The China Fishing Festival initially came about in 1998 and has already been held annually for 20 terms. Sacrificial activities and cultural performances are organized every year on the birthday of  Goddess Matsu (23rd day of the third month of the lunar calendar) to pray for safety and harvest as well as show respect for the ocean.

Xiangshan is located in the middle of the domestic coastline in south flank of the Yangtze River Delta, while covered by sea on three sides. Covering a sea area of 6,618 sq km with a coastline of 925 km, the county has abundant marine resources encompassing mountains, sea, harbors, beaches, mud flats and islands. It was dubbed as the "Hometown of Chinese Fisheries Culture" by the China Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art in 2008.

At present, Xiangshan has six state-level, 15 provincial-level, 33 municipal-level and 144 county-level intangible cultural heritages included in the representative directory. Local government resolves to inherit the essence of these traditional cultural programs and push them ahead to realize their integration with modern life and production.

A visitor learns paper-cutting from Xie Caihua (L), a provincial-level intangible cultural inheritor. [Photo by Feng Lu/chinadaily.com.cn]