Workers by day, performers at night

As dusk settles over central Guizhou province in Southwest China, evening clouds glow across the sky while the steady rhythm of gongs and drums echoes through the countryside. In harvested rapeseed fields, villagers turn open farmland into makeshift stages, performing the centuries-old Anshun Dixi Opera beneath the night sky.

In Wujiatun, a settlement in Zhangzhuang village of Anshun city, the performers live ordinary lives during the day. Among them are farmers, construction workers, security guards, forklift operators and small business owners. But when the day's work is done, they gather at the village entrance square, practicing movements, rehearsing fight scenes and quietly memorizing traditional lyrics.

Though they come from different backgrounds, the villagers are united by a shared commitment: preserving and passing on their local cultural heritage. Along village paths, beside streams and in the fields, they continue a living folk tradition through performance and daily dedication.

Known for its bold, primitive performance style, Anshun Dixi Opera is a traditional folk drama widely practiced in Guizhou's Anshun region. Often described as a "living fossil" of Chinese theater, it was included in the first batch of China's national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006.