Students at Lihu Yao Village Central Primary School in Nandan county, Hechi, Guangxi, practice the traditional monkey stick dance on Dec 26. [Photo by Fu Longqiang/Guangxi Daily]

On Dec 26, girls of the Bai Ku-yao ethnic group at Lihu Yao Village Central Primary School in Nandan county, Hechi, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, practiced the traditional folk culture of monkey stick dancing during their break times.

As one of the first batch of curriculum reform trial schools in Hechi, Lihu Yao Village Central Primary School has paid a great deal of attention to students’ all-round development since 2013 and laid emphasis on inheriting ethnic folk customs and culture.

The Bai Ku-yao ethnic group is a sub-branch of the Yao ethnic group. Its total population is about 30,000 and they mainly live in the northwest of Guangxi and Libo county in Guizhou province. It is recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as an ethnic group with the most preserved culture and is called “the living fossil of human civilization”.