Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsShantoushichaoyang, GuangdongBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In the Song dynasty, in Suiyang, Henan (present-day Shangqiu City), a shrine of the "Twin Loyalists" was built in memory of Zhang Xun, the deputy commissioner of the Henan circuit of the Tang dynasty, and Xu Yuan, the grand prefect of Suiyang, who died loyally for their country; the Twin Loyalists belief thereby took shape, and it spread widely in Shanxi, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, and elsewhere. According to the Guangxu-era Chaoyang County Gazetteer, in the tenth year of the Xining era of the Song dynasty (1077), Guiyu began to build the Lingwei Temple, the Twin Loyalists Shrine, and the Twin Loyalists Procession Shrine for the worship of Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan, and held shrine sacrifices at regular intervals. Since the twelfth year of the Jiajing era of the Ming dynasty (1533), the Guiyu street-shed custom has been fused with the Twin Loyalists sacrifice and the competitive fairs, continuing to this day with the participation of the whole populace.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Guiyu Twin Loyalists belief is a folk belief custom popular in Guiyu Town, Chaoyang District, Shantou City, Guangdong Province. Every year in the second lunar month, Guiyu Town holds a three-day, three-night Twin Loyalists sacrificial ceremony and god-procession fair. The activities take the Twin Loyalists Shrine and the Twin Loyalists Procession Shrine in Guiyu Town as their sacrificial centers; villages such as Huamei, Nan'an, Jia'an, Beilin, Yujiao, Houwang, and Xincuo within the town are important places of worship, and the fair activities extend to every corner of the town. On the 16th day of the first lunar month an auspicious day is chosen and a notice posted, after which the various preparations begin. The three-day god-procession fair's main ritual activities include worship at the spirit shed and roadside sacrifices, the Twin Loyalists sacrificial ceremony, the Twin Loyalists procession, and the entertainment fair. By recalling the historical loyal martyrs, displaying the spirit of patriotism, and carrying forward the righteous spirit of the nation, the Guiyu Twin Loyalists belief embodies the people's wishes to pray for blessing and exhort to goodness and their esteem for the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, and has positive practical significance for strengthening community cohesion, carrying forward the spirit of patriotism, and advancing the building of a harmonious society.

Shrine-factory worship and street sacrifice

The images are lodged overnight in a temporary shrine-hall, then carried out the next day to street altars, moving on at the sound of gongs.

The double-loyalty rite at the shrines

On the main day the two central shrines receive sacrifice, with seven villages setting out offerings before the procession and games begin.

The street-shed rules of the parade

Each street runs its own shed, coordinating the image-bearers, drums, decorated boards, altar tables and stage for the parade.

Games and entertainments of the fair

Games, martial arts, lion dances and opera fill the last days, when the town's workshops close and fishing boats stay in port.

From Lingwei temple to the twin shrines

Temples for Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan were first raised in the Song, and from the Ming the street fairs fused with their sacrifice and became communal.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Guiyu Twin Loyalists belief has a long history; it arose in the Central Plains, spread to Guangdong, and is participated in by the people and transmitted collectively, having merged with the local folk culture. This belief has a strong Chaoshan regional character and is a comprehensive expression of Chaoshan customs; it permeates every aspect of local folk life, advocates harmonious coexistence and common development, and has deepened fellow-townsmen's friendship and gathered strength.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

After the Jiajing era of the Ming dynasty, the popular god-procession fairs reached a considerable scale and have been transmitted to this day. Guiyu sews the Twin Loyalists sacrifice together with the everyday life of the street sheds: on the 16th of the first month an auspicious day is chosen and a notice posted, and the town's carpenters, paper artisans, and gong-and-drum shops prepare through the night, with the wages for plaques, colored sheds, and offering tables mostly apportioned among the shops — who contributes men, who materials, who boats, all is written in the street-shed accounts. The route of the three-day fair advances along the streets and lanes, with the Twin Loyalists Shrine and the Twin Loyalists Procession Shrine as its axis, stringing the villages' places of worship into a single line; wherever the fair goes, the people repair the ancestral halls along that stretch anew. The spirit-shed worship is held in temporarily built shed-houses, with the carved wooden statues set out in front-and-back order and the offerings on the tables prepared by each household and shared in common; over a year everyone knows clearly which family is behind in courtesy and which makes up its respects. This belief migrated from the Central Plains, and what let it take root in the homeland of overseas migrants was not divine might but the early founding of its shrines and the long holding of its fairs: the shrines are repaired once a year, the fairs made new once a year, and so the loyalty and righteousness of the loyalist cult come to feel more like this town's own affair with each passing year.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

Wu Jishan 05-3019
Xu Shunwei 05-3020
Huang Guanghui 05-3021
Chen Jikun 05-3022
Sinapinchu 05-3023
Liu Shimei 05-3024
Zhang Qingming 05-3025
Zheng Quanguang 05-3026
Ye Da 05-3027
Li Yaohui
Luo Shengzong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Folk Beliefs and Customs (Shantoushichaoyang, Guangdong) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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