, some of the most complex surgeries are performed here. Li Zilun, deputy director of the division of vascular surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat‑sen University, is among the doctors capable of carrying out these intricate procedures.
He recently completed surgery on a patient with an aortic aneurysm, a condition often described as a "time bomb" in the body’s main artery, increasingly common in aging societies around the globe. Li also specializes in highly difficult and pioneering procedures, including repairing leaks caused by failed grafts.
"This was a very challenging case. And then, we implanted the covered stent to eliminate the endoleak. Actually, the outcome was pretty good. The patient will be discharged today," said Li Zilun.
The ability to handle such complex cases -- combining international techniques with domestically produced devices -- is drawing patients from around the world to seek treatment. In addition, high safety standards and low costs are also major draws.
"Our government is encouraging innovation. So, lots of physicians -- including our vascular surgeons -- we are actively involved in the innovation that helps to increase the effectiveness and safety, and also bring down the cost," said Li.
This hospital is one of the first in Guangdong to be designated by the provincial health commission as a pilot site for building an international medical service hub.
The growing number of patients has pushed the hospital to explore new ways to transform every step -- from treatment to payment and everything in between -- into a seamless experience, reducing waiting times and delivering better care for patients.
"I think it's fast. When the patient come here for just about, I think, one week, you can solve the problem," said Xiao Haipeng, president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.
The hospital is also deepening its international cooperation with top-tier medical institutions, including those at Harvard University.
"Not just for China, for the whole globe, we are facing health care challenges -- emerging infectious disease and chronic, lung infectious diseases, and also the aging population, also the shortage of healthcare workforce," said Xiao.
In response to these challenges, China is promoting its own solutions, including aggressive innovation in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven workflows, while stepping up research and development investment and global engagement along the way.
"In recent years, the innovation in Western medicine is dramatically growing. An example of my hospital -- in the past few years, we have 140 innovations and seven of them are international leading innovations," said Xiao.
As global demand for medical tourism grows, China is positioning itself as a new destination. Official data shows that the number of foreign patients in Guangdong increased by 20 percent last year. Among them, the growth in inpatient admissions was even faster, rising by 76 percent.
Guangdong fast-tracks pilot for int'l medical service hub
