Xiang Fuchang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Xiang Fuchang, Male, Han, from Zigui, Hubei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Dragon Boat Festival (Ⅹ-3). The tradition is documented in Zigui, Hubei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Dragon Boat Festival in Zigui, Hubei: The Duanwu festival at Zigui is the place where the legacy of Chu is strongest. The Qu Yuan shrine, Qu Yuan Tuo, Xiangxi River and the old streets before the relocation of the Three Gorges reservoir area together form the venues of this festival: altars are set before the shrine, races are held on the river, and the ferry in the gorge serves as a natural grandstand. From the Ming dynasty onward, Zigui farmers formed their own Saotan Poetry Society, and the literary practice of reciting Chu ci, composing fu and echoing verses at Duanwu has never truly been interrupted; today inheritors such as the poet Chen Qicai still chant the Chu ci in the ancient Chu mode, devoting themselves each Duanwu to sacrifices, poetry gatherings and threshing-ground entertainments. In the countryside, mugwort and calamus, glutinous rice cakes (zongba) and realgar wine are the seasonal essentials; between villages, boat processions, epidemic-boat sendings and deity invocations all follow the old rules, so that ritual custom and poetic chanting are layered into a single whole in this place. The Xu Qixie Ji and the Jingchu Suishi Ji record that after the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties, the Dragon Boat Festival came to be combined with the commemoration of Qu Yuan. Beginning in the Ming dynasty, farmers in Zigui spontaneously organized the “Saotan Poetry Society”, reciting Chu ci poetry or composing fu at the Dragon Boat Festival and echoing one another's verses, a practice unique among Dragon Boat Festival customs throughout China.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Xiang Fuchang is anchored in the documented technical standards of Dragon Boat Festival in Zigui, Hubei. Within the documented technical tradition of Dragon Boat Festival in Zigui, Hubei: “Five-five (in the lunar calendar), we spend Duanwu.” The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. In the fifteenth year of the Yuanhe era of the Tang dynasty, Wang Maoyuan, the prefect of Guizhou, built a Qu Yuan shrine on Qu Yuan Tuo in Zigui, the hometown of Qu Yuan, and wrote a memorial address; local villagers and dragon boats of every description gathered there as the starting point for the dragon boat races, forming the distinctive character of the Dragon Boat folk customs of Qu Yuan's hometown. This folk custom has continued to the present day in Qu Yuan's hometown, becoming a tradition. The Dragon Boat folk customs of Qu Yuan's hometown are both solemn and joyous, and in general the festival is celebrated three times. On the fifth day of the fifth month, the Little Duanwu, people hang calamus and mugwort and drink realgar wine; on the fifteenth day of the fifth month, the Great Duanwu features dragon boat races; and on the twenty-fifth day of the fifth month, the Final Duanwu sees the sending off of the epidemic boat and the reunion of relatives and friends. The commemoration of Qu Yuan runs through all the festival activities, including setting up altars and offering sacrifices, touring the river, dragon boat races, expressing feelings through zongzi, and neighborhood “evening revels” (naowan); the Duanwu folk process is thereby made more complete, compact and vivid. It proclaims and spreads the spirit and character of Qu Yuan, one of the outstanding representatives of Chinese literati, and the traditional spirit of Chinese culture; making the traditional veneration of ancestors and of heroes more human and more entertaining, it strengthens the cohesion and cultural identity of the nation. At the same time, this festival folk custom has also transmitted the Chu ci and other forms of folk cultural expression, and possesses rich cultural connotations. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The poetry society at the Dragon Boat Festival": A village poetry society founded in the Ming sings Chu lyrics in antiphon on the fifth day, a literary strand rare among Dragon Boat customs. "Rice-field games and evening revels": The threshing ground fills with stage, stalls and visiting kin until late night, a second current of activity running beside the boat races. "Sending off the plague ship": On the last day a reed boat carries the plague away while zongzi are exchanged among kin, and the rites for Qu Yuan run through it all.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Xiang Fuchang was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Dragon Boat Festival, with Zigui, Hubei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Dragon Boat Festival in Zigui, Hubei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Zigui, Hubei as its declared area, and Zigui County Cultural Center (Xian Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center) as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Xiangfuchang (Zigui, Hubei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Xiangfuchang · China ICH Official Archive