Night view of Ningbo. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

The opening ceremony of the 2016 East Asia City of Culture event was held in Jeju, South Korea on Thursday. Delegations from Ningbo, Nara-ken and Jeju which were selected as East Asia's three cities of culture attended the ceremony.

The event started at 7 pm and representatives from the three selected cities gave a speech before the beginning of performances. Videos of each city were also featured.

Chinese representatives staged Ningbo opera Snail Girl, or Tian Luo Gu Niang.

Yu Jie, deputy general manager of the Ningbo opera company, noted that Snail Girl is a household folktale in the eastern Zhejiang province.

"It has been very popular among the locals since the 1970s. The reason why the company brought the story to Jeju is that Koreans are also familiar with it that will narrow the cultural distance between the two nations," said Yu.

The troupe translated the story into both Japanese and Korean to give the audience a better understanding of the opera better.

Ningbo delegations also showcased four intangible cultural heritages: lacquer wares, Ningbo cannitille embroidery, Xiangshan paper-cutting and Xiangshan fish rubbing (a traditional art to print the image of a fish on paper by using ink or pigment).

The performance of four transmitters Chen Long, Qiu Qunzhu, Xie Caihua and Lu Shenggui attracted a lot of visitors.

Some 20 photos reflecting the life and culture in Ningbo were also displayed at the event.