Thousands of local women took to the streets clad in traditional Manchu gege (princess) attire - 10-cm-long, healed "horse shoes"; mesh hair accessories; and high-collared cloaks with side slits - to greet the Olympic torch when it passed through Jilin province's Songyuan and Jilin cities on Tuesday.

Dancers perform at the launching ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in Songyuan City, northeast China’s Jilin Province, on July 15, 2008.

Because both cities were cradles of the Manchu nationality, they highlighted local tradition in their relay celebration.

The relay started at 7 am in Songyuan, which gained municipal status in 1992.

Three rivers - the Songhua, the Nenjiang and the Lalin - run through the city, which has long been called "an oil city, a grain store, a meat store, a sea of trees and a place of fish".

Bordering the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Liaoning province, Songyuan is also a major hub for ethnic Mongolians.

In addition to a grand dance performance by 1,000 Manchu gege, the city's relay ceremony featured a group performance by 2,008 Mongolian matouqin (a local two-stringed fiddle) players, aged from 10 to 65, setting a new Guinness World Record.

"The matouqin is a unique cultural symbol for us Mongolians," 46-year-old performer Narisu said. "We wish that such traditional culture would be passed down from generation to generation, just like the torch's flame is passed from one place to another."

Players in traditional dress of Mongolian ethnic group play Matouqin, a bowed-stringed musical instrument with a scroll carved like a horse’s head, during the launching ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in Songyuan City, northeast China’s Jilin Province, on July 15, 2008.