Huge lute performance sets Guinness record

More than 2,000 performers on Thursday played Chinese lutes together, setting a World Guinness Record, in northeast China's Jilin province.

The 2,012-player group, including 1,800 primary students and 212 musicians from China and overseas, played traditional Chinese tune "Dance of the Golden Snake" at a primary school in the city of Liaoyuan, dubbed "hometown of lutes in China."

The performance lasted five and half minutes, after which Wu Xiaohong, a notary of Guinness World Records, announced it had won a world record.

The event is one of the activities in the first international Chinese lute arts festival that kicked off Thursday in Liaoyuan. Lute contests, concerts and seminars will also be held during the five-day festival.

Zhou Xianshun, headmaster with the city's Xianshun Lute School, said the lute is one of the most ancient musical instruments in China, with a history of over 2,000 years, and then it was spread to East Asian countries such as Japan and Vietnam.

"We hope our efforts creating a world Guinness record will bring the lute culture to the world, and have more people learn its charm," said Zhou.

Zhu Lin, a primary school student, said she was excited to be one of the players in the event.

"To me, Guinness World Records only appear on TV," she said. "We worked very hard rehearsing during the past months, and I felt delighted and excited to participate myself."