【Network China Festival, Lantern Festival】"Two Horses and Spring Lantern Festival" for 20 years Matsu villagers enjoy flower lanterns in Rong

[News Page-Taiwan Straits Network]

The picture shows that on the 11th, people on both sides of the strait took a group photo at the lantern festival of "two horses and the same spring and lantern festival". Photo by Yan Xu

Fuzhou, 11 Feb (China News Service) -- Title: "Two Horses celebrate the Lantern Festival in the Same Spring" for 20 years The mazu villagers enjoyed the lanterns in Rongrong

"I'm from Fuzhou. I am a Changle person. On the evening of the 11th, Cao Erzhong, a well-known figure in Matsu whose ancestral home is Changle in Fuzhou, came to Fuzhou Mawei with his wife and children to visit the lanterns of the "Two Horses and Spring Lantern Festival" lanterns.

The Lantern Festival of the Year of the Tiger in the Lunar Calendar is approaching, and the 20th "Two Horses and Spring Lantern Festival" jointly organized by the Fuzhou Mawei Economic and Cultural Exchange and Cooperation Center and the Matsu Economic, Trade and Cultural Exchange Association will be held here, and the Matsu villagers who celebrate the Festival in Rong will be invited to "enjoy the lanterns and make the Lantern Festival".

Since the signing of the Fuzhou Mawei-Matsu Agreement on Strengthening People-to-People Exchanges and Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as the "Two Horses" Agreement) in 2001, Mawei and Matsu have achieved two-way direct flights, economic and trade exchanges and personnel exchanges have become more and more active, and cultural and sports exchanges have also steadily advanced. "Two Horses and Horses celebrate the Lantern Festival in the same spring" has become an important brand of cross-strait cultural exchanges, and the "Mawei Matsu Lantern Festival Customs" was also jointly declared by both sides of the Straits and was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

Cao Erzhong is one of the signatories of the "Two Horses" Agreement, witnessing and personally experiencing the development of non-governmental exchanges and exchanges between the "two Horses". That night, he carried a small tiger flower lantern and watched the brilliant lanterns along the Mawei East Riverside Avenue, and he was full of emotions.

"The 'Lantern Festival of Two Horses and Spring' from the simple holding in the early days to the exchange of lanterns later, every year during the Lantern Festival, the lanterns in Mawei light up the night sky of Matsu, so that the people of Matsu can enjoy the atmosphere of 'two horses and the same spring Lantern Festival'." Cao Erzhong said that the Lantern Festival originally symbolized reunion, and it was of special significance for the "two horses" people to share the Lantern Festival.

This year's "Two Horses and Spring Lantern Festival" activity, with the theme of "Prosperous Lights, Shining Two Horses". In order to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control, Mawei has arranged four chapter light groups in Dongjiangbin Park, Shipyard Area of Shipbuilding Culture City, Characteristic Historical and Cultural Block, Luoxing Pagoda Park, etc., "Shengshi Song Yin Tiger Spring", "Light of Ship Administration Two Horses Strong Love", "Red And Red Fire Brilliant Night", "Two Horses Strong Love and The Same Root".

Located in Dongjiangbin Park, the large-scale flower lantern "Meng Hu YingChun", on the left side represents the horsetail with the characteristic building of the horsetail, and on the right represents Matsu with "landmarks" such as the Tianhou Temple and the Dongyin Pagoda.

What moved Cao Erzhong the most was that the two "horses" characters on the lanterns were written tightly together to form a "horse", which became the logo of the "two horses and the same spring Lantern Festival" activity. "This means that our 'two horses' are in the same heart, 'two horses' are working together, and everyone is working together." He believes that with such empathy on both sides of the strait, the road to peaceful and stable development can be expected.

"The living circle of the Matsu people is connected to Fuzhou, and matsu villagers often come to Fuzhou for shopping, and Fuzhou has become a part of our lives." Cao Erzhong said that Fuzhou City's proposal to build a "Fuma Common Home" is a vision that the people of the two places look forward to and believes will help Matsu develop better.

Liu Lianguan, a fellow Matsu villager and director of the Fuzhou Office of the Cross-Strait Tourism Association of Taiwan Straits, has been committed to promoting kinmen, matsu, and Penghu sightseeing tours on the mainland. While watching the lanterns, he also made a New Year's wish: I hope that the Year of the Tiger will be smooth and smooth, and the mainland people will travel to Matsu safely and safely as soon as possible.

This Spring Festival, Liu Lianguan was busy visiting relatives and friends in his ancestral hometown of Changle and experiencing the same New Year customs as Matsu. Liu Lianguan expressed the hope that the construction of the "Fuma Common Home" will make the tourism of the two places more and more integrated. "Looking forward to the early end of the epidemic, we invite residents from Fujian to visit Matsu and Kinmen."

In the Shipyard Area of Mawei Shipyard Culture City, the light group in the shape of Mawei characteristic building is named "Two Horses and One Spring", such as open arms, embracing guests from all directions. Lin Hebin, deputy director of the Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Mawei District, Fuzhou City, said that in the design of the lanterns, this year's lantern festival highlights the characteristic elements of Fujian's "Fu" culture, the characteristics of the "two horses" folk customs, and the new appearance of the horsetail, and shows the feelings of the two sides of the strait. (China News Service reporter Yan Xu Source: China News Network)