- Arirang Festival
The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang are held in the
Rungnado May Day Stadium inPyongyang ,North Korea to celebrate the late Communist leaderKim Il-sung 's birthdate onApril 15 . The opening event of the two month festival are themass games , which are famed for the huge mosaic pictures created by thousands of very well trained and disciplined school children, each holding up coloured cards, in an event known in the West as a "card stunt ", accompanied by complex and highly choreographed group routines performed by tens of thousands of gymnasts and dancers.In
August 2007 , the Arirang Mass Games were recognised byGuinness World Records as the biggest event of its kind. In recent years, theDPRK has opened up the reclusive state to foreign tourists to watch one of the many performances. [ [http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKSEO29172020070827 uk.reuters.com "North Korea halts showcase mass games due to flood"] ]References
External links
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1959610.stm BBC News article from 2002]
* [http://1stopkorea.com/nk-trip5.htm Account by Western visitor]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1582380,00.html Strangest Show on Earth - Guardian 2005]
* [http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=861907&page=&vc=1&PHPSESSID=#Post861907 North Korea Uncovered] , (North Korea Google Earth) See the May Day stadium where Arirang is held and its surroundings on Rungra Island. You can also visit the Kim il Sung stadium and East Pyongyang Stadium where Mass Games have been held in the past.Further reading
* [http://www.north-korea-books.com/servlet/the-265/MASS-GYMNASTICS-IN-KOREA/Detail Mass Gymnastics in Korea] , Foreign Languages Publishing House, Pyongyang, North Korea, 2002, Softcover, 48 pages
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