Mazu Memorial Ceremony
01 · Historical Records
According to folk oral tradition, this assembly originated in the Yuan and Ming periods; its documented history began in the fourth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty (1665), after which it was renamed the "Huanghui" (Imperial Assembly), and it has been handed down to the present day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Tianjin Huanghui (Imperial Assembly) is a form of Mazu festival unique to northern China, formerly known as the "Niangniang Hui" (Assembly of the Lady) and the "Tianhou Shenghui" (Holy Assembly of the Queen of Heaven). It is held on a grand scale, with a strong local Tianjin character; whenever a Huanghui takes place, the whole city of Tianjin turns out, and the spectacle is most impressive. The Huanghui is a form of temple fair that is organized, planned, and governed by strict rules. Its performance program includes dozens of items — street clearing, gate banners, great lions, nimble-beast figures, center-pole feats, waist drums, carried chests, heavy-drop juggling, shibuxian clappers, ceremonial drums, land boats, yangge (rice-sprout song) dances, flower drums, embroidered balls, precious tripods, precious palanquins, imperial escorts, incense receiving, lantern halts, welcoming the procession, canopies and precious parasols, lead horses, message-bearing spirit boys, sun shades, lantern fans, grand music, and stilts — essentially concentrating the finest elements of Tianjin's folk arts. Each performing troupe appears at the Huanghui in the organizational form of a "hui" (assembly); for each category of performance art, several assemblies of distinct styles take part. These assemblies number from twenty or thirty to more than a hundred. Each time the Huanghui goes out in procession, the content of the performances and the number of assemblies are never quite the same.
Street clearing and the gate banners
The procession begins by clearing the street and raising the gate banners, not to sweep but to announce that the goddess is about to pass.
Lions, jigong beasts, banners and drums
Great lions, jigong beasts, tall banners and barrel drums each take a lane, and together they give the procession its stature.
The palanquins and the imperial guard
Palanquins, tripods and ceremonial guards carry the divine image through streets lined with spectators, so worship and fair become one event.
Receiving incense, the lantern pause and the welcome
Receiving the incense, halting for the lanterns and welcoming the palanquin form three fixed stages; programmes vary but the stages may not.
Dozens of craft lineages assembled
Boat dances, yangge, flower drums, acrobatic sets and towering stilt acts number dozens, each with its own lineage and its own bearers.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Huanghui was originally the Niangniang Hui and the Tianhou Shenghui; it was first put on record in the fourth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty and was thereafter formally called the Huanghui (Imperial Assembly). It is the largest single outing of Mazu worship in northern China, and the only form in China's inland regions in which the Mazu image is carried out of the temple gates in procession. The Tianjin Huanghui does not depend on a single temple keeper to issue orders; it relies instead on performing troupes organized around the "hui" designation: for one and the same art there are often several assemblies of differing styles, numbering from twenty or thirty to more than a hundred. Which assemblies are called out for a procession, and in what order they march, is decided by the parties themselves, so that no two programs are ever the same. Before the procession sets out, each assembly must register with the temple and collect its route slip; which assembly walks which stretch of street, and which point is passed first or last, is all arranged by the assembly heads. The order of a single street is jointly maintained by dozens of assembly heads, so that the temple fair becomes a city-level outcome of negotiation.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Dozens of performance items — street clearing, gate banners, center poles, waist drums, stilts, precious palanquins, imperial escorts, and more — assign nearly all of Tianjin's folk arts to their proper places: the processioners who clear the streets, the acrobats who raise the poles, the drummers who play the waist drums, and the carpenters who carry the precious palanquins each have their own role type and rules. The north lies far from the sea, so the Huanghui became the liveliest inland locus of Mazu worship; here rite and entertainment are fused into one, and spectators outnumber worshippers — precisely why it could continue in the north for centuries. Before the written record of 1665, the Huanghui was already operating on its own in popular society under the names Niangniang Hui and Tianhou Shenghui; its later renaming as the Huanghui changed only the title — the scale, the rules, and the annual bustle were not altered along with it.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lin Jinbang 04-1962
- Ma Zhaosheng 05-2983
- Wu Jiang 05-2984
- Chen Jianquan 05-2985
- Li Qingxiang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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