Visiting temple fairs is a traditional folk cultural activity unique to China that integrates eating, drinking and playing. It is also a kaleidoscope that the land of China dazzles the common people with dazzling colors. So what are the famous temple fairs in China? This post introduces you to the top ten famous temple fairs in China.
1. Taihaoling Temple Fair (Zhoukou, Henan)
Taihao Fuxi’s Mausoleum is located 1.5 kilometers north of Huaiyang County, Henan Province. Because it is the mausoleum of the “ancestor of humanities” of the Chinese nation, it is called “the first mausoleum in the world”. Taihao Fuxi Mausoleum Sacrifice: Every year from February 2 to March 3 of the lunar calendar, the ancestors’ incense ceremony is held in Taihao Mausoleum in Huaiyang County, Henan Province. The ritual activities of the ancestor of the humanities in Taihaoling lasted for thousands of years. During the festival, temple fairs were also held, which lasted more than a month, but the most lively was the 10 days from February 10th to February 20th, February 14th to February. The three days on the 16th can be said to be the highest peak of the festival. The crowds walking around the party are one after another, with tens of thousands of people moving, reaching more than 200,000 people every day. In 2008, it was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as “the temple fair with the largest number of visitors in a single day (approximately 825,000)”. The Taihaoling Temple Fair became the largest and oldest folk temple fair in China, and Taihao Fuxi was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The festival was selected into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006. The clay toys such as “mud dogs” and “tigers” sold at the temple fair have been hailed as “true totems” and “living fossils” by some domestic and foreign experts and scholars.
Temple Fair Time: Every year from February 2 to March 3 of the lunar calendar
Location: 1.5 kilometers north of Huaiyang County, Zhoukou City, Henan Province
2. Zhongyue Temple Fair (Dengfeng, Henan)
Zhongyue Temple Fair has a long history. The Zhongyue Temple Fair has been preserved since the Tang and Song Dynasties. The Zhongyue Temple Fair originated from the sacrificial offerings of the ancient rulers to the mountains. In Song Dynasty, the political and the road were united, and the Zhongyue Temple Fair entered its heyday. Zhongyue Temple is not only a place to worship Zhongyue God, but also an important Taoist temple. It was originally set up to worship Zhongyue God. As a folk cultural activity with a long history in Songshan area, it has a history of more than a thousand years. Ancient customs such as worshipping godfather and touching the iron man have also been passed down with the temple fair to this day. There are also traditional art performances such as lion dance, dry boat, stilts, and fire dragon dance. You can also see various souvenir “mascots” with strong beliefs, such as various long life locks, jade ruyi, treasure gourds, sachets, Evil sword, zodiac stone, etc. The Zhongyue Temple Fair lasts up to 10 days. Whenever a temple fair is held, people from all over the Central Plains come together to gather in Dengfeng, with a maximum of 200,000 people per day.
Temple Fair Time: Every year, there are two sessions from the fifth to fifteenth day of the third month of the lunar calendar and the fifth to fifteenth day of the tenth month
Location: Zhongyue Temple, 4 kilometers east of Dengfeng County, Henan Province
3. Ditan Temple Fair (Beijing)
The Ditan Temple Fair was held in 1985 and has been successfully held for 34 sessions until 2020. One session is more than one session. It is well-known both at home and abroad for its high artistic taste and distinctive national characteristics. Its scenery is known as the modern “Shanghe River on Qingming Festival”. And the Chinese carnival. Visiting Ditan temple fairs during the Spring Festival is a custom that the people of Beijing have followed for many years. As the earliest temple fair restored in Beijing, the Temple Fair of Ditan Spring Festival Culture is famous in Beijing for its authentic folk customs and traditional folk characteristics. Between the red walls and green tiles of the ancient altar, the green pines and cypresses, and the altar halls, the bustling flow of people, a dazzling array of goods, different local snacks, colorful cultural activities and other market elements are incorporated, forming a unique modern Folklore picture scroll. Each temple fair attracts more than a million tourists, making it the most influential temple fair.
