Some 10,000 spectators gathered to watch a parade along Shuncheng Street in downtown Chengdu yesterday morning to mark the start of the International Festival on Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The parade, which lasted an hour, was led by the Imposing Gong and Drum company from North China's Shanxi Province, which is regarded as the best in the country and has performed all over the world since the 1980s.

Following the percussionists were singers and dancers from Romania, South Korea, Russia, Africa, Brazil and Mexico; and the ethnic Tibetan and Qiang people. There were also acrobats from East China's Jiangsu Province, Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple of Central China's Henan Province who demonstrated the Shaolin school of martial arts, and Sichuan Opera performers spitting fire and doing dragon dances.

Such was the quality of the performances that many spectators mistook those involved for professionals.

But Qiang Ba, a middle-aged Tibetan who led a group of dancers from Qamdo, Tibet, said: "Back home, all our dancers are farmers. They have been working together for only two months."

The parade drew not only local Chinese but also foreigners like Tang Rongmei, a 67-year-old American professor and 15 of her students from the Guangya School in Chengdu at which she teaches.

"We were excited to see the performances and kept taking pictures. One student said she had never seen anything so grand in her life," Tang said.

The international festival, which is approved by the State Council and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the Sichuan provincial government, was organized by the Chengdu municipal government, the Sichuan provincial department of culture and the China national center of intangible cultural heritage protection. It is aimed at furthering China's efforts to protect its intangible cultural heritage and enhancing its global influence in the field, Ding Wei, assistant to the minister of culture, said.

Chengdu was chosen to host the event because of its position as one of China's most historically and culturally famous cities and its efforts to protect and develop cultural heritage, Ding said.

"Chengdu is the only Chinese city which has neither changed its name nor its location for more than 2,000 years. That fact alone justifies the decision to choose Chengdu as the venue for the festival," he said at a press conference held in Chengdu on Tuesday.

Deng Gongli, deputy secretary-general of the Chengdu municipal government, said a total of 520 performers from 52 countries participated in the parade.

The carnival also included the first ever performance in China by the world-famous Roundabout Samba band from Brazil, Deng said. He added that many of the performers involved in the parade will perform again at eight venues in and around Chengdu over the course of the festival.

A related exposition also opened yesterday in the city's National Intangible Cultural Heritage Park featuring more than 1,000 items from around the world. (By Huang Zhiling)