All the fun of the fair at Longhua Temple
Krummer Michael poses for a photo.
Selfie with hand lion dance outfits.
The boisterous Shanghai Longhua Temple Fair in Xuhui District has proven to be a popular destination during the May Day holiday.
Nearly 230,000 visits were recorded as of Friday since its opening on April 29.
On Saturday it welcomed a group of tourists from Germany.
The group of 36 European travelers visited the bazaar at Longhua Plaza, toured the Taying Space, literally translated into Tower Shadow Space which has become a new cultural landmark in the district, and experienced hand lion dance and traditional Chinese intangible cultural heritage.
Kaja Cramer from Berlin enjoyed the visit a lot.
"The lion dance was beautiful and I am impressed," she told Shanghai Daily. "The area (Longhua) is beautiful and it's very interesting to see all this.
"Shanghai is a huge city and people are very nice and friendly.
"The visa-free policy offers a very good opportunity to come here."
Foreign guests receive fans with Chinese characters as gifts.
A proud showcase.
It was the first visit by Csaba from Switzerland to Shanghai.
"The city is absolutely beautiful and clean," he said. "I am interested in everything in China, its history and culture, and the visa-free policy makes it easy to visit.
"Everything is amazing in the district, the building and the performance."
Krummer Michael, from Germany, added: "Shanghai is a very beautiful city, and it's very green.
"I like the art style and traditions here as well as its nightlife. The most beautiful about Shanghai is the skyline at night.
"I come here to learn about the traditions in China. The Longhua Pogoda is very beautiful and the dragon dance is very special and beautiful. I really like it as it represents the art of China."
Shanghai Longhua Temple Fair is a well-known folk custom and intangible cultural heritage event in the Yangtze River Delta region and around the country.
The temple fair, which dates back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), is Shanghai's largest temple fair.
A splendid show.
A group photo.
This year's temple fair takes place in a larger scale, including Longhua Plaza, LONGHUAHUI, Shanghai Duoyunxuan Art Center, and Zhou Xinfang Art Space.
As is customary, there is an appreciation for peach blossoms and performances of Jiangnan sizhu (string and wind music).
The market includes the city's intangible cultural heritage treasures, such as Qiaojiashan snacks, enamelware, pankou (frog fastener), sachets, papercuts, Chongming tubu (homespun cloth), and jade carving.
Inheritors of intangible cultural assets from other cities demonstrated their distinctive techniques at the fair.
Based on statistics of China's global travel service provider Trip.com, Shanghai was the most popular domestic tourist destination for inbound travelers on the first day of the May Day holiday, with orders surging 96 percent from the same period last year.
The overall growth rate of inbound tourist orders to most first- and second-tier cities in China has surpassed that of the domestic tours, it said.
The increasingly convenient inbound and outbound tourism policies are the reason, said Wang Yalei, a tourism analyst of Trip.com.
Another online travel operator Tongcheng Travel said its air ticket booking figures of inbound destinations had surged nearly 200 percent on the day from the same period last year with Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka and Moscow major source markets.
