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Festivals and events
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FESTIVAL
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TIME
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WHAT’S ON
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Chinese
New Year
(or
Spring Festival)
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1st. day of
the lunar calendar
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starts on the first day of the lunar
calendar, which usually falls in February. Although it officially lasts
only three days, many people take a week off. Ear plugs are handy at this
time to dull the firecracker assaults, and prices of hotel rooms tend to go
through the roof.
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Lantern
Festival
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15th day of the 1st lunar month
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This isn't a public holiday, but
it's big and it's colourful. It falls on the 15th day of the 1st moon
(around mid-February to mid-March) and marks the end of the New Year
celebrations. The famous lion dances occur throughout this period.
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Harbin Ice
and Snow Festival
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January 5-February 5 every year in Harbin, Heilongjiang
Province.
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With 190-day freezing season, the northeastern city of Harbin is known as a “City of Ice” and a cradle of the ice-and-snow
culture in the world. During festival is the Ice lantern show, snow
sculpture display, and international ice and snow sculpture competitions;
winter swimming, ice hockey, speed-skating, alpine skiing, and
cross-country skiing competitions; and ice and snow film festival
exhibitions of paintings, calligraphy and photograph, folklore shows,
ethnic song and dance parties, weddings on an ice-covered river. A
participation in the ice-snow festival can be compared to a visit to a
fairyland of crystal palace.
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Zigong Lantern Show
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Early February – Early March. in Zigong, Sichuan
Province.
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During the show, a “dragon” pieced together with porcelain dinner-sets,
and a “peacock” fashioned out of glass drug bottles strung together, are
displayed along with thousands of lanterns. The lanterns, which as a rule
are marked by superb craftsmanship, are woven of thin bamboo strips and
covered with colorful silk fabrics or paper; they are grouped into several
hundred clusters to form a spectacular show of forms, colors, lights,
movements and sounds
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Hainan
Int’l Coconut Festival
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3rd day of 3rd lunar month , in Hainan
Province: Haikou,
Wenchang County, Tongshi, and Sanya .
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The coconut tree is the emblem of the Hainan Island,
known also as “Coconut Island.” , ,
during which time the island province’s coconut-associated cultural
heritage and ethnic habits and customs are displayed. Lantern display in the
Coconut City, the Coconut Street, gala celebrations
among ethnic Li and Miao people, international dragon boat racing, ethnic
martial contest, variety shows, weddings in Li and Miao traditions, and
sacrifices to ancestors
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Luoyang
Peony Festival
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April 15-25 every year in Luoyang, Henan
Province.
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“The peony of Luoyang
is the most beautiful under heaven”, as the saying goes. The peony, the
emblem flower of Luoyang,
is lauded as “queen of flowers with ethereal color and celestial fragrance.” . Full-length variety shows, flower watching,
lantern show, exhibitions of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting
and photography, symposiums, and business talks. At the Wangcheng Park
and the Botanical Garden, banquets are arranged for peony admirers, and all
kinds of snacks and refreshments are served as well
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Qintong Boat Festival
in Yangzhou
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April 4-6 every year in Qintong Town,
Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province.
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This is a typical folklore activity. During the festival boats from
nearby fishing villages converge at Qintong Town
for a few days of rejoicing. Theatrical performances, dragon and lion
dances, and other folk dances are staged right on board the boats. Boat
races are also part of the festivity
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Water Splashing
Festival
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April 13-15 every year in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture,
Yunnan Province.
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Dragon boat races, the firing of indigenous missiles, dances to the
accompaniment of the beating of drums on a pedestal shaped like an elephant’s
legs, peacock dances, sightseeing, country fairs, and water-splashing
festivities. During the festival pouches are tossed between unmarried men
and women as tokens of love
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Tomb
Sweeping Day
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in April,
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sees Chinese families spend the day
tending the graves of departed loved ones. Hong Kong
hosts one of the liveliest annual Chinese celebrations
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Dragon Boat Festival
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Usually held in June (5th day of the 5th lunar month),
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the festival honours the poet Qu
Yuan and features races between teams in long ornate canoes. Many
Westerners take part in the races, but plenty of practice is needed to get
all the paddles working as one.
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Yunnan Yi
Torch Festival
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24th –26th days of the 6th lunar month
in Shucun Town , Lunan Yi County, and the city of Chuxiong , Chuxiong Yi,
Yunnan Province.
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According to a legend among the Yi people in Lunan, once upon a time there
lived a demon king who terrorized the local people. During
an uprising the local people bound torches to the horns and hind legs of a
herd of goats and eliminated the demon king by lighting the torches and
driving the goats into its lair. On the 24th day of the 6th lunar month the
local people lit torches for an entire night’s merry-making in celebration
of the victory. Archery, horse racing, bull fights, and wrestling. Torch-holding
dances around a bonfire at night.
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Qingdao
Int’l Beer Festival
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Mid-August every year in Qingdao, Shandong
Province.
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Full-length variety shows, parades of artistic floats, fashion
shows, fireworks display at the beach, sports competitions, a symposium on
beer-making technology, and business talks
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Shaolin Int’l Martial
Arts Festival
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September 10-15 every year in Zhengzhou, Henan
Province.
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The worldwide fame of the 1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple
is attributed to its consummate martial arts dating back more than a
thousand years to the Tang Dynasty. The city of Dengfeng, where the temple is situated,
has become a center of martial arts. A good variety of Shaolin martial arts
performances and contests, and exchanges between martial arts from around
the world. A cruise on the Yellow River
gives some idea about the landscape and folklore along this mighty river
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Special
prayers are held at Buddhist and Taoist temples on full-moon and
sliver-moon days. Temple and
moon-based festivities include Guanyin's Birthday (late March to
late April), Mazu's Birthday (May or June), Ghost Month (late
August to late September), Mid-Autumn Festival (September or
October) and the Birthday of Confucius (28 September).
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