Ju Chongzhao, an experienced stilt walker, says the binding around the legs should not be too tight or loose, and while stepping forward the waist needs to straighten, while the eyes look forward. In the past only males were allowed to walk on stilts. Nowadays, females also join in the performance, adding new energy and vibrancy to this ancient tradition.

Usually, more than 100 stilt walkers take part in the Kushui Street event, with middle and high school students playing leading roles, while the other participants are in their 20s or early 30s. Every stilt master is trained from a young age. The youngest performer in Kushui is just 5 years old. They start with short stilts and work their way up, until they can walk on the tallest stilts when they are 16 years old.

"Beside having excellent skills, it is vital to be able to walk and perform for more than three hours with heavy costumes and stilts weighing over 10 kg," Ju says.

The stilts used in Kushui Street are longer than those used anywhere else in China.

The excellence of the walkers was honed by rivalry. According to the elders, there used to be two teams, called South Street Society and North Street Society. They competed against each other at the annual festival and as a result the stilts got longer.

There is also an interesting folk legend behind the stilts. To the east of the village is a mountain ridge called Changshan, which is like a long dragon.

Before the Ming Dynasty, this ridge and the drainage area along Zhuanglang River, was lush and green. According to legend, Liu Bowen, military advisor to Zhu Yuanzhang, who later became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), passed the village and saw the ridge had a dragon shape. This symbolized the birth of a king, so Liu raised his sword and cut the ridge in half.