Giving a diabolo performance, in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, on Feb 10 (Photo/Xinhua)

As the 2014 Lantern Festival approached, the Shanxi provincial literary federation and acrobat association, joined a Taiyuan association of many devotees of diabolo, a game where a top is balanced or spun on a string attached to two hand-held sticks, to show their excellence in a performance in the Jinsong area of Taiyuan.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw