Folk art performances, delicacies, and amusing games are in store for the 2019 Guishan Island Country Tourism & Culture Festival when tourists and natives celebrate the birthday of Tin Hau (Goddess of the Sea Matsu) on Guishan Island from May 25 to 27.

Prizes worth more than 100,000 yuan ($14,490) include a Huawei P30 cellphone, Bed & Breakfast stays, ticket packages for two-person travel, a fish raft experience, consumption coupons, and sets of cultural-creative products.

Participants have only to pick up a map containing three travel routes and then collect stamps for each blank area on the back. Those who get all the stamps along a route will be able to rotate the Wheel of Fortune to win a prize. The first 50 with all the stamps each day can take part in a prize draw for the Huawei P30 on May 27.

Parade of Tin Hau statue

Route 1: Tin Hau Blessing Ceremony

There are four blessing spots along the route: Creative Fair (创意集市), Guishan Ferry Terminal Square (桂山码头广场), Guihai Fishing Village Square (桂海渔村广场) and Tin Hau Temple (天后庙), which respectively correspond to marriage, family, career, and fortune.

Visitors can obtain Tin Hau blessing plaques by inserting money into a charity box, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Guishan Tin Hau Council on May 27.

Thousand-seating evening feast

Route 2: Joyful Fair

More than 40 businesses will attend the Temple Fair, 25 of them with culinary delicacies and cultural-creative products.

On the menus are cobia sashimi, cheese-baked oysters, siganus oramin soup, steamed eggs with white clams, seafood noodle and casserole porridge, steamed Guishan sand clams, steamed dried fish, and chicken soup with fish maw, fish gelatin scallops and more.

For dessert, there are homemade snowflake crisps, Portuguese egg tarts, seaweed jellies, milk puddings, Hakka tea refreshments, taro balls, steamed vermicelli rolls, curry fish balls, and fish cakes.

In the meantime, cultural-creative products such as canvas bags, bookmarks, cellphone rings, key chains, and fridge magnets that feature Tin Hau elements can also be purchased. Also on sale are Guishan souvenirs including sun-proof oversleeves, T-shirts, caps, postcards, pearls, herbal dyed fabric and products, and handmade jewelry and ornaments. 

Families will catch goldfish, paint, pitch-pot, shoot arrows, and play other games.

A parade of tambourines, hula dances, square dances, Shatian Folk Song, dance flash mobs, and traditional Han clothing performances will highlight culture.

The films Operation Red Sea and Wolf Warriors II will be screened open air at 7:30 pm May 25 and 7:39 pm May 26 respectively.

Visitors can donate money in exchange for floating lanterns upon which to send blessings to the sea.

Steamed Guishan sand clams

Route 3: Tour of Guishan

Photos may be taken at recommended sites along the route: Lighthouse Park (灯塔公园), West Coast Sightseeing Corridor (西海岸观景长廊), Monument to the Martyrs of Guishan Warship (桂山舰英雄纪念碑), Leisure Fishery Wharf (休闲娱乐码头), Blue Coast (蓝色海岸), academy-themed inn GSmumianyaju (木棉雅居), and boutique B&B inn ToHome The Jade & The Tree (道禾璞树).

Schedule

9 am-8 pm -- Creative Fair

9 am-5 pm -- Folk Art Parade

6-8 pm -- Night Fair delicacies

7-8 pm -- Thematic Evening Gala with floating lanterns and open-air movies

The May 27 memorial ceremony of Tin Hau will bring the festival to a climax, with proceedings as follows:

10-10:50 am -- fishing boats circle the island to pay tribute to the sea

10:50-11 am -- lion dance stunts and grabbing lettuce (shēng cài, a homophone for making a fortune)

11-11:40 am -- parade of Tin Hau statue

11:40 am-5:30 pm -- sacrificial rites

5:30-6:30 pm -- cultural and art performances

7-9:10 pm -- thousand-seat evening feast and charity auction

Tin Hau, also known as Matsu and Mazu, is a legendary goddess of the Southern Sea who is appealed to by seafarers for wellbeing, prosperity, and favorable weather. Tin Hau's Birthday on Guishan Island is a municipal intangible cultural heritage dating back 200 to 300 years.

Floating lanterns [Photos courtesy WeChat account: tourzhuhai]

Transport:

Take ferries from Xiangzhou Port（香洲港）off Central Lovers Avenue（情侣中路）to Guishan Island. A single trip will take 45 minutes and feature views of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

Xiangzhou Port-Guishan Island

8:40/9:10/9:25/12:20/13:00/14:20/18:30

Guishan Island-Xiangzhou Port

10:25/11:10/13:30/14:00/17:00/17:30

Tel: 0756-2119915

Note: Frequency may be increased based on passenger volume and weather conditions.

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