Temple Fair

Ⅹ-84Folk CustomsZhaoyang, BeijingBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Some of the large temple fairs had already reached considerable scale in the Tang dynasty and have been passed down without interruption ever since, exerting a wide influence. In China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, as well as the Taiwan region, the traditional temple fairs commonly observed by devotees were all introduced from the mainland and remain inseparably tied to their origins. The Dongyue Temple fair is one of the earliest temple fairs in Beijing's history: it took embryonic shape in the Yuan dynasty, formally formed in the Ming dynasty, and reached its height after the Qing dynasty began. After 1949, the Beijing Dongyue Temple fair fell into silence because the temple premises were occupied by government offices. At the end of the 20th century the fair was revived and has continued to the present, becoming one of the most influential festival temple fairs in the capital.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Temple fairs, also known as "temple markets", are a type of folk-belief activity held at regular intervals at temples and in their vicinity, popular throughout the country. Every temple fair has its own prescribed session dates, most of which fall on a traditional lunar festival or on a religious or folk-belief commemorative day. Temple fairs are characterized by concentration, mass participation, and fixity. During a fair, all manner of folk activities and commercial exchanges can be fully displayed in public, and the activities are rich and colorful; processions for welcoming the gods are also one form of temple fair. Centered on the Beijing Dongyue Temple, the fair gradually developed into a series of mass activities encompassing belief, commerce, and entertainment. Historically, the fair's sessions were held mainly at the Spring Festival, on the birthday of the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak (from the fifteenth to the twenty-eighth day of the third lunar month), and on the new-moon and full-moon days of each month. During the fair, people come to the temple to worship the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak and the folk gods of auspiciousness, praying for blessings and welcoming good fortune. Folk incense associations from various places come here to do and support good works, and different trades also take the opportunity to hold activities. In addition, there is a temple market of enormous scale, selling seasonal goods, local specialties, flavored snacks, and articles of daily use. The Beijing Dongyue Temple fair takes belief in the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak as its core and the culture of blessing-seeking as its important content; it displays broad mass participation and is conducive to fostering a harmonious social atmosphere.

New year, birthday and new-moon days

Beyond the new year, the temple opened for the deity’s March birthday and on the first and fifteenth of every month, so the fair recurred throughout the year.

Those who come to fulfil a vow

Around the deity’s birthday worshippers arrive to fulfil vows, a different sort of visitor from the new-year crowds who came simply to stroll.

The market that fills half the grounds

Stalls selling seasonal goods, local produce and snacks take up most of the grounds, placed according to where the crowd moves rather than by type of goods.

Yuan beginnings and Ming formation

One of Beijing’s earliest temple fairs, it appeared in the Yuan, took definite form in the Ming and reached enormous scale under the Qing.

Reopening after decades of silence

After the temple site was taken over for other use the fair fell silent for years, returning at the end of the twentieth century with exhibitions and lectures added.

Visiting associations and local trades

Visiting associations bring organisation and performance while local trades bring goods, and the two coexist within one courtyard to the fair’s benefit.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Beijing Dongyue Temple fair unfolds around the Dongyue Temple. Historically its sessions were held mainly at the Spring Festival, on the birthday of the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak from the fifteenth to the twenty-eighth day of the third lunar month, and on the new-moon and full-moon days of each month: one at the start of the year, one in mid-spring, and one at each new and full moon, a triple schedule that makes the fair recur throughout the year rather than bustle for only a few days. The March session is tied to the birthday of the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak; those who come to the temple to worship the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak and the folk gods of auspiciousness are mostly fulfilling vows, so the pilgrims of this period come from a different background than the Spring Festival sightseers. Another feature of the fair is that incense associations from outside Beijing come here to do and support good works, while different trades use the opportunity to hold activities; the temple market sells seasonal goods, local specialties, flavored snacks, and articles of daily use on an enormous scale. In former times the temple grounds were occupied by government offices and the fair lapsed into silence; at the end of the 20th century the fair was revived and has continued to the present, now held mainly during the Spring Festival, with exhibitions, lectures, and other activities added on the basis of inherited tradition, making it a typical representative of the new-era cultural temple fair. Since its revival the fair has been run by the Dongyue Temple management office, which also houses the Beijing Folk Customs Museum; the traditional positions of vendors and the processional routes of worship have been re-plotted, with belief activities and cultural activities coexisting in separate zones within the same courtyard — the greatest difference between this fair and other northern temple fairs.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In overseas Chinese communities, many temple fairs brought from the homeland thrive with burning incense, transmitting the cultural lineage of the Chinese nation in a special way. Today the Dongyue Temple fair is held mainly during the Spring Festival; on the basis of inherited traditional customs, exhibitions, lectures, and other activities have been added, making the fair a typical representative of the new-era cultural temple fair. The customs of the Dongyue Temple fair condense numerous traditional folk forms and provide important material for the study of the customs and folkways of northern China.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Temple Fair (Zhaoyang, Beijing) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回英文名录。