Turning burnout to glory

Amid the gentle patter of spring rain, the ornate pavilions of Beijing Grand View Garden transform into a stage for cultural splendor.

Performers of all kinds — singers, actors, musicians, opera artists, and folk artisans — gathered here on June 14, united by their passion for the country's intangible cultural heritage.

Coinciding with this year's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, the gala Timeless Traditions — hosted by Harper's Bazaar and short-video platform Douyin — showcased the creative fusion of fashion and intangible cultural heritage.

The event opened with a red carpet showcase, where celebrities like actor Cao Jun, singer Dai Yanni, and actresses He Hongshan and Zhao Zhaoyi dazzled in outfits blending heritage-inspired designs.

The gala then came alive with a lineup of traditional performances, from lion dances and Peking Opera to erhu (a two-stringed fiddle) melodies, folk acrobatics and shadow puppetry.

Among the evening's highlights were the performances of A Duo, 45, a singer-songwriter and inheritor of drum dance of the Miao ethnic group.

Bathed in dreamy stage lighting, she mesmerized the audience with her ethnic vocal style and the powerful yet graceful movements of her drum dance.

Born in Hunan province to a father of the Tujia ethnic group and Miao mother, the singer rose to fame after performing the dance song Goodbye, Carmen at the 2005 CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Signed by a major Chinese record label, she released several pop albums and became a sought-after commercial star.

Yet, beneath the glamour, she grappled with creative burnout and a hollowed-out existence from relentless work demands.

From 2012 to 2016, she stepped away from the spotlight, retreating to remote villages in Hunan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces — homelands of the Miao and Tujia people.

"I lived entirely as a farmer during those years — rising with the sun, tending flowers and vegetables," she says.

This tranquil rural life rekindled her creativity and sensitivity to beauty.

She began documenting folk songs and dance traditions, and in Baojing county of Hunan's Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, she apprenticed under 89-year-old master Hong Fuqiang to learn miaogu, a percussion art of the Miao ethnic group. It was there she formally became a Miao drum dance inheritor, paving the way for her artistic rebirth.

In Jishou city, Xiangxi, A Duo also founded an all-women drum dance troupe with 13 members from diverse backgrounds — including a butcher, a village schoolteacher, a tea farmer, and a security guard.

"We practiced on threshing grounds, experimenting with ways to adapt traditional drum dance for the modern stage," she recalls.

Her artistic vision further crystallized into what she calls "future ethnic aesthetics".

She brought together electronic music producers and inheritors of ethnic vocal styles and instruments of Miao, Tujia and Bouyei ethnic groups to form a band dedicated to preserving and promoting intangible cultural heritage.

"I see myself as a translator — interpreting the wisdom passed down by elder masters and making it resonate with today's young people," the singer explains.

"I hope they will appreciate this fusion of tradition and futurism, of ethnic heritage and contemporary fashion, and develop a heartfelt connection to the music and culture of their motherland."

Now, she no longer suffers from the creative burnout she once experienced. Within these timeless traditions, she has discovered an endless wellspring of inspiration — and learned to approach music creation "like a farmer tending crops".

"I no longer fear difficult tasks that require time and patience. Nor do I worry about aging appearances or drying up of inspiration," she says.

She also wrote, directed, and starred in the musical Reborn Beats, a production blending avant-garde staging with more than 20 intangible cultural heritages which debuted earlier this year.

The work is now slated for an international tour.

"The world needs to see Chinese stage productions like this — stylish and contemporary, yet deeply rooted in tradition and ethnic mystique," she says.

Halamuji, a 26-year-old musician from Bayannur in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, performed khoomei, an ancient art of throat singing, at the gala.

He has been practicing the throat-singing skill for more than a decade and participated in the soundtrack production of the sensational animated film Ne Zha 2.

The khoomei tradition is found in China, Mongolia and Russia. In China, it is practiced mostly by ethnic Mongolians in Inner Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. In Halamuji's view, khoomei is not just an art form but also a treasure of ethnic culture, carrying the wisdom and emotions of his ancestors.

"I no longer live in my hometown, but no matter where I am, I have a duty to promote and pass it on — this is what I've always wanted to do," he says.

Last month, Douyin released its 2025 Intangible Cultural Heritage Data Report, revealing that the platform had generated more than 200 million new videos featuring national-level intangible cultural heritage items in the past year — a 31 percent year-on-year increase.

During the same period, 14 million users shared their intangible cultural heritage experiences on the platform, with related short videos amassing 749 billion cumulative views. The report also noted an average of 65,000 daily livestreams dedicated to intangible cultural heritage content.

Additionally, the data shows a rise in young creators producing intangible cultural heritage content, with the number of national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritors under 30 on Douyin increasing by 24 percent year-on-year.

Halamuji is also an active content creator on Douyin, where he regularly posts clips of himself playing the matouqin, or the horse-headed fiddle, and performing khoomei, garnering nearly 180,000 followers.