Cross-Straits street dance contest wraps up

The 2017 Cross-Straits Street Dance Contest final wrapped up in Pingtan in Southeast China's Fujian province on Oct 28.

A total of ten dance troupes composed of more than 170 dancers took part in the final contest. They had qualified from a series of heats held in nine cities in Fujian and Taipei, in which more than 10,000 people participated.

The finalists, aged between 6 and 25, danced to the strong beats, bringing the audience a great audiovisual extravaganza.

According to Huang Xing, director of the Center of Fujian and Taiwan Cultural Exchanges, Fujian has built up increasingly diverse cultural ties with Taiwan in recent years, and the street dance contest is another way the province is attracting more young people from Taiwan to hop across the Strait and get to know the mainland.

Chen Jiwei, one of the contest judges from Taiwan, was impressed with the mainland's rapid progress in street dance. “Street dancers from the mainland are fabulous, although the sport gained popularity relatively later than in Taiwan,” he said.

Chen's view was echoed by his compatriot Azix Mixcin, leader of the Mixcin team from Taiwan.

"We felt pressure owing to the high competitiveness of the world-class mainland dancers," he said.

It was also Azix's first time to visit Pingtan and he commented that he hoped "more Taiwan youth can come to the mainland and achieve a common prosperity in the future".

Pingtan, host city of the finals, is an island located off the eastern coastline of Fujian and is the closest place on the mainland to Taiwan. The city is currently striving to build itself into a cross-Straits common homeland and an international tourism island.

"The hosting of the contest will improve its awareness among Taiwan youth, giving another impetus to integrated cross-Straits development," said Yang Feng, an official of the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone bureau of social affairs.

He also revealed a cross-Straits hip-pop cultural festival is scheduled to be held in Beigang village in Pingtan soon.