Temple Fair Time: Held from the first day to the seventh day of the Lunar New Year every year
Location: Ditan Park, Andingmenwai Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing
4. Junxian Temple Fair (Hebi, Henan)
Junxian Temple Fair, also known as Junxian First Moon Temple Fair, is an ancient traditional folklore and folk religious cultural activity in Junxian County, Henan Province. The ancient temple fair of the first month in Junxian County originated from the time when the Emperor Shile of the Zhao Dynasty excavated the Tongshan Giant Buddha, and has a history of 1600 years. With the development and changes of the town of Junxian for more than a thousand years, the scale of temple fairs has gradually expanded. In the Ming Dynasty, the basic scale of the ancient temple fair of the first month in Junxian was formed. Nowadays, the Junxian New Year Old Temple Fair, known as the “First Ancient Temple Fair in North China”, lasts for one month from the first day of the first month to the second day of February. It has a long period and a large scale. It maintains the characteristics of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and attracts the Shanxi, Hebei, Hubei, and Anhui provinces. There are millions of pilgrims and tourists from the surrounding 20 provinces and cities, as well as at home and abroad. There are as many as tens of thousands of tourists from all over the surrounding areas every day, and there are more than 500,000 at peak times. In November 2014, it was included in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative items.
Temple Fair Time: the first day of the first month to the second day of February
Location: Jun County, Hebi City, Henan Province
5. Taishan Temple Fair (Taian, Shandong)
Taishan Mountain Temple Fair, also known as Taishan Temple Fair, specifically refers to the ancestral court of Dongyue Temple-Taishan Mountain Temple as the main venue for activities. It is produced by celebrating the birthdays of Emperor Dongyue and Bixia Yuanjun. It is a regular religious ritual, A comprehensive activity integrating culture, entertainment, and commercial trade. Since the Song Dynasty, the 28th of the third month of the lunar calendar, the birthday of the Emperor Dongyue, has been designated as the sacrificial day, thus forming the fixed period of the Dongyue Temple fair. The Taishan Temple Fair in 1991 lasted for six days, with 1.2 million attendees. The Taishan Temple Fair was expanded in 1992, with Hongmen Road as the central axis, starting from Baihequan in the south, Guandi Temple in the north, Puzhao Temple in the west, and Queen Mother Pond in the east. The scope reached one square kilometer, and the duration of the event was also extended to ten days. From 2009 to 2020, the Taishan Mountain Temple Fair has been successfully held for 10 consecutive sessions. Today, Taishan Mountain Temple Fair is a model of temple fair culture in my country and even the world. In the development process, its influence radiates across the country and becomes the source of Dongyue temple fairs everywhere. In 2008, it was included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Temple Fair Time: Every year from March 31 to May 7 in the Gregorian calendar
Location: Daimiao Scenic Area, No. 7 Chaoyang Street, Taishan District, Tai’an City, Shandong Province
6. Shengjin Pagoda Temple Fair (Nanchang, Jiangxi)
Since its establishment in 2002, the Shengjin Pagoda Temple Fair has been successfully held for 18 sessions until 2020. Relying on the authentic Nanchang characteristics, profound cultural heritage, and long-standing folk customs, Shengjinta Temple Fair has won many awards such as “Top 50 Chinese Festivals”, “China’s Most Local Festive Festivals”, and “Millions of Citizens Visiting Temple Fairs”. It has become a platform for folk customs exchanges during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day in our city, a brand for economic and trade exchanges, and a business card for foreign exchanges. During the temple fair, there is no shortage of traditional Chinese cultural performances, including crosstalk, sketches, acrobatics, song and dance, and opera performances, as well as intangible cultural performances such as Nanchang tea picking opera, Gan opera, Sichuan opera face-changing, Yuzhang Hanfu display and other non-legacy performances with local characteristics.
