Wang Hairong, chief reporter of Shenzhen Business Daily and Reading Client
On May 1, the "Colorful Nanyue Happiness Tour" Guangdong Province Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Series Activities and the 2024 Tea Garden Tour were held in Chashan Town, Dongguan City.
The tea garden tour will set up two main venues, Dongyue Park in Chashan Town and Nanshe Ming and Qing Ancient Villages, focusing on six major sections, including the Blessing Parade, the New Wonderful Bloom of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Colorful Countryside to Help the "Millions of Projects", the Integrated Development of Culture and Tourism, Civilization Sharing Activities, and the Chashan Food Culture Festival, organizing nearly 100 intangible cultural heritage, planning 24 theme activities and nearly 100 sub-activities. The event will run from May 1 to May 5.
Δ Pictured is a dragon dance performance at the launch ceremony. Photo by correspondent Chen Jiahao
The folk feast immersively opens the cultural feast
As a local event selected into the national intangible cultural heritage list, this tea garden tour takes the opportunity of being selected into the top 100 influential brands of national rural revitalization brand festivals and festivals, highlights the integration of intangible cultural heritage into life, empowers the "Millions and Thousands of Projects" to help high-quality development, and links the excellent intangible cultural heritage projects of the Greater Bay Area, the whole province, the whole city and the counterpart city of Dongguan - Ji'an City, and deeply creates a platform for intangible cultural heritage display and exchange.
Among them, the Blessing Parade is the highlight of the previous tea garden fairs. The parade is mainly organized by non-governmental spontaneous organizations, including the traditional prayer phalanx, the Longxing Langlu phalanx, the Guanji co-construction phalanx, the good example phalanx of Chashan Commune, the happy bay area phalanx, the food town phalanx, the fashion tide play phalanx, the town-school co-construction phalanx, the Humen tobacco sales phalanx, the lion dance and the Rui phalanx, and other ten phalanxes, which are composed of nearly 800 people.
Δ The picture shows the carp lantern performance in Ji'an, Jiangxi. Photo by correspondent Xie Ruijian
Among them, there are not only vibrant children's Cantonese opera actors, the beautiful Jiangxi Ji'an carp lantern, the domineering Jinggangshan Quantang lion lantern, but also the majestic young lion team and the heroic women's dragon team. The parade performers interacted frequently with the onlookers, fully demonstrating the development momentum of the traditional culture of Chashan passed down from generation to generation, thriving, and integrating internal and external affairs.
Compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, local food companies, and trendy toy enterprises who work and live in Chashan also formed a theme phalanx to show the development style of Chashan. Students from Dongguan Vocational and Technical College and Dongguan Commercial School also brought energetic dance performances, adding new vitality to the parade.
The parade team started from Dongyue Park and performed along the 1.5-kilometer parade route of Chaxing Road, Yihua Middle Road, Chayuan Road and Dongyue Road in Chashan Town, like a flowing ribbon, allowing the audience along the way to immerse themselves in the "cultural feast".
The ancient village event gathers intangible cultural heritage activities
The ancient village of the Ming and Qing dynasties in Nanshe is one of the main venues of this year's tea garden fair. With the opening of the tea garden fair, the ancient village that is comfortable on weekdays is instantly lively. A corner of the ancient village has been transformed into a vibrant intangible cultural heritage bazaar, where traditional handicrafts such as Cantonese embroidery (bead embroidery), Chashan dolls, Chashan silk lanterns, stone dragon awakening lion heads, and Guancheng lanterns are exhibited here, attracting the attention of many citizens and tourists. They either carefully selected and purchased unique intangible cultural heritage products, or experienced the production process of traditional handicrafts.
On the square of the ancient village, intangible cultural heritage items such as English song and dance, Jiangxi Ji'an carp lantern, and Jinggangshan lion lantern took turns to perform, either sonorous or exquisite, so that onlookers could see it fascinatingly.
In addition to lively cultural performances, there are also precious boutique exhibitions. The Nanshe Village Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall held the "Dragon Teng Jiachen" - 2024 Dragon-themed Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition, bringing together intangible cultural heritage products such as tide embroidery, Cantonese embroidery, bead embroidery, ceramics, carving, paper-cutting, and wheat straw painting created with the theme of "Dragon".
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the intangible cultural heritage display and sales with both movement and static, this tea garden tour also set up more than 10 activities such as food street, matchbox Dongguan City Art Time, agricultural interactive parade, Cantonese opera performance, light show, and night live performance. Many tourists dressed in Hanfu walked in the alleys of the ancient village, and the ancient charm of the national style that can be seen, appreciated and played is beautiful, as if they have traveled to ancient times, and the "immersive" experience is full.
"Traditional" and "fashionable" experience patterns
Chashan is a "famous food town in China" and "a famous town in China's brand garment manufacturing", and the annual tea garden fair is not only an embellishment of folk cultural life, but also a powerful driving force to promote industrial upgrading and tourism development. It integrates the cultural tourism practices of the new era such as rural tours, Wanfu banquets, respect for the elderly festivals, and galas, so that tourists can deeply feel the cultural charm and industrial strength of Chashan.
The food culture festival has brought a rich food experience to citizens and tourists, with new Internet celebrity food, authentic Laoguan flavor, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan flavors, trunk markets and other special areas, skillfully integrating the history and culture of Chashan with modern creative design, creating a traditional and fashionable food street.
The Chashan Town Food Industry Exhibition Hall linked up with 32 food industry enterprises in the town to hold the Chashan Food Famous Products Exhibition in the Ecological Food City, so that the public can enjoy sweeping the goods.
The souvenir market in Dongyue Square is a bit "trendy" - a variety of trendy toys and special products are dazzling, both local and creatively designed, making people forget to leave. Among them, Dongguan Play Fairy Tale Baby Products Co., Ltd., Guangdong Happy Cottage Toys Co., Ltd., Dongguan Baishiyuan Cultural Industry Co., Ltd., Huamei Food Group, Dongguan Jianmeizi Beverage Food Co., Ltd., etc., have attracted the attention of many young people, who are looking for their own "trend" mark here.
The cultural and creative products counter of the mascot "Fu Zai" of this tea garden parade is very eye-catching, with dolls, umbrellas, canvas bags, and "Fu Zai" cultural and creative ice cream...... The cultural and creative products that integrate intangible cultural heritage and trendy toys make traditional culture more relevant to the lives of the masses.
The power of civilized practice of volunteer service also plays an important role in the fair. Service booths such as legal popularization, legal aid, free health clinics, happy scissors, and charity sales were set up on site to provide a full range of services for the general public. These services not only enrich the content of the tea garden fair, but also bring real convenience to local residents.