The 36th Tourism Naadam Festival kicked off in the Xilin Gol League of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Saturday, blending traditional nomadic sports with modern tourism to boost the region's summer economy.
Naadam, usually held in mid-summer and sometimes in winter in pastoral areas of Inner Mongolia, means "games" in the Mongolian language.
It often comprises wrestling, archery, and horse racing, also known as the "Three Games of Men."
This year's event features these classic competitive events alongside cultural heritage experiences, folklore activities, and grassland cuisine.
To encourage deeper visitor engagement, organizers have also introduced interactive programs including a tourist triathlon, a youth Naadam, and family activities.
"We happened to catch the Naadam festival, and we came all the way from Dalian. We want to watch the horse racing and wrestling matches," said a tourist surnamed Teng.
Since 2024, the latest three editions of the Naadam festival have collectively received over six million tourist visits, generating 4.1 billion yuan (about 605 million U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue, with overall visitor numbers and consumption showing steady year-on-year growth.
The core event runs from Saturday to Monday while related activities will go on until late August.
"The three-day Naadam festival is expected attract about 600,000 tourists to the league, up 20 percent from the previous year, which will boost Xilin Gol's summer economy. The Naadam festival itself is a massive cultural and tourism IP. Traveling for the Naadam festival drives spending across the services of accommodation, dining, transport, shopping, and entertainment," said He Mingjian, director of the bureau of culture, sports, tourism, radio, film and television of the Xilin Gol League.
36th Naadam festival opens in Inner Mongolia
The 2026 Qixi Festival Gala, produced by China Media Group (CMG), got underway at 20:00 Beijing Time on Wednesday, marking the annual celebration of one of China's oldest and most cherished traditional festivals.
The Qixi Festival, also referred to as the Chinese Valentine's Day, falls on the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It dates back more than 2,000 years and was inscribed on China's national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006.
The festival's enduring romantic association stems from the legends of the cowherd Niulang and the weaver girl Zhinyu, star-crossed lovers separated by the Milky Way who are permitted to meet only once a year when a flock of magpies forms a bridge across the heavens.
In ancient China, young women celebrate the festival by praying to Zhinyu for clever hands and domestic talents. Today, couples usually spend the day by exchanging gifts and many partners choose this auspicious date to register their marriages or hold collective traditional weddings.
This year's gala centered on the motif of a bridge, linking ancient myth with contemporary life.
A travelogue performance themed around the mythological bridge ran through the entire event, which featured songs, dances, traditional operas and ballet.
A highlight of the gala was a micro-film which explores shared Qixi customs between people from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
Among the evening's touching highlights was a short film featuring the enduring romance of 88-year-old Chinese radar technology expert Ben De, recipient of China's 2026 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, and his wife. The award is the nation's highest honor for scientific and technological achievement.
This year's gala centered on co-creation, featuring segments with real couples from across the country to jointly celebrate the millennia-old traditions through contemporary expressions of love.
CMG airs special TV gala to celebrate China's 2,000-year-old love festival
