Some 10,000 spectators gathered to watch a parade along Shuncheng Street in downtown Chengdu on the morning of May 23 to mark the start of the International Festival on Intangible Cultural Heritage. The parade, which lasted an hour, was led by the Imposing Gong and Drum company from northern China's Shanxi Province, which is regarded as the best in the country and has performed all over the world since the 1980s.