The nation's largest ever sign language dance competition kicked off in Chengdu, south-west Sichuan Province, on Saturday morning.

With the aim of publicizing and promoting the language, the dancing contest hopes to create a barrier-free working and living environment for the city's 200,000 deaf residents through the activity.

The event lasted for 10 minutes, attracting 1,050 people from various circles of life to gather at downtown Tianfu Square. They danced happily to show the public the charm of sign language.

"I have practiced this dance for one month, I feel quite excited about today's performance" a female police officer surnamed Deng, who has never participated in such an event before, said.

Group dances also attracted many passers-by to join in and follow the steps.

Excellent dancers were rewarded after the contest.

(CRIENGLISH.com December 3, 2007)