Under dazzling fireworks that light up the sky, vigorous golden lions and dragons writhe to the beat of deafening gongs and drums, kicks off this year's Beijing Farmers' Art Festival, the most important annual cultural activity in suburban Beijing.

Started not long after New Year's Day and going on until just before spring ploughing, the festival allows local farmers to display their economic and cultural achievements of the year through a wide variety of exhibitions, performances and competitions, varying from traditional features such as yangko dancing to more modern ones such as intelligence tests.

"Winters are no longer boring, as they used to be for Beijing farmers, for whom the only thing to look forward to was the Spring Festival," said Cui Yanqing, a leading agricultural official in Beijing. "Now they are colorful and refreshing."

There are 3,000-odd folk yangko teams, more than 200 groups specialized in a dazzling variety of performance arts, and nearly 100 village drama troupes, for all of which the festival is the most important performing event of the year.

Cui also said this year's celebration is well supported.

Thanks to the successful restructuring of local agriculture, with the change from total dependence on grain to the production of a variety of more profitable crops, the per capita annual disposable income of Beijing farmers reached over 5,000 yuan (US$603.9) last year for the ever first time. With more money in pocket, local farmers are spending more on material and spiritual comforts.

"To celebrate this, we chose the day of the opening of the Xiaotangshan Modern Agriculture Science Demonstration Park, the only such state-level park in Beijing, to kick off the festival," said Cui.

"Because we believe the opening of the park symbolizes the steady movement of Beijing's agriculture towards modern and industrialized methods."

(China Daily January 22, 2002)