Temple Fair
01 · Historical Records
The local people spontaneously organized "associations" (hui) and "societies" (she) on the basis of village and lineage cooperation; by the early 1950s there were still 13 she and 119 hui, spread across 67 villages. The Shaoxing King Shun Temple Fair is built around the sacrificial day of the founding ancestor of farming. The identification of Shun as the founding ancestor of rice-farming civilization is a shared conviction of the Kuaiji mountain area, Fengqiao in Zhuji, the northern mountains of Shengzhou, and the area west of Shangpu in Shangyu: Shun plowed the elephant field at Shangpu in Shangyu, and auspicious grain descended from heaven at Gulai in Shengzhou — with the legends attached to specific fields and grain, the belief acquired place names that can be pointed to. To found a temple for such a founding ancestor makes the meaning of the sacrifice entirely clear. The extant King Shun Temple at Shuangjiang Stream was rebuilt during the Xianfeng reign of the Qing dynasty, and the sacrificial activities centered on the temple also unfolded at this time, fixing the bond between temple and fair. The core of the fair period is the birthday of King Shun from the twenty-fourth to the twenty-eighth day of the ninth lunar month; centered on Shuangjiang Stream, the sacrifices at thirty branch temples of Shun or temples of his relatives are held simultaneously, forming a network of one main temple leading many temples. Changes in organization are equally worth noting: by the early 1950s the locality still had thirteen societies and one hundred nineteen associations, spread across sixty-seven villages; today, by contrast, the ninety-seven surrounding village temples are the basic units of transmission practice, forming a three-tier operating model of study association, district and village temple. The numbers have changed and the tiers have changed, but the position of the village as the direct organizer of sacrifice has never changed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Shaoxing King Shun Temple Fair is a folk activity held every year in the ninth lunar month, late autumn, in the Kuaiji mountain area of southern Shaoxing, integrating sacrifice, artistic performance and commercial trade. Centered on the sacrifice to Emperor Shun, it unfolds on the basis of the King Shun Temple at Shuangjiang Stream, Wangtan Town, Keqiao, Shaoxing. Its content includes deity worship, legends, rituals, folk art, and economic and trade activities; it is an intangible cultural heritage created, transmitted and shared by the local people. The Kuaiji mountain area of southern Keqiao District, Fengqiao in Zhuji, the northern mountains of Shengzhou City, and the area west of Shangpu in Shangyu all regard Shun as the founding ancestor of agricultural civilization: Shun plowed the elephant field at Shangpu in Shangyu, and auspicious grain descended from heaven at Gulai in Shengzhou. He is the highest local deity and founding ancestor, so temples were founded for Shun and sacrifices held, thereby expressing gratitude and worship toward Shun, the ancestor of rice-farming civilization. The birthday of King Shun, from the twenty-fourth to the twenty-eighth day of the ninth lunar month each year, includes sacrificial activities at thirty branch temples of Shun or temples of his relatives, centered on the King Shun Temple at Shuangjiang Stream, and has become a grand festival of the locality. The extant King Shun Temple at Shuangjiang Stream was rebuilt during the Xianfeng reign of the Qing dynasty, and the sacrificial activities centered on the temple also unfolded at this time. As a belief activity of worship of the founding ancestor of farming, it combines both "seated assemblies" (zuohui) and "procession assemblies" (xunhui). The sacrificial rituals of the fair are complete in form: the "seated assembly" held in the main hall of the temple includes offering arrangements, worship, longevity petitions, overnight mountain stays, incense offering, deity-entertaining performances and high-platform opera; the "procession assembly" includes dressing and makeup, raising the palanquin and mounting horses, halting the horses, offering feasts, vegetarian meals and entering the temple. The fair includes folk artistic performances with distinct regional character, such as the Thirty-Six Trades, the Eight Immortals Celebrating Longevity, and the God of Wealth Bestowing Blessings, together with local opera performances such as Shaoju opera and Yueju opera. In addition, there is a fairly large-scale temple-market trade: during the fair, merchants from Shaoxing and nearby cities and counties gather here, and agricultural trade is brisk. Centered on the worship of the founding ancestor of farming in Jiangnan, the Shaoxing King Shun Temple Fair integrates sacrificial prayers for blessing, folk performance and temple-market trade. Its organizational structure is complete and local society coordinates effectively; today the local people take the ninety-seven surrounding village temples as the basic units of transmission practice, forming a folk organizational model of three-tier operation by study association, district and village temple, which gives full play to the local people's principal role in protection and transmission. The fair displays the production and life customs of rice farming in the Kuaiji mountain area, including rich cultural resources such as folk art, cultural landscapes and legends, and brings together pageantry, acrobatics, dance, music and martial arts performances, bearing the marked regional features of the Kuaiji mountain area.
The stationary rite of offerings and invitation
The rite in the main hall proceeds through offerings, worship, invitation, night vigil and incense, a fixed indoor sequence.
Performance for the god and the high stage
Entertainment for the deity leads into opera on the high stage, joining worship inside and spectacle outside.
The procession's dressing and departure
The god is attired and the palanquin raised before departure, the grandest passage of the Jiyun festival.
Halting, offerings and the communal meal
Halting places along the route offer a meal, receiving pilgrims village by village and keeping the shrines in contact.
The birthday of Emperor Shun
From the twenty-fourth to the twenty-eighth of the ninth lunar month thirty shrines honour Shun at once, making it intensely local.
The thirty-six trades, the eight immortals and the god of wealth
Distinctive local numbers play alongside Shaoxing and Yue opera, giving the festival a strongly regional stage programme.
The three-tier village organisation
Ninety-seven village shrines organise into three tiers of society, district and shrine, with residents in the leading role.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The local character of the Shaoxing King Shun Temple Fair rests on the string of villages between the mountains and the waters. The core area is the Kuaiji mountain region of southern Keqiao District, extending along the mountains toward northern Shengzhou and Fengqiao in Zhuji. The mountainous land is inconvenient for farming, yet it has produced scattered villages and shared temples: the thirty branch temples of Shun or temples of his relatives each occupy one village, like a net cast over the mountains. To this day the ninety-seven surrounding village temples remain the basic units, operating through the three tiers of study association, district and village temple, and the local people spontaneously form associations and societies on the basis of village and lineage cooperation. During the fair period, merchants from Shaoxing and nearby cities and counties gather here, and the fair turns from a sacrificial day into the villagers' annual market day.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Under the coordination of the Yu-Shun Culture Research Association, group transmission of the fair is realized with natural villages as the basic units. Centered on the sacrifice to the founding ancestor of farming, the Shaoxing King Shun Temple Fair transmits and displays the production and life customs of rice farming in the Kuaiji mountain area, and promotes traditional moral values such as Shun's great virtue of loyalty and filial piety, love of family and love of country, and the fine qualities of family, state and world. It is conducive to the transmission of excellent ethnic culture and the building of harmonious families and a harmonious society, and to strengthening the local people's cohesion, cultural identity and cultural confidence.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Hu Wenxiang 04-1974
- Guan Zhangxun 04-1975
- Cheng Zhongxin 05-3018
- Wang Defeng
- Luo Binggen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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