On the morning of September 26, a lively and dynamic melody echoed throughout the campuses of primary and secondary schools in Xiqiao Town, Nanhai District. The "Lion Dance Exercise at Xiqiao Mountain" event, the large fitness dance involving thousands of people, kicked off at Xiqiao Middle School, and the 2023 Nanhai Lion Dance and Kung-Fu Cultural Carnival was simultaneously launched.

The event was conducted at 23 venues, including a main venue and multiple sub-venues. 22 primary and secondary schools have participated, with a total of 24,968 students, aiming to challenge the Guinness World Records title "largest fitness dance (multiple venues)".

It's reported that the minimal participants for this attempt is 10,000 while there were nearly 25,000 participants. Also, the challenge requires that lion dance must last for at least 5 minutes, and have a success rate of 90% or above.

Eventually, with 24,860 participants and a remarkable success rate of 99.6%, they successfully won the Guinness World Records for the "Largest Fitness Dance (Multiple venues)".

"It is a new world record. We initially needed 10,000 participants for the simultaneous fitness dance, but we had nearly 25,000," said Ye Chuangwei, the Chief Adjudicator of Guinness World Records at the opening ceremony. He noted the significance of this achievement as the lion dance exercise blends traditional Lingnan culture with innovative street dance, and highlighted the months of preparation by the students.

The students from Xiqiao No. 1 Primary School, brimming with youthful energy, enthusiastically took part in the challenge. One of the students, Liu Yang, shared her passion for performing the fitness dance, describing the movements as graceful and reminiscent of a lively lion. Together with her classmates, they dedicated over two months to preparing for the Guinness World Records.

This event attracted nearly 2 million viewers to watch the live broadcast. It's worth mentioning that Xiqiao Town, known as the "Home of Southern Lion Dance", is also the hometown of the Kung-Fu Master Wong Fei-hung. A female-themed film titled "High-Pole Lion Dance Sister", inspired by Foshan's lion dance culture, is currently being filmed at Xiqiao Town. The film's leading actors, Tu Zhiying and Jiang Yixuan, are taking part as lead dancers in this Guinness World Records challenge event.

Reporter | Eleanor

Revisor | Eddie, Christy

Photo | Nanhai Release