Chinanews.com, Huzhou, February 5th (Reporter Shi Zinan) Along with the powerful sound of gongs and drums, 12 colorful long dragons danced up and down in rhythm, chasing each other, connecting end to end, and constantly changing formations, making people dizzying .

  On the 4th, the 23rd Qianlong Lantern Festival in Northern Zhejiang (Qianyuan Dragon Lantern Festival) opened in Qianyuan Town, Deqing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Through the dragon dance display parade, the "Dry City Like Brocade · Fengyue Yuanxi" market and other series Activities, let the public and tourists experience the traditional folk customs passed down from generation to generation in the ancient city of thousands of years.

  According to the records of Deqing county annals, the folk custom of dragon dance in Deqing was prevalent in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the dragon lantern festival became more lively in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Villagers make various kinds of paper lanterns such as dragon lanterns, horse lanterns, lion fish lanterns, and flower basket lanterns, and gather in the city to compete with each other.

  "The Qianyuan Dragon Lantern Festival is our traditional folk custom, and it has a special flavor of the year. Dragon dancing during the day and viewing lanterns at night is one of the characteristics of the Lantern Festival. The town has not been so lively for a long time." Among the crowd, Gu Yongxian, a villager of Qianyuan Town, led Watching the dragon dance team passing by, the 90-year-old mother was very moved.

  Thousands of string pipes are boiling this night, and the lanterns are far away for ten miles.

The noisy crowd set off the joy and peace of the lantern festival in the first lunar month.

In 2009, the Qianyuan Dragon Lantern Festival was listed as a representative item of intangible cultural heritage in Zhejiang Province. In 2013, it was selected as "Beautiful Intangible Cultural Heritage, Zhejiang New Year Customs" in Zhejiang Province.

  "Xingxing Qianlong's beard and hair are always fluttering and majestic. It expresses the people of Xingxing's yearning for a better life and best wishes to the people of the whole country. I hope that the motherland will be prosperous and strong, and the people will be happy and healthy." As the leader of the Xingxing Village Dragon Dance Team, Ni Jiangang has three generations in his family. Dragon dance has deep feelings for "dragon".

Villagers are dancing the dragon photo by Shi Zinan

  When he was a child, Ni Jiangang often heard his elders talk about the history of the Qianyuan dragon dance, and the spectacular scene of the dragon dance in the Lantern Festival every year, which was filled with thousands of people, often came to his mind.

  As the youngest member of the Xingxing Village Dragon Dance Team, Min Xubin, who was born in 1999, participated in a large-scale performance for the first time, and he seemed particularly young.

He told reporters that dragon dancing seems simple, but it actually requires solid basic skills and the coordination of the whole body, so it can only be practiced hard.

  "The Qianyuan Dragon Lantern Festival has a long history, and the custom of dragon dancing has been passed down from generation to generation. It has become an important cultural inheritance of Qianyuan Town." Min Xubin hopes that he can inherit this precious rural memory and contribute to the inheritance and innovation of rural culture. .

  Strolling through the ancient town, there is an old-fashioned charm everywhere, telling moving stories.

For more than 20 years, the Qianyuan Dragon Lantern Festival has offered a cultural feast full of New Year flavor, and also built cultural bridges for interconnection.

  Xiong Zhuoyue, Member of the Standing Committee of the Deqing County Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Committee of Qianyuan Township, said bluntly that after 3 years, visitors from all over the world gathered offline again to enjoy the street lamps for ten miles. It is a response to the trend to strengthen the cultural tourism industry.

Overlooking the dragon dance parade Photo by Shi Zinan

  Xiong Zhuozhuo introduced that this lantern festival will connect the Changqiao Lane and the square stage in the town, gather seven scenes, and achieve breakthroughs in content, performing arts, commerce, and entertainment. Let the people love Qianyuan more and understand Qianyuan more while savoring the customs of the year and enjoying lanterns.

  With the "meeting" as a medium, Qianyuan is gathering the enthusiasm of the people to build and share together. The prospects for coordinated and common development of towns and villages are promising. A thousand-year-old city with strong development capabilities and high construction standards is about to emerge.

  "The Qianyuan Dragon Lantern Festival is a wonderful start, and it is also a microcosm of the revival of our ancient city in the ascendant." Xiong Zhuozhuo said that the town will continue to shoulder the important task of developing "moral culture", inherit the essence of the millennium, and perform modern splendor.

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