Yan Jinfeng, the first protector of the folk song Huazijie. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

Huazijie, or Huazi Street, a kind of narrative folk song, is at home in Huazi Street in Chongchuan district, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province.

The narrative folk song is about the beggar Li Tao who lives on Huazi Street and marries a rich lady and also tells the tale of a greedy landlord who becomes a beggar.

Chongchuan residents perform Huazijie. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

Huazijie includes large amounts of folklore and narrative folk songs of different lengths, which were passed down orally from storyteller to storyteller. The long song is composed of more than 2,000 lines each with five Chinese characters and portrays several figures with distinctive personalities.

Chongchuan residents play music for Huazijie. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

Huazijie is usually sung in the Nantong dialect and accompanied with drums, gongs, and bamboo flutes.

Yan Jinfeng, a common worker in Chongchuan, is the first protector of the folk song. In 2008, Huazijie was listed as a municipal intangible cultural heritage item and three years later received provincial recognition.