The 2nd Madam Xian Culture Week opens on Dec 17, running for seven days. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2nd Madam Xian Culture Week ended on Dec 23 in Maoming, a coastal city in the west of South China's Guangdong province, where Madam Xian was born and governed about 1,500 years ago.

Madam Xian was a female leader and national heroine during the Liang (502-557), Chen (557-589), and Sui (581-618) dynasties. She was praised as "China's No 1 heroine" for her kind-heartedness to her people and her loyalty to the country by the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.

The seven-day event began on Dec 17. More than 50 themed cultural and folk events were launched across the city, covering opera performances, songs, and folk handicrafts.

A contest was organized to select the publicity ambassador for Madam Xian culture in the Beibu Gulf region, which consists of the western part of Guangdong, Hainan province, and part of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

"Madam Xian's kind-heartedness is the driving force of the city's reform and development in the new era," said Yuan Gujie, mayor of Maoming, at the opening ceremony of the culture week,

Maoming will further promote kind-heartedness, as well as make reform, innovations, and down-to-earth enterprising spirits a common theme of the city's development, added Yuan.

Ni Qian, head of the city's publicity bureau, said that the culture week is a concrete measure to boost the city's development through culture.

Yuan Gujie (C) and Ni Qian, head of Maoming's publicity bureau (fourth from right), attend the opening ceremony of the 2nd Madam Xian Culture Week on Dec 17. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]