The 5th World Dance Games, held from Aug 6 to 9 in Zhengzhou, Henan province, celebrates street dance in all its forms. Zhang Yi is one of the 11 champions. The event attracted 6,000 dancers from across the world.[Photo by Wang Wei/China Daily]

While hip-hop dance is a cultural import, Chinese dancers have combined it with their own culture, including tai chi, martial arts and local operas, adds Xia.

One of the highlights of this year's competition was a performance titled Kung Fu Street Dance, put up by 16 hip-hop dancers from Henan. The group combined martial arts and hip-hop dance.

"China's world-famous Shaolin Temple is in Henan and the dancers were trained there for months to learn kung fu, which helped them to dance better," says Xia.

The China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing House also published in 2015 teaching materials about hip-hop dance, helping to make the dance style more formal and systematic, he adds.

"There's now a vibrant and rapidly developing street-dancing scene in China," says Xia.

"Like any contemporary art form, street dancing is about using art as a platform to have our voices heard. That means we can integrate our own culture into this Western art form."

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn