Mixing acrobatics, martial arts and theatre, lion dancing is believed to bring prosperity and protection from evil spirits. Performed across China and around the world, at weddings or during ...

A growing number of Chinese ... Lion dancer Lin Xinmeng doing strength training in a practice session at an ancestral temple in Shantou, in southern China's Guangdong province. (Photo by Jade ...

Shantou (China) (AFP) – Flinging her male teammate into the air, performer Lin Xinmeng practises China's world-famous lion dance with a troupe that is shrugging off centuries of patriarchal norms.

and the critical success of the Chinese film "Her Story", which addresses gender inequality in contemporary society. "Some say that a girl can't lead a lion. But it's my passion and it's up to me ...

I found it super graceful," Lin, 18, told AFP in the courtyard of a temple in the southern Chinese city of Shantou, where her troupe trains. "The tenacity of the dancers, their ability to perform ...