WHEN Deng Xiaoping opened China’s doors to the outside world, Shenzhen was nothing more than a fishing village. Now it is a metropolis of 12 million people capped by some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world.

Wandering among the city’s sleek museums, sprawling technology marketplaces and chic eateries and bars, one can hardly believe that the city is actually home to many ancient traditions like red-glazed porcelain, lion dance on stilts and fish lantern dance.

As early as in 2005, Shenzhen began its efforts in preserving intangible cultural heritages. The authorities started research projects on 233 folk traditions, quite a few of which have been listed as protected heritages by the State and Guangdong Province. Eight items have been listed national protected heritages, including the fish lantern dance of Shatoujiao in Yantian, kirin dances of Dachuankeng Village in Bao’an and Bantian Village in Longgang, the lion dance of Songgang, Bao’an, the Guo family’s orthopedic surgery skills and the ceremonies of paying homage to ancestors in Xiasha Village, Futian.

The city also named 56 people heirs to city-level intangible cultural heritages.

Shenzhen’s cultural heritage items chiefly take the forms of folk literature, music, dances, traditional operas, medicine, sports and customs, 77 of which are folk customs, according to Wang Chengtai, chairman of the city’s intangible cultural heritages protection association. Many of these, including those associated with oyster farming in Shajin, Bao’an, the basin dish (pencai) feasts of Xiasha and the Kaiding Festival of Shekou, Nanshan, are still part of local people’s daily life.

Wang thinks the most valuable of the folk customs is the Huang Family’s sacrificial offering ceremonies to their ancestors in Xiasha Village. The well-preserved tomb of their ancestor Huang Motang is a province-level cultural relic located at the heart of the village, and the ceremonies, which are performed twice annually, can be traced back hundreds of years.

Dance traditions are also a significant part of Shenzhen’s cultural heritage. Kirin dance, a fixture of Hakka culture, is popular in Shenzhen, with at least 50 dancing teams practicing the tradition at present. Distinguished by its use of large kirin props, a mythical animal bearing mixed characteristics of a dragon, horse and reindeer, the tradition incorporates music, dancing and acrobatics.

Fish lantern dance, originating in neighboring Fujian Province during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), spread to the Shenzhen suburbs during the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and soon became a regular part of new year festivities for fishing villages in the region.

The dance features a team of about 20 men, fish lanterns held overhead, imitating the swimming fish, symbolically wishing for peace and harvest for fishermen. The tradition, practiced in Shatoujiao as well as neighboring Hong Kong, also serves as a bond for people across the border.(Debra Li)