HUNDREDS of Chinese traditional arts, handicrafts and musical performances on ancient stringed instruments will be on display in Shanghai's Fengxian District during the National Day holiday.

The China Intangible Cultural Heritage Tour Exhibition, to be held in Shenlong Park from September 30 to October 12, is one of the largest scale with the most exhibits, shows and folk artists across the country so far. It is an interpretation as complete as possible of China's 5,000-year-old essence of arts.

Shanghai is the 10th and longest stop on the show's nationwide tour calendar since it was started three years ago.

The exhibition has been held in cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Baotou in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and many others.

Members of the audience are encouraged to interact with the artists during performances. They can "see, touch, hear and even taste" these precious intangible heritages.

"It is the first time we've come to Shanghai and the timing is just right as the whole nation is celebrating the 60th birthday of our country and the city is going to host next year's World Expo," says Chen Zedong, officer from the hosting Chinese Culture Promotion Society.

"We hope this exhibition can awaken people's awareness of preserving the nation's priceless heritage and to carry it on to the next generation," he says.

Within the more than 32,000 square meters of the park, the exhibition will showcase traditional arts such as folk dances and songs, handicrafts like papercuts, and musical performances on the ancient Chinese zither and tea-making shows, among others.

More than 100 grassroots folk artists throughout China have been invited to perform their unique skills, such as shadow play, pottery, archery and various Shanghai lane games.

The artists include Zhang Tieshan, who collects ancient kites flown by royal families of past eras, and Hong Tao who collects ancient steles. More than 150 folk art shows will be performed.

One of the highlights of the 13-day folk art fete is the primitive song-dance performance given by 120 villagers from the Shui Minority Group of the mountainous regions in Guizhou Province.

The show, telling the story of this 2,000-year-old ethnic group's history, is directed by Zhou Qunsheng, director of the National Tourism Design Institution.

A hall of paper-cutting, especially set up for the exhibition, will display the best works of this century-old folk art form during the past six decades.

A waterfront platform will be built as the perfect site to appreciate the full moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival on the night of October 3.

Visitors can achieve a deeper understanding of this traditional fete in a cultural way.

Artists will also teach guests how to make an old-fashion mooncake, not the modern one filled with fancy stuffing.

As well, a 100-meter walkway is also to be paved to show China's various snacks from Shanghai, Taiwan, Shandong, Yunnan and many other cities and provinces.

Shenlong Park boasts more than 667 hectares of green land, one of the largest in the city.

It has a birds' park raising more than 100 birds of different species, including swans.

TONGCAO, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine to help increase the discharge of urine, is moth-free and color-retentive. It is also said from days of yore that this kind of herb can bless people with good luck when carried in the pocket.

Ancient Chinese have used Tongcao to paint pictures for more than 1,000 years and this art hit its heyday in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

But unfortunately, Tongcao Picture techniques and its processing methods were lost in the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

But one person has been devoted to reviving this ancient folk art since the 1970s and after more than three decades he has finally made it.

Chen Jun from Puyang City in Henan Province is giving a second life to the extinct Tongcao Picture.

He has mastered each step from the first herb planting to the last color dyeing.

With the natural color of Tongcao and its sparkling, crystal-clear texture, he creates the feeling of three-dimensional embossment and sculpture simply by coloring on the paper.

Chen's works are glittering with the lustre of ivory, white jade and pearl by incorporating these precious materials into the pictures.

In 2007, his Tongcao art made its debut in an exhibition in Beijing and soon caught nationwide attention.

Chen's works won dozens of gold medals awarded by the Ministry of Culture, National Development and Reform Commission, Beijing Olympics Committee and many others.

His works such as "Peace," "Soughing" and "Springtime" won many awards.

"Soughing" is on display in the China National Arts and Crafts Museum and early this year it was awarded the Golden Flower, the highest accolade in the country's arts world.

MADE of wheat flour, sticky rice flour, honey and preservatives, then steamed and kneaded with paint, dough figurines are a traditional Chinese handicraft art with a history of more than 1,000 years.

