From top to bottom: The Nanxing Hexingtang Women's Lion Dance Team custom-made a purple lion head. Li Jiawen portrayed the lion's head in a lion dance performance. Zhong Ziying (front) is the team's drummer in many lion dance competitions. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Teenage girls defy tradition by forming a lion dance team, triumphing in competitions, inspiring others, and embracing their cultural heritage, Gui Qian reports.

Lion dance is a cherished tradition deeply rooted in South China's Guangdong province and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asian countries. Historically, this art form was exclusively practiced by men.

However, a unique team consisting entirely of teenage girls stands out among all the male groups — they are the Nanxing Hexingtang Women's Lion Dance Team from the town of Renhe in Guangzhou.

Zhang Zheliang, 26, the coach of the team, noted that nearly every village in Guangzhou boasts its own lion dance team. Yet, as of 2018, Hexingtang had only male participants.

"At that time, we noticed a decline in the number of young people practicing lion dance, so we accepted a few young girls," Zhang recalled. "But the journey was far from smooth for the girls."

Viewed as an act of defiance against tradition, some villagers would curse the girls and take away their props.

Zhang still remembers an incident when they were hired to perform for a family on the first day of Chinese New Year. When the family realized that it was the girls who would be performing, they erupted in anger and chased them away.