Reporter Chai Yifei
"These lanterns are very beautiful, and they have increased our understanding of mainland cities." "Guessing lantern riddles requires certain skills, but it also requires knowledge and accumulation of traditional Chinese culture." It smells like home." The stars and moon are burning in the sky, and there are two Lantern Festivals in the sky on earth.
When the 15th day of the first lunar month arrives, compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait enjoy lantern flowers, guess lantern riddles, make glutinous rice balls, celebrate the festival, and enjoy the beautiful atmosphere of the reunion night of the full moon.
Celebrate the Lantern Festival
Knead the glutinous rice flour with water to form a dough, press it flat, put peanut filling on it and knead it tightly, and then round it with your hands, each handmade glutinous rice ball was born in the hands of Taiqing people not long after.
On the occasion of the Lantern Festival in the Year of the Tiger, some Taiwanese youth gathered at the Cross-Strait Community Exchange Center in Jin'an District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, to enjoy delicious food, talk about reunion, and experience the joyous atmosphere of the festival.
Li Jingji, who participated in the event, is a Taiwanese clerk at the service window for Taiwanese compatriots at the Fuzhou Citizen Service Center and the Fuzhou Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Service Center.
The second time I spent the Spring Festival in Fuzhou, and the first time I made dumplings myself, Li Jingji called this experience "very special".
"In the past, we used to buy ready-made dumplings for the Lantern Festival, and everyone gathered around to make bags and chat with each other. It felt like home."
Also in Fujian, the "Mazu Lantern Festival · Hometown Blessing" event was held on Meizhou Island, Putian.
Thousands of believers visited Mazu together, escorted the golden body of Mazu in Meizhou on a tour, and went to Shanglin's former residence to save their relatives, bringing the New Year's flavor of Meizhou Island to a climax.
Ping An Tower light show, Duwei drum music, "Puxian Ten Tones and Eight Music"...Meizhou Island is brightly lit at night, and various intangible cultural heritage performances are on stage. Everyone sings and dances to celebrate the Lantern Festival.
Many places in the mainland have held cross-strait youth celebrations for the Lantern Festival.
In Shenzhen, Guangdong, nearly 40 Taiwanese youths met in Qianhai to celebrate the Lantern Festival by wrapping glutinous rice balls, enjoying singing and dancing performances and violin performances.
"Taipei Pingxi put sky lanterns (Kongming lanterns), Penghu begging turtles (piling rice turtles) prayed for the people who touched the turtles, Tainan held salt water bee cannons..." At the scene, Taiwanese youth Lin Chuanen introduced the cultural connotation of the Lantern Festival and Taiwan Lantern Festival to everyone. Festival customs, and also used the Hokkien language to recite the formula of Penghu begging turtles.
Watching Chinese dramas, painting faces, making dumplings, watching lion dances, guessing lantern riddles... In the Ziyang Park in Wuhan, Hubei, the Wuhan Taiqing Spring Festival Lantern Festival was lively held. More than 20 people in Hantaiqing experienced traditional Chinese folk culture and Wuhan's customs. At the same time, feel the warmth of the festive season.
In the Desen Land Deed Museum of Wuhan City, which is also located in Ziyang Park, folk art shows such as lion dance, lotus picking boat, and clam shell essence are all staged.
At the end of the show, the two "lions" spit out a banner saying "Chu Feng Han Yun makes Lantern Festival with the same origin and the same family", which won bursts of applause from the scene.
same lantern
Taishun Covered Bridge, Ruian movable type printing, Yongjia Kunqu Opera, fine-grained lettering... A series of intangible cultural heritage elements are combined together with colorful lighting, showing the "Wenzhou characteristics" with a strong cultural flavor.
At the recent Taiwan Nantou Lantern Festival, a large-scale lantern group with the theme of intangible cultural heritage in Wenzhou, Zhejiang appeared on the scene, attracting Taiwanese people to stop and watch.
Everyone took pictures in front of the lanterns, read the introduction, and learned about the customs of mainland cities in a different way.
In addition to Wenzhou, nearly 10 mainland cities participated in the Nantou Lantern Festival this year, most of which were cities in Zhejiang Province.
At the scene of the Taipei Lantern Festival, the "Little Tiger Castle" from Shanghai was very popular.
The overall style of the lanterns outlines the design of childlikeness, play and interaction with the concept elements of a sense of technology. The background of the lanterns outlines the outline of Shanghai's urban buildings with LED neon lights, and the changing colors express the modern Shanghai city style.
The main body of the center is the castle shape of a cartoon tiger, with robots and aircraft on both sides, and young tourists are welcome to come and experience the interactive experience.
"This year, we can't watch the lantern festival with our family in Taipei, so let's take our family in Taipei to see the Lantern Festival in Shanghai." On the eve of the Lantern Festival, "husband and wife" Huang Jieni and Li Shixiang from Taipei, Taiwan recorded a video. , so that families far across the strait can appreciate the beauty of Shanghai Yuyuan lanterns.
The most striking thing in the park is that a "Zodiac Tiger" lamp group about 9 meters high stands in the central square, and also incorporates elements of aerospace and the Winter Olympics.
Guessing lantern riddles at the Lantern Festival is an important custom during the Lantern Festival.
During the Lantern Festival celebration for Taiwan compatriots in Qianhai, Shenzhen, the lantern riddle guessing session attracted many Taiwanese youths to interact.
In addition to the content of brain teasers, lantern riddles also combine literature with features such as Shenzhen landmarks and subway station names.
As soon as the riddle came out, many young Taiwanese scrambled to answer it.
"Sometimes the more words in the riddle, the easier it is, and the less words the more difficult." Li Kunan from Taiwan shared his experience of guessing lantern riddles.
mutual blessing
"Master Chen, Happy New Year. This year, I went to the Xiansi Palace in New Taipei City to see the lantern exhibition, and I found a few sets of lanterns that were particularly beautiful. I guess it is your work..." When the Lantern Festival came, Lantern Master, Taiwan Chinese Lantern Art Society The blessing video of former chairman Chen Zurong returning to worship Chen Baihua, the national inheritor of Qinhuai lanterns, became popular on the Internet.
The two inheritors of lantern skills exchanged blessings, recalled their past experiences of participating in cross-strait exchange activities, and discussed the craftsmanship of lantern production.
Chen Zurong was very moved that because he could not go to Taiwan in person, Chen Baihua hand-painted the installation renderings of each group of lanterns and sent them to New Taipei. He guided the installation of the lanterns through online video, and overcame difficulties to make the Qinhuai lanterns light up Taiwan.
Prior to this, cross-strait journalism veterans Fang Hanqi and Li Zhan, Taiwan veteran Gao Binghan and his younger brother Gao Bingtao, who settled in Xiamen, literary famous Bai Xianyong and Kunqu opera actor Yu Jiulin, and the clansmen of the same name in Quanzhou and Keelung City, all sent messages through social media. The congratulatory dialogue and New Year's greeting video aroused the enthusiastic attention of netizens in mainland China and Taiwan, and made compatriots on both sides of the strait feel warm.
"I use WeChat and other social media during the Chinese New Year, and basically nine out of ten are replying to the New Year congratulations from friends on both sides of the strait." Lin Gufang, the head of the Taipei Academy, said that whenever there is a chance, you should say your greetings aloud, and you will find people who resonate So much.
"I won't be discouraged about the future of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and that's why."