Xu Hengxing
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Xu Hengxing, Male, Korean, from Dandong, Liaoning, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Korean Huajiali (Ⅹ-89). The tradition is documented in Dandong, Liaoning. Within the regional tradition and school record of Korean Huajiali in Dandong, Liaoning: The Huajia ceremony took root in Dandong as Korean ethnic migrants settled there one wave after another. Dandong faces Korea across the river, and the Korean ethnic villages of the area are mostly made up of neighbors from the same place of origin. When one household holds a Huajia ceremony, guests sharing the same surname or the same village often form a circle around the banquet tables, and both the seating order and the sequence of toasts follow the rules left by the founding families. On the occasion of a 60th birthday, many of those who come to celebrate are also kin from neighboring villages who migrated in the same year; even after the banquet ends, a further round of return courtesies must still be made. Over the course of a year, the relatives visited on these occasions often outnumber all those visited on ordinary days combined. The Korean ethnic group has since ancient times regarded respect for the elderly as an important principle in family and even in social life. The Huajia ceremony (the 60th-birthday rite) is an important life-cycle custom of the Korean ethnic group, held for an elder who reaches the age of 60. It evolved out of the customs of birthday celebration and respect for the aged, taking shape between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries, and is mainly transmitted in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Korean ethnic settlements across the three provinces of Northeast China. On the day a Korean ethnic elder turns 60, the children lay out a banquet and invite relatives, friends and neighbors to gather together, expressing gratitude for their parents' upbringing. The Huajia ceremony of the Korean ethnic group carries forward the national virtue of honoring the aged. It deepens the bonds between father and son, grandparent and grandchild, and daughter-in-law and parents-in-law, helping to promote healthy social customs and accelerate the building of a harmonious society.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Xu Hengxing is anchored in the documented technical standards of Korean Huajiali in Dandong, Liaoning. Within the documented technical tradition of Korean Huajiali in Dandong, Liaoning: Offering longevity wishes is the basic rite of the Huajia ceremony. The banquet table is laden with sweets, fish and meat, cakes and alcoholic drinks. The 60-year-old elder sits at the center of the seat of honor, with men on the left and women on the right, receiving the good wishes of the assembled guests together with peers among relatives, friends and neighbors. As the rite begins, those offering wishes come forward in order — children by seniority, relatives and friends by closeness of relation — toasting, kowtowing, presenting poems and prayers, or singing and dancing to wish the elder health and long life. The whole ceremony is filled with humane care and a warm, harmonious atmosphere. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The seat of honour, men left and women right": The celebrant sits in the centre with peers ranged left and right, so all toasts turn one way. "Toasts ordered by age and closeness": Well-wishers step up by generation and by closeness, each offering wine before stepping aside for the next. "Three ways to offer good wishes": One toast may be a bow, a recited verse or a song and dance, so the same table serves all ages. "Grown out of a birthday rite": What began as a birthday wish hardened into a rite fixed to the sixtieth year, which is why it weighs so much.
The seat of honour, men left and women right
The celebrant sits in the centre with peers ranged left and right, so all toasts turn one way.
Toasts ordered by age and closeness
Well-wishers step up by generation and by closeness, each offering wine before stepping aside for the next.
Three ways to offer good wishes
One toast may be a bow, a recited verse or a song and dance, so the same table serves all ages.
Grown out of a birthday rite
What began as a birthday wish hardened into a rite fixed to the sixtieth year, which is why it weighs so much.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Xu Hengxing was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Korean Huajiali, with Dandong, Liaoning as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Korean Huajiali in Dandong, Liaoning: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Dandong, Liaoning as its declared area, and Dandong Culture Sports Tourism Development Service 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
Historical origin
The Korean ethnic group has since ancient times regarded respect for the elderly as an important principle in family and even in social life. The Huajia ceremony (the 60th-birthday rite) is an important life-cycle custom of the Korean ethnic group, held for an elder who reaches the age of 60.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xu Hengxing | Dandong, Liaoning | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。