Artists from a dozen of China's ethnic minority groups showed their distinguished performing art at Beijing's Cultural Palace of the Nationalities on Sunday night. The show kicked off the month-long Chinese Ethnic Intangible Heritage Art Festival in the capital city. (Photo: CCTV.com)

Artists from a dozen of China's ethnic minority groups showed their distinguished performing art at Beijing's Cultural Palace of the Nationalities on Sunday night. The show kicked off the month-long Chinese Ethnic Intangible Heritage Art Festival in the capital city.

The opening performance featured traditional performing arts that have been handed down through generations of ethnic groups based in northern China.

The line up included a Korean farmers' dance, Manchu wrestling, Mongolian horse-head zither music, and Tibetan Guozhuang Dance, just to name a few.

Most of these items of performance art have been recognized as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages or are a national treasure of China.

A rare treat was Shifan court music originating from Chengde, Hebei Province. The city was the former summer resort for the imperial families in the Qing Dynasty.

Farmers' Dance is a ceremony must for the Korean ethnic group that live in northeast China. It has made the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List last year. The signature part of the dance is waving the hat strip which can be as long as thirty meters.

Over 2,000 ethnic artists will participate in nine performances in Beijing during the month-long festival.