The First Doumen District Folk Culture Fair featuring folk art shows, competitions, and sightseeing will open in Lianzhou Town on Aug 28, further invigorating local folk cultural legacies.

Organized by the Lianzhou Town Government and the Press, Publication, Radio, Film & Television Bureau of Doumen District, the daylong fair will highlight such folk customs as Boating Tug-of-War, Dragon Boat Cruise, Fish Cage Weaving, Lion Dance, Burning Bamboo Stick Incense, and Fire Dragon Dance. In addition, there will be intangible cultural heritage food and photography exhibitions; and fun games such as the Duck-Catching Contest involving both tourists and locals.

Local delicacies, including Dachikan Open Flame Roast Pork & Spare Ribs, Hakka Salt Tea, Wormwood Rice Cake, Hushan Jinchao Pipa Duck, Hengshan Preserved Duck Bundle (Ya Zha Bao), and Lianzhou Bean Paste Mooncake will be available. All will be free of charge except the Ya Zha Bao and Mooncake due to their higher costs, said Shen Junxiao, head of the Doumen Cultural Center and organizer of the event.

Dachikan Open Flame Roast Pork

According to Shen, Aug 28 was chosen as the big day because it’s both a Sunday and close to the date of Burning Bamboo Stick Incense on the 30th of the seventh lunar month -- a provincial intangible cultural heritage item.

The opening ceremony and Boating Tug-of-War will be held in Xijiao Village of Lianzhou Town in the morning. In the afternoon, fair-goers will move to the town’s cultural center for the Lion Dance, Fish Cage Weaving Contest, and other shows.

The grand finale in the evening will be the Fire Dragon Dance, a major ritual of the Burning Bamboo Stick Incense folk custom. Numerous incenses will be stuck on wooden sticks as handles for the female carriers. A sacrifice to the King of the Inferno to pray for good weather for crops, the rite is over 260 years old in Doumen District. It originated on Jiuhua Mt in Anhui 1,200 years ago. 

On-Water Wedding of Doumen [Photos by Zhang Zhou / Zhuhai Daily]

In addition to the two national-level cultural heritages -- Catching Mudfish and On-Water Weddings, Doumen District possesses six provincial-level heritages, including Piao’se Street Procession, Burning Bamboo Stick Incense, Hengshan Preserved Duck Bundle (Ya Zha Bao), and Doumen Zhao Clan Imperial Family Sacrificial Rites.

The district also has 16 municipal-level cultural heritage items, such as Doumen Gong & Drum Cabinet, Lianzhou Di'se Land-Boat Procession, Hakka Salt Tea, Lion Dances, Buddhist Boxing, Hushan Jinchao Pipa Duck, and Lianzhou Grain Worm. Another 24 have been listed as district-level ones. These include Shatian Folk Song, Making Vegetable Tea on the evening of the 13th day of the first lunar month, and Wormwood Rice Cake.

To further protect and preserve cultural heritages, Lianzhou Town is building its second Ecological Reserve for On-Water Weddings, and has designated Hengshan as an inheritance base for Preserved Duck Bundle. Qianwu Town has set up an association for Piao’se Street Procession, and has planned a vast-area Ecological Reserve for Mudfish.

In the meantime, Shili Lianjiang Scenic Area will be turned into an exhibition area where visitors will be able to see and taste cultural heritage shows and foods year around.

Schedule of the fair:

1. Opening Ceremony, Duck Catching Contest, Boating Tug-of-War, Dragon Boat Cruise

   9:30-11:30 am, Aug 28

   Xijiao Village, Lianzhou Town

2. Fish Cage Weaving, Lion Dance 

   2:30-5:30 pm, Aug 28

   Cultural Center of Lianzhou Town

3. Cultural Heritage Food Exhibition

   2:30-5:30 pm, Aug 28

   Cultural Center of Lianzhou Town

4. Intangible Cultural Heritage Photography Exhibition

   Aug 28 

   Cultural Center of Lianzhou Town

5. Burning Bamboo Stick Incense & Fire Dragon Dance 

   7 pm, Aug 28  

   Hengshan Village, Lianzhou Town