A spirited performance by Qiang people. Photo:CFP

By Wang Chunhong

Wenchuan County will hold the Second Ancient Qiang Festival as a tribute to the Qiang ethnic group that suffered huge loss in the tragic earthquake last year. Marking the first anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, the festival will aim to revive and protect the Qiang culture, which almost got obliterated by the earthquake.

Said Wu Kaiming, the directer of Publicity Department of Wenchuan County Party Committee, “This year’s cultural festival will be held from May 9 to 10 in the Wenchuan Qiang minority area.

A series of activities such as celebrations of folk culture, music, dance as well as display of traditional Qiang clothing will be carried out during the festival. Not just that, the Protection and Development Institute for Qiang Minority Culture will also be launched.

As early as in the Shang Dynasty, dating 1600 BC, there is a record of Qiang minority civilization, found in the inscriptions on animal bones and tortoise shells. The common people of Qiang minority usually live in ornately- decorated stone houses in the upper reaches of the mountains, herding sheep and growing crops such as corn.

Sichuan is one of the main inhabitant areas for Qiang minority, and about 300,000 Qiang people live at the Wenchuan, Beichuan and Mao County, which suffered the most during the earthquake.

The earthquake has not only damaged the homeland but has also snuffed out the lives of about 30,000 Qiang people.
Wenchuan County is one of the four Qiang minority inhabitant areas in China with the total population of more than 110,000. Among them, the Qiang ethnic group constitutes approximately 27% of the population.

The First Ancient Qiang Culture Festival was held in Luobozhai in 2007 and the second festival, originally scheduled for June 2008, got postponed due to the earthquake that caused heavy destruction of almost all the ancient constructions in Luobozhai.