Xiquets de Hangzhou information

Xiquets de Hangzhou (Chinese: 桃花庄 - 人塔俱乐部; pinyin: Táohuāzhuāng - Réntǎ Jùlèbù; lit. 'Club of human towers of the peach flower village') is a Chinese castellers group in Deqing, about 40 km to the northwest of Hangzhou in East China.^[1]

The group was created on the initiative of Qian Anhua, who discovered the Catalan tradition of castellers on a trip to Catalonia in 2009. Anhua, president of the Chinese textile company Antex (De Qing) Fashion Clothes Co. Ltd, decided to import castellers to his textile colony as a social activity for the employees.^[2] The group initiated their activity in May 2010, as a result of a visit from Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls to Shanghai for the International Exhibition.^[3] Xiquets de Hangzhou is the most successful colla exterior (castells team outside the Catalan-speaking region). Their best castells are the 3 de 9 amb folre, the 2 de 8 amb folre, the 3 de 8, the 5 de 7 and the 3 de 7 amb l'agulla.^[4]

The relationship between Xiquets de Hangzhou and Colla Vella is very close, with Colla Vella traveling to Deqing in 2010 and 2015 and Xiquets de Hangzhou traveling to Catalonia in 2012 (to help Colla Vella in the contest of castells of Tarragona) and 2015.^[2]

On October 1, 2016, the group became the first-ever colla exterior to participate in the Concurs de Castells de Tarragona, the casteller world's largest gathering. They amazed spectators by completing a challenging 3 de 9 amb folre, a 2 de 8 amb folre, and a 4 de 8.^[5][6]