Lion dance troupes roaring in Guangxi

NANNING — At the stadium of Tengxian Technical Secondary School in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, papier-mache lion heads swayed to rhythmic drum beats as a group of youths in red-and-yellow uniforms briskly strolled past, concluding their morning practice.

The campus, situated on the outskirts of the region's Wuzhou city, houses a world-class lion-dancing troupe. Consisting of 35 teenagers who are immersed in this traditional Chinese art, which dates back thousands of years, the troupe has garnered numerous accolades in both national and international competitions.

The school's lion dance program is headed by Deng Binguang, a 34-year-old Tengxian county local who started training as a professional lion dancer at a very early age and was crowned "Lion King of the Orient" in Malaysia when he was 14.