Yueshan village in Lishui celebrates Spring Festival with a baijiayan, a special family reunion dinner for about 100 households at a time. [Photo/WeChat account: zjlsly2014]

The Yueshan Chunwan, or Yueshan Spring Festival Gala, is set to open on Feb 5 this year in Yueshan village in Qingyuan county – administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province – according to local media reports.

In 1981, Wu Shaoli, a Yueshan resident, got together with several other villagers also fond of literature and art, to hold a small gala at home with the friends playing their instruments and singing along.

That was the earliest Yueshan Chunwan and since then the villagers have been directing and performing their own gala every Spring Festival – with the content becoming ever more rich, adventurous and vibrant.

In December 2020, the Yueshan Chunwan team was invited to Beijing by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to participate in the launch ceremony of the 2021 National Village Spring Festival Gala.

It was the first time that the villagers got the chance to be in the CCTV studios to show the whole country their exciting event and their rural culture.

In addition to the gala, Yueshan village also hosts a baijiayan – a special family reunion dinner – for about 100 households at a time during the Spring Festival.

It's a great chance for everyone to let down their hair and for visitors to get to know the traditional rural culture in Lishui.