During the 35-day training course, they learned from Li Mingxu, the fifth generation successor of the Jinzhou Lion Dance, a provincial intangible cultural heritage that has been passed from generation to generation for more than a centuryThey kept practicing from morning unti必发88登录入口l night, trying to master the basic skills of lion dance, routines and instrumental music within a short periodThe training course on the Chinese lion dance is part of the 2017 China Africa Cultures in Focus, an activity held by the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of Chinese Ministry of Culture to strengthen the cultural communication between China and African countriesThe cultural center of the Jinpu New Area has undertaken the course for three consecutive years since 2015Only a short walk from the National Mall, it loo必发88登录入口ks like a good place to live, work and hang outHyra described the massive transformation in the U Street/Shaw area, where the city's once most infamous open-air drug market has become a farmers' market now selling grass-fed beef and homemade duck egg ravioli