A well-known city in Guangdong province, Guangzhou boasts a rich variety of folk customs. On the basis of celebrating traditional festivals, it has developed 8 events with strong local flavors. All these add color to the beautiful "Flower City" of Guangzhou.

There exist a number of folk customs at the end of the year as eating Reunification Meal, boiling rice dumplings, lantern show, flower fair strolling, bonus bag presenting, peach flower planting, etc. Others include the grave cleaning, dragon boat competition, moon cake enjoyment during the Mid Autumn Festival, mountain climbing on the double Ninth Day. etc. In daily life, people will find the following customs: morning tea, midnight refreshments, sugar water drink, liangcha, over boiled soup, and the chafing dish,etc. For amusement, people can enjoy lion dance, turtle dance, flower festival, chrysanthemum festival, flowery boat and plain lantern decoration.

Lion Dance

Lion dance is a folk recreational and sporting activity, which imitates the movement of lions. On festival days, there usually is a parade of lion dances with the dancers holding the lion head up and down either to show the lion's roar or its native charm to the strong rhythm of gongs and drums.

By the end of Ming Dynasty and at the beginning of Qing dynasty (17th century), lion dance had become popular in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. Lion head is often made of paper and lion body of cloth. One dancer holds the lion head in front, his assistant holds the lion body following him, and another dancer wearing a big Buddha mask teasing the lion to jump according to the rhythm of the music. The image of lion differs between the south and the north. That of Guangzhou's lion is more symbolic, showing different gestures as sleeping, jumping, climbing, roaring, welcoming guests, etc. Of the south lion style, there are subdivisions as the Heshan Shape and Foshan Shape as well as the Black and the Red.

Nowadys, lion dance is most popular during the Spring Festival in Guangzhou.Of all folk art performance groups, Guangzhou Workers' Awakening Lion Association is the most famous, often taking the lead on grand occasions of lion dances to welcome the spring.

Lantern Festival

As everywhere in China, Lantern Festival in Guangzhou takes place on 5th of the first lunar month.

As early as in the southern Han period, lanterns were lit all night in the Changshou Temple to usher in a coming harvest year and compete against the moonlight. Now on the festival all public places are decorated with lanterns, and some are even graced with exhibitions of flowers, fruit pots, fine arts and photography in addition to lantern riddles. Citizens hang lanterns at home while children play lanterns on streets in celebration of the festival. There are varieties of lanterns, mainly the palace lantern, silk lantern, gauze lantern, flower and fruit lantern. dragon lantern and lantern tower, the last two of which are the large ones with a few dozens of lanterns joined together to make a lantern parade.
Therefore, the Guangzhou Lantern Festival serves as an exhibition of folk lantern art. Held in Yuexiu Park, the Mrtyrs' Mausoleum and the Guangzhou Cultural Park, the local exhibition is often joined by lanterns from those famous lantern production places as Zigong in Sichuan Province and Datong on Shanxi province.

Double-ninth Day

Climbing High on the Double Ninth Day is a traditional custom observed every year on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month. It was meant to be an auspicious activity. People are used to climbing high, cleaning tombs, and flying kites. Since 1970s, tomb cleaning and kite flying have gradually given way to climbing. Baiyun and Yuexiu mountains are the prime choice of the climbers who are as many as 200,000 every year. Some young people would even do the night climbing on the eve of the day in order to enjoy the sunrise in the next morning

Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival in Guangzhou dates back a thousand years ago at least, held on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month each year. It had been a royal sport until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when it became a popular one in Guangzhou. In the old days, dragon boat was very large, said to be over 30 meters long and over 2 meters high. There sat 6 to 7 people on the neck and the forehead, 12 to 14 people on the central pavilion and no less than 70 to 80 people to row or to beat drums and gongs. Some boat even had 15-meter long mast for about 80 performers to play 50 kinds of acrobatic items on. Nowadays, dragon boat is small in size and more sporty.

Guangdong Dragon Boat Festival dominates the celebration activities on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. It has become an international event since1995, held once a year on the beautiful Pear river. Participants include several dozen dragon boats from all over China and other countries as the US, Canada, Australia and Singapore in addition to Local ones of Guangzhou.

Editor: Catherine