Pancun Lantern Festival

Pancun Township, Shuikou Town, Kaiping has its own unique folk customs. On the 13th day of the first lunar month, Pancun township has colorful flags and firecrackers. In more than 40 villages, every household is decorated with lanterns and decorations. The whole village, surrounded by big lanterns more than three meters high, traveled all over the village from morning to evening.

Pancun Lantern Festival originated in Ming Dynasty. Because of the corruption of officialdom, the darkness of society, the rampant banditry and the poverty of the people at that time, jianzhai, the 13th ancestor of Kuang family in Pancun village, went to see Mr. Chen Baisha (1428-1500), a famous Confucianist of the new association who had taught in Pancun school, and asked for the cancellation of the method of avoiding disaster. According to Chen Baisha, there are five black stone animal mountains in Pan Village, namely lion mountain, tiger mountain, elephant mountain, horse mountain and ox mountain. There are five beasts in the village, which should be able to ensure peace, but because the lion, the king of the five beasts, is still sleepy, and the other four beasts are mischievous, which leads to frequent disasters. He suggested that: each family hang up lights, fire guns, beat gongs and drums, wake up the lion to control the four beasts. On the 13th of the first month of 1464, the eighth year of emperor yingzongtian's reign in Ming Dynasty, the people of Pan Village listened to his instructions. Every family lit lights and fired guns, waved flags and yelled, and the sound was loud. This is really effective, so that Pancun returned to the Taiping year. Since then, every year on the 13th day of the first lunar calendar, people in Pan village have held lantern dance activities, which have never stopped until today, except for the war and the 28 years from 1957 to 1984, which were regarded as feudal superstitions. Every year, people from Taishan, Xinhui, Heshan and other neighboring counties and cities come to visit the Lantern Festival, which is very lively. Articles describing the spectacular scene of Pancun Lantern Festival have been recorded in many historical books, such as Kaiping cultural annals, local anecdotes of Kaiping, and published in many newspapers. Now, the audio-visual products recording the grand occasion of the lantern dance have spread all over the world, and have a great influence. Pancun Lantern Festival is a precious cultural heritage of the Chinese nation, which integrates the meaning of "traditional handicraft" and "folk custom".

Pancun Lantern Festival

Pancun Lantern Festival, also known as dance Lantern Festival, is a characteristic traditional folk activity in Kaiping City, Guangdong Province. It has a history of nearly 600 years since the 13th day of the first lunar month. In May 2007, Pan Village lantern fair in Kaiping successfully declared the intangible cultural heritage of Guangdong Province. In June 2008, it was selected into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. "Pancun Lantern Festival" is not only a "traditional handicraft", but also a "folk" flavor. It is a precious cultural treasure and historical and cultural heritage. February 14-15, 2011, coincides with the 18th Pancun Lantern Festival.

The origin of the Lantern Festival

In Pancun, there has been a big family name for thousands of years, namely "Kuang", and "Kuang" comes from "Lei" and "Fang". According to Kuang's genealogy, "according to Wu Kuang's genealogy, it started from Fang Lai. Fang's genealogy originated from Shennong and got the surname Lei. He is also the son of Emperor Yu Wang, the grandson of Emperor Yan of the eighth generation of Shennong. Ju Leize took Lei as his surname. He defeated Chiyou with Emperor Huang and won a meritorious victory. He was granted Fangshan and ate his city. Because of his surname Yan, he lived in the Shang, Zhou and Han Dynasties. There are many great people who have been seen in the classics and history It can be seen that Kuang's family started from Fang, and Fang's family started from Lei. The three surnames of Lei, Fang and Kuang came from the same source and had the same root.

The long-standing family of Kuang can be traced back to the ancestor sanqigong in 1103 ad, which lasted for 900 years. The ancestors migrated frequently for several generations. Sanqigong, the first ancestor, lived in yanman village, Lujiang County, Anhui Province, and moved to Dazhen Township, Nanhai County, Guangdong Province in 1129. Yupinggong, the second ancestor, moved from Lin'an, the capital city, to Heyuan, Guangdong in 1216. Yishenggong, the third ancestor, moved from Heyuan to Xinhui City in 1225. Zhaogong, the fourth patriarch, moved from Xinhui to kengkouli of shuikoupan village in 1250. Gongzhaogong really settled down after he moved to Pan village. It has a history of nearly 800 years and has gone through 34 generations. There are 31 ancestral halls in the village. Therefore, Pan village has become a big village with a large population of Kuang family. Many of them moved elsewhere. For example, the seventh patriarch, Nan run Gong (later renamed Nan Han), moved to Nanhai town in the late Song Dynasty; the ninth patriarch, zhong chang Gong, moved to Doumen xiaohaochong; the fourteenth patriarch, Li Xiu Gong, moved to HUAIJI; the fourteenth patriarch, Hui Gong, moved to Xinxing; the twentieth patriarch, Hong De Gong, handed over to Yangjiang; the seventeenth patriarch, ti'an Gong, and the nineteenth patriarch, Chao Ying Gong, moved back to Xinhui City. Up to now, it has become a village and a family. There are more