The 2019 Cantonese Temple Fair, which begins on Feb 19, is packed with visitors. [Photo/gd.people.cn]

Guangzhou kicked off its annual Cantonese Temple Fair on Feb 19 with a series of cultural activities, tasty foods, and folk shows.  

This year's event is themed around the cultural essence of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and renowned artists from the region were invited to perform a distinctive Cantonese Opera showcasing the bond between the three places.

Foreign visitors show interest in an exhibit at the 2019 Cantonese Temple Fair held in Guangzhou on Feb 19. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Over 30 intangible cultural heritage items were on display during the seven-day event and cultural inheritors were also invited to demonstrate their techniques. 

Prior to the release of the general development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on Feb 18, the fair established a special area to exhibit cultural heritage items from Hong Kong, Macao and cities throughout the Pearl River Delta region. Highlights include Hong Kong traditional techniques of making paper qilins, Macao Guangcai ceramic-making, and Zhongshan almond cake-making. 

An opera is performed at the 2019 Cantonese Temple Fair. [Photo/gd.people.com]

The fair also promoted Chinese temple fair culture by inviting artists and cultural inheritors from the Tianjin Temple Fair, Huaiyang Fuxi Temple Fair, and Luyi Lao Tzu Temple Fair in Henan province. Several winners of the Plum Blossom Prize, China's top award for dramatic performances, treated visitors to classic renditions of their prize-winning operas.