Shenzhen, a pioneering city of China's reform and opening-up in Guangdong province, refused to take part in  the province's second farmers' games by claiming there are no farmers in the city, sparking a nationwide debate, China Central Television reported Wednesday.

Sun Xinhua, spokesman of Shenzhen's agricultural and fishery bureau,explained that the modern city has no permanent resident farmers so it would be inappropriate to attend the Guangdong Farmer's Games held from Oct 20 to 28 in Jiangmen city.

The bureau said there had been no farmers since urbanization in 2004 and the province game rules state that all farmers must have been registered as agricultural residents or transferred to urban permits no earlier than January 2005.

After numerous negotiations, the city finally sent a delegation to attend the opening ceremony and only to perform yangko - a traditional Chinese folk dance created by the farmers when they worked in the rice field hundreds of years ago.

The move has sparked a debate in the media with many praising the city's honesty for not sending a team of "pretended" farmers.

Some experts even doubted the necessity of holding such games as there are already lots of national comprehensive games already held in China.

Unlike other games, the farming athletes can even get compensation for loss of work, besides free food and accommodation.

Shenzhen sent a delegation to the First Guangdong Provincial Farmer's Games held in 1988, but all the agricultural registered permanent residents switched to urban permits in 2004 due to urbanization in all villages.