Temple Fair Time: From late September to October every year
Location: Shengjin Tower, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province
7. Longhua Temple Fair (Shanghai)
Shanghai Longhua Temple Fair is one of the famous temple fairs in East China, and its production time can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, Longhua Temple is the dojo of Maitreya Bodhisattva. Every time Maitreya Bodhisattva becomes a Budai monk on Nirvana, Longhua Temple will hold a grand memorial ceremony, which is mainly based on the water and land dojo. In the Ming Dynasty, the Longhua Temple Fair developed from a single Buddhist temple fair to a comprehensive temple fair compatible with commerce and entertainment. In the Qing Dynasty, temple fairs were combined with the custom of peach blossom viewing. The first day was pushed from the third day of the third lunar month to March 15th. The scale and influence were further expanded, entertainment content also increased, and the temple fair entered its heyday. After the 1920s, the Longhua temple fair was transformed from a rural temple fair to an urban temple fair. After the founding of New China, the government participated in the organization of the Longhua Temple Fair, making the temple fair end its spontaneous state and enter a new stage. In 2008, it was included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Temple Fair Time: Every year on the third day of the third lunar month
Location: No. 2853, Longhua Road, Longhua Town, Xuhui District, Shanghai
8. Longtan Lake Temple Fair (Beijing)
The Longtan Lake Temple Fair was founded in 1984 and has been held for 36 sessions by 2020. The Longtan Lake Temple Fair is a traditional large-scale mass cultural event during the Spring Festival in Beijing. It not only has a wide range of influence in China, but also has a certain reputation in the world. Every time at the Longtan Lake Temple Fair, there will be folk performances, flower fairs, car exhibitions, etc., and there will be various snacks such as sesame crisps, fried lotus roots, and fried huitou. The Longtan Lake Temple Fair is a grand event for the people, and its success is further It demonstrates the vitality of Beijing’s development and highlights the unique charm of a modern urban cultural and leisure area.
Temple Fair Time: Every year from the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar to the fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar
Location: Longtan Park, No. 8 Longtan Road, Dongcheng District, Beijing
9. Fengdu Temple Fair (Chongqing)
Fengdu Temple Fair has a long history as a national intangible cultural heritage. In the old days, there were many temples on famous mountains, and every temple’s main god’s birthday, there would be incense ceremonies, as many as 35 times throughout the year. Since the Ming Dynasty, the Fengdu Temple Fair has been held on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. Legend has it to commemorate the wedding anniversary of Emperor Yan Luo and his wife Lu Ying. Every day, tourists and pilgrims flock to each other. ,Crowded. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the ghost city temple fair was once suspended. On April 18, 1988, Fengdu County held the first Ghost Town Temple Fair. On the basis of retaining the original characteristics of the temple fair, it added economic and trade negotiations, material exchanges, etc. The main line was the marriage of the son of a cloudy sky, and the colorful folk culture and variety were integrated. The folk skills and local specialties of the country have formed a large-scale regional festival that integrates folklore, ornamental and experience. In 2014, it was listed as the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Temple Fair Time: Every year on the third day of the third lunar month
Location: Fengdu County, Chongqing City
10. Guangfu Temple Fair (Guangzhou, Guangdong)
Guangfu Temple Fair is a carnival initiated and organized by the Guangzhou Municipal Government during the Chinese New Year. It integrates local and northern elements (the local tradition is the God Festival Market). It was established in 2011 after the Yuexiu District Government of Guangzhou used the Asian Games to restore the Chenghuang Temple. The Lantern Festival begins the first “Temple Fair”. By 2020, 9 sessions have been successfully held. The event period is from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of the first month of the lunar calendar. During the period, there are 10 themed activities such as puppet gathering, Chinese unique skills, martial arts convention and Lantern Festival Lantern Festival. It also includes many additional activities such as blessing, folklore, food, business and leisure. Among them, the City God’s Birthday was made part of this official event, and the Guangzhou City God’s Outbound Tour will be combined with various folk cultures to display to tourists and others.
Temple Fair Time: Every year from the 15th to the 21st of the first month of the lunar calendar
Venue: Guangdong Provincial People’s Stadium (No. 18 Jiaochang West Road, Yuexiu District, near China Plaza)