Lantern Festival

Ⅹ-71Folk CustomsZhaoyang, LiaoningBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Zhuluke Yellow River Formation of western Liaoning is mainly popular in Jianping County, Chaoyang County, Beipiao City, Harqin Left Wing Mongol Autonomous County, Lingyuan City, and other places of Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, with Zhuluke Town at its center; the area covered includes western Liaoning and the eastern part of Inner Mongolia. The Zhuluke Yellow River Formation was introduced from within Shanhaiguan (Guannei) into Zhuluke Town, Jianping County, Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, by Lin Xichen, a successful candidate in the imperial examinations (juren) of Zhuluke during the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

This folk activity is unique to the western Liaoning region, combining fireworks displays, folk dance, and folk music in one; it has the character of recreation and exercise, and also carries the meaning of favorable weather, a flourishing family line, health, and happiness. According to the "Jianping County Gazetteer": "At the Shangyuan Festival, lanterns are hung and torches are lit; the villages mostly make Yellow River nine-bend lanterns, and men and women wander around them all night long, which is called 'running off a hundred illnesses.'" This describes the "Yellow River Formation" of Zhuluke in western Liaoning, also known as "running the Yellow River." Beginning with Lin Xichen, every Spring Festival the master passed on to his apprentices the formation diagram of the Yellow River Formation, the methods of making its tools, and the associated customs. The fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth days of the first lunar month are the days for "running the Yellow River," which include folk activities such as "stealing a lantern to pray for a son," "running off a hundred illnesses," "sowing lamps," and "praying for blessings"; its influence reaches more than a hundred li in every direction, and the number of participants each year exceeds 100,000. The Zhuluke Yellow River Formation consists of sixteen square enclosures; its formation extends the nine-bend Yellow River Formation, connected in the manner of the "endless wealth and honor" pattern (that is, the hui-character meander) according to the positions of the nine palaces and eight trigrams. Preparations and construction begin on the eighth day of the first lunar month each year. First the positions are marked out according to the formation manual; then an iron pole six zhang high, with a "Primordial Golden Basin" (Hunyuan Jindou) fixed at its top, is erected at the center of the formation. Centered on the iron pole, a large square enclosure is formed around its base, where the formation's mistress, the "Third Lady of the Three Clouds" (Sanxiao Niangniang), is worshipped. After the Yellow River Formation is completed, on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the first month, the Third Lady of the Three Clouds (popularly honored as the "Child-Giving Goddess") is invited from Mituo Temple; at night, common people from within a hundred li gather from all directions to run the Yellow River, signifying the removal of calamities and misfortune, a flourishing family line, and smooth success in all things. Those praying for a son "steal a lantern" from within the formation and carry it home to be placed before the Kitchen God, adding oil to it continuously so that it burns until dawn. After the child is born, they return to the Yellow River Formation the following year to fulfill their vow. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the yangge dance troupes of each village, carrying banners reading "abundant harvests of all five grains," sow lamps along the way and dance around the formation when they arrive.

Setting points by the array plan

From the eighth day the ground is pegged out by the master's plan, each point placed by hand.

Raising the iron pole

A six-zhang iron pole topped with a gold ladle anchors the square city of the deity.

The sixteen wards

Sixteen wards extend the nine-turn maze, linked in an unbroken wealth pattern.

Inviting the Three Heavens goddess

The goddess is fetched from Mituo temple and the run begins that very night.

Stealing a lamp for a child

A lamp is taken secretly, kept bright overnight, and a child is promised the following year.

Scattering lamps and dancing round the array

Yangge troupes scatter lamps and dance around the array, keeping its shape alive all night.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Zhuluke Yellow River Formation centers on Zhuluke Town in Jianping; the core groups that lay out the formation, make the lamps, and run the formation mostly come from the town itself, while the people of the surrounding villages arrive according to the days of the first month. In the western Liaoning area centered on Zhuluke, people from Chaoyang County, Beipiao, Harqin Left Wing, and Lingyuan all come to run it; the scale of more than a hundred li in every direction and more than a hundred thousand participants each year is sustained jointly by this whole region. When Lin Xichen introduced the custom from within Shanhaiguan, he brought the formation diagram and the craft, but keeping it running depends on people from every locality.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Zhuluke Yellow River Formation originated from the nine-bend Yellow River Formation laid out by ancient military strategists and, on the basis of the nine-bend Yellow River Formation folk activity, developed through more than 200 years of transmission into a large-scale traditional folk cultural activity. The Zhuluke Yellow River Formation integrates a variety of folk cultural and artistic activities in one, with rich content, diverse forms, a deep popular base, and pronounced features of collective inheritance. This custom bears witness to the history of the people of western Liaoning migrating from within Shanhaiguan to beyond it, reflects the integration and development of Central Plains culture and frontier culture, and has important reference value for the study of the transmission and development of folk custom, folk dance, and folk music.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Lantern Festival (Zhaoyang, Liaoning) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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