The 62-year-old Yan Zhaodong has been engaged in dough figurine art for more than 40 years.

The Beijing native was fascinated by traditional handicrafts such as seal-engraving and wood carving when he was only a boy.

During his early 20s, the man, then a worker in a textile factory, happened to see dough figurine art in Beijing's Taoranting Park.

"I was so engrossed by this art that I often forgot to have lunch and stayed there for a whole afternoon," he says.

He bought flour and pigment home and after years of trials and error, he finally found his own way to make dough figures.

The man mastered the proper proportion of water and flour and his colored dough stays colorfast and intact without fading for more than three decades.

What is more marvelous, Yan can make three mini figures in a tiny hollow walnut shell, vivid in details.

Most of his works are about ancient Chinese figures in mythology, literature classics and historical events, such as the 12 beauties in the "A Dream of Red Mansions" and the five generals in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

All the minute details like fingernails and wrinkles in stitched cloth are clearly depicted in a dough figurine, which is no more than 5 centimeters high.

In 2006, Yan volunteered to make a dough head sculpture for Liu Youfu celebrating his 100th birthday in Beijing's Jinsong Neighbourhood.

Early this year, the son of Shi Chuanxiang, who was a model worker in the 1970s and was praised by late Premier Zhou Enlai, invited Yan to make a sculpture of his father.

With only a dog-eared, yellowed picture of Shi, Yan accomplished the work within two months.

Hearing that there was a hospital providing terminal care to senior people, Yan vowed to make dough head sculptures of the inhabitants.

It was "just to leave a beautiful memory for them and their children," he says.

POLYMER clay is the hottest arts and crafts medium to hit the market in decades. Colorful, immediate and extremely versatile, polymer clay nowadays is popular among artists, children and crafters.

Invented in Germany in 1933, this Western clay art is now moistened and kneaded with a Chinese flavor.

Zhao Chunxiang, one of the first few artists who introduced polymer clay to China, has been dedicated to this art for more than 20 years.

Her works are bold in color, exaggerated in shape, vivid in detail and characteristic of strong Chinese elements. Zhao combines traditional paper-cutting, Chinese ink painting, Western oil painting and sculpture. She invented the skills of "pinch" and "rub," which push the art to a new level.

Her work "12 Chinese Zodiac" was selected as a gift of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the "Nine Dragons" was collected and displayed in the Shenyang Expo in 2006.

During the past two decades, Zhao has been dedicated to protecting, promoting and developing this art form.

She has trained more than 300 polymer clay makers and given almost 100 lectures to over 10,000 people, including young graduates, workers and farmers.

With her help, more than 20 schools have started offering optional classes involving polymer clay in Jingzhou City, Liaoning Province.

She has also attracted students from many cities and regions to learn the techniques.

Various cultural activities with countries such as the United States, Japan and South Korea are conducted.

Jun County in Henan Province is an old region on the Yubei Plain with more than 1,600 years of history. It is famed as the capital of China's clay sculpture.

Wrapped within mountains, the small county was a center of great military importance and always involved in civil wars during the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618).

After each fierce battle, soldiers made clay figures of men and horses to commemorate their comrades killed in the war, thus giving birth to this clay art which later became a folk custom spreading across Jun County.

Almost every local villager can make simple clay items as their hobby but Chai Xiujian has turned the art into his life passion.

The 41-year-old clay sculptor has been fascinated by this ancient art form since his childhood. He made friends with aged artists and worked together with them for years.

Chai's works are vividly molded with the carving styles of the Qin (221-206 BC), Han (206 BC-AD 220) and Tang (AD 618-907) dynasties and are perfectly combined with the clay sculpture of Jun County.

He boldly uses colors only seen on the lacquerware of the Qin and Han dynasties and mixes them with hues used on Ming Dynasty porcelain (1368-1644), which adds a flavor of primitive simplicity to his sculptures.

He specializes in making clay lions and horses which blend his unique personal styles with traditional methods.

Chai's works have been exhibited in many countries such as Singapore, Germany and the United States, among others.

In 2004, his work named "Clay Babies" won top prize at Henan Province Folk Art Exhibition.