June 11 marked the 17th "Cultural and Natural Heritage Day". The Guangdong Cultural and Natural Heritage Day theme event and the 2022 Shiqi Dragon Boat Culture Week opened on the morning of the same day in Zhongshan.

The opening ceremony started with the Drunken Dragon Dance show, a national intangible cultural heritage program and unique traditional folk dance of Zhongshan. The Cup Flower Dance from Meizhou, Yao-style Long Drum Dance from Qingyuan, and Salty Water Songs from Zhongshan were also preformed to present the rich and colorful charm of Lingnan culture.

At the opening ceremony, the fifth batch of national representative intangible cultural heritage programs and the eighth batch of representative Guangdong intangible cultural heritage programs were awarded plaques. Guangdong Province has 18 programs that have been included in the fifth batch of national representative ICH program list and 115 programs in the eighth batch of representative Guangdong ICH program list.

The four-day event will display the charm of Guangdong's ICH programs through various forms, such as live performances, shopping festivals, creative markets and photo exhibitions. The Guangdong Intangible Cultural Heritage Market would open simultaneously at Sunwen West Road Pedestrian Street, with a total of 80 participating merchants.

The 2022 Intangible Cultural Heritage on Campus campaign was also launched at the openning ceremony.