Xiaolan chrysanthemum Festival

Xiaolan Town, located in the middle of Pearl River Delta, is an important town of Zhongshan City in Guangdong Province. Xiaolan is known as "Jucheng". Chrysanthemum culture runs through the history of Xiaolan. At the beginning, there were such non-governmental organizations as "chrysanthemum test" and "chrysanthemum society", and then gradually evolved into the "yellow flower festival" once every 10 years. In the year of Jiaxu (1814) of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, 10 chrysanthemum societies jointly held a large-scale chrysanthemum Festival, and made an appointment to take the year of Jiaxu when the ancestors settled in Xiaolan as a grand festival (i.e. once every 60 years)

Xiaolan chrysanthemum Festival

Xiaolan chrysanthemum Festival, popular in Xiaolan Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, is one of the national intangible cultural heritage.

In the history of Xiaolan, when the chrysanthemum was in full bloom, all kinds of chrysanthemum decorations were put together by different families, which was called "chrysanthemum test" and later developed into chrysanthemum Festival. The duration of the meeting varies from several days to more than ten days. The activities mainly include appreciating chrysanthemums, racing chrysanthemums, chanting chrysanthemums, painting chrysanthemums, tasting chrysanthemums, floating colors on water, chrysanthemum opera, etc. Xiaolan chrysanthemum Festival is a unique folk traditional comprehensive folk activity, which takes flowers as the media, makes friends with chrysanthemums, has exquisite skills, large scale and colorful

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On May 20, 2006, Xiaolan chrysanthemum club was approved by the State Council of the people's Republic of China and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, heritage number x-44

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historical origin

In the Southern Song Dynasty, chrysanthemum was planted in Xiaolan.

It is said that more than 750 years ago, when duzong was in the Southern Song Dynasty, a noble concubine surnamed Hu (Su), probably because she offended the emperor or queen, ordered her to be a nun in 1272.

In May 1273, the ninth year of emperor Xianchun of Song Dynasty, Princess Hu feigned to throw herself into the water and was able to escape. Later, she became a relative with a businessman surnamed Huang and hid in Zhuji lane, Nanxiong, Guangzhou. Jia Sidao, the traitor, reported that Princess Hu was not dead and was hiding among the people. As a result, the emperor ordered the officers and soldiers to pursue her all the way, burning, killing, looting and doing everything. When the officers and soldiers found out that Princess Hu was hiding in Nanxiong, they threatened to kill her in Tu village, Zhuji lane.

In 1274, some refugees fled to Xiaolan to settle down in Zhuji lane. In late autumn, attracted by chrysanthemums everywhere, the people settled in feituoling and Fengshan. They are the ancestors of Xiaolan. Bearing in mind that it was the chrysanthemum that led them to this blessed land, they decided to transplant the wild chrysanthemum into the garden, and told their children and grandchildren to love and grow chrysanthemums from generation to generation

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In the Ming Dynasty, the style of Xiaolan chrysanthemum was flourishing, and the cultivation of chrysanthemum was transferred to plastic pot. Li sunchen, the Minister of rites of Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty, wrote the article "landscape and topography of Lianglan", which has a beautiful sentence: "Five Pines, six roads, three Ya waters, one cave, twelve bridges of plum blossoms, endless chrysanthemums, drinking wine and appreciating flowers in the poetic world". Xiaolan people love chrysanthemums. Every year when chrysanthemums are in full bloom, they drink wine and enjoy flowers. In history, when chrysanthemums were in full bloom, all kinds of chrysanthemum ornaments planted by different clans were highly appraised, which was called chrysanthemum test, and later developed into chrysanthemum Festival.

In the first year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1736), there was Saiju in the form of Jushi, which was set in front of the ancestral hall of the fourth generation of Li's Shangshu. After the chrysanthemum test in 1741, the chrysanthemum test was not repeated and the chrysanthemum society was established. In 1782 and 1791, two large-scale chrysanthemum meetings were held by different surnames. In 1814, Xiaolan held the first Jiaxu chrysanthemum Festival. The squire agreed that in order to commemorate the settlement of Xianchun in the Southern Song Dynasty, a chrysanthemum festival would be held every Jiaxu year (60 years apart). In 1874, the second Jiaxu chrysanthemum meeting was held in Xiaolan.

In 1934, Xiaolan held the third Jiaxu chrysanthemum Congress.

After the reform and opening up, Xiaolan Town took advantage of chrysanthemum culture, holding a medium-sized chrysanthemum meeting every five years and a small chrysanthemum meeting every year

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In 1994, the fourth Jiaxu chrysanthemum Congress was jointly held by all villages in accordance with the 60 year tradition

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Main activities

The meeting period of Xiaolan chrysanthemum varies from several days to more than ten days. The main activities include: appreciating chrysanthemum, racing chrysanthemum, chanting chrysanthemum, painting chrysanthemum, tasting chrysanthemum, floating color on water, chrysanthemum opera and so on

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During the Xiaolan chrysanthemum Festival, with chrysanthemum as the theme, chrysanthemum cultural activities were held, such as poetry couplets, calligraphy and painting, literature, photography, handicrafts, flower arrangement, chrysanthemum banquet and so on. At the same time, cultural and sports activities such as floatation parade performance, fireworks display, five person airship race, lion dance and dragon dance performance, and folk art Gala were held during the chrysanthemum Festival

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Heritage Protection

Inheritance value

Xiaolan chrysanthemum Festival is the most concentrated embodiment of Chinese Chrysanthemum Culture and a folk activity with strong public participation. It has profound cultural connotation and high historical and cultural value. At the same time, chrysanthemum character is high and clean, which has become a kind of thinking set

Xiaolan chrysanthemum club, which inherits chrysanthemum culture, plays an important role in cultivating temperament, improving people's cultural quality, enhancing foreign cultural exchanges and building a harmonious society

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Inheritance status

Although the Xiaolan chrysanthemum Festival is large-scale, some famous chrysanthemum species are lost, some traditional chrysanthemum art is replaced by modern decoration, and the accomplished chrysanthemum craftsman is old, and there are fewer and fewer inheritors of the unique chrysanthemum art skills. Therefore, Xiaolan chrysanthemum will face an endangered situation

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Inheritors

Mai chiying, male, born in 1959; Mai Biaochi, male, born in 1961, is the representative inheritor of provincial intangible cultural heritage representative project of Xiaolan chrysanthemum Association. Both of them have long-term cooperation in hosting chrysanthemum fair. They are the main backbone of chrysanthemum art exhibition. Both of them have rich experience in chrysanthemum cultivation. They are good at cultivating and mounting large chrysanthemum, multi-layer chrysanthemum, tower chrysanthemum, grafted chrysanthemum, modeling chrysanthemum, cliff chrysanthemum, variety chrysanthemum, etc. in particular, they are the first in China to graft 513 chrysanthemum varieties with single chrysanthemum as the female parent, breaking the Guinness world record According to the Lingnan traditional characteristics, more than 7000 giant chrysanthemums with hemispherical shape have been mounted and tied. They have won the gold medal of the 9th National Chrysanthemum Exhibition. They have been taking apprenticeship to carry out inheritance work

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Li Shangren, male, born in 1947, is the representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage representative project of Xiaolan chrysanthemum Association. He has rich experience in Chrysanthemum design. He is good at designing chrysanthemum shapes based on traditional folk stories and making them with traditional techniques. The representative scenic spots include "tiannu Sanhua", "landing palace lantern" and "Jinyinhua bridge". Later, he absorbed the gardening techniques of Shanghai style and combined with the local traditional chrysanthemum techniques to make the scene of large-scale chrysanthemum fair go to square exhibition. The representative scenic spots are "poetry Gallery" "World peace", "only one earth" and so on. We have studied the history of Xiaolan chrysanthemum culture for a long time, and systematically compiled the materials of all previous chrysanthemum meetings since the founding of the people's Republic of China

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protective measures

In November 2019, the list of national intangible cultural heritage representative project protection units was announced, and Zhongshan Xiaolan Chrysanthemum Culture Promotion Association was qualified as Xiaolan chrysanthemum Association project protection unit

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social influence

Event Exhibition

In 1959, Xiaolan broke the Convention and held the first chrysanthemum Congress after the founding of the people's Republic of China.

From November 10 to 28, 1973, during the cultural revolution, Xiaolan held a small "horticultural exhibition" (Chrysanthemum Exhibition).

From November 25 to December 15, 1979, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the people's Republic of China, Xiaolan Town held a chrysanthemum meeting.

From November 18 to December 9, 2001, a chrysanthemum appreciation meeting was held in Xiaolan Town, with the theme of "new century, new Xiaolan, new chrysanthemum meeting" and the purpose of "conveying feelings with chrysanthemum, meeting friends with chrysanthemum, sharing happiness and peace, discussing development and promoting prosperity together".

On November 21, 2004, the chrysanthemum culture and art appreciation meeting was held in advance; on the morning of November 23, the chrysanthemum culture and art appreciation meeting officially opened for 18 days, second only to the 1994 chrysanthemum meeting

 

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On November 19, 2005, the folk chrysanthemum variety exhibition was held for 16 days.

From November 23 to December 12, 2007, Xiaolan Town hosted the 9th China (Zhongshan Xiaolan) Chrysanthemum Exhibition, with the theme of "autumn charm of Jucheng · Chinese love"

 

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On November 23, 2014, the 2014 Xiaolan chrysanthemum meeting with the theme of "Xiaolan in autumn · beautiful Jucheng" opened

 

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On October 16, 2019, the 2019 Xiaolan chrysanthemum show promotion meeting will be held

 

. On December 8, the 2019 Xiaolan chrysanthemum meeting was held with the theme of "70 years of brilliance, pursuing a new era"

 

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Award winning record

In 1994, 43 circles of daliju won the first prize of science and technology progress of Zhongshan City, and was listed in the Guinness records of Shanghai.

In 2001, the century lamp of Xiaolan chrysanthemum was listed in the Guinness World Record Book of Shanghai.

In 2004, Xiaolan (Jiashen) chrysanthemum culture and art appreciation meeting, 45 circles of Dali chrysanthemum (two pots) 168 meters chrysanthemum dragon "golden dragon take off" was listed as the Guinness record of Shanghai big world. 247 varieties of Dali chrysanthemum and 23.26 meters high Shangju Lou (chrysanthemum) were grafted on a single plant

Chinese PinYin : Xiao Lan Ju Hua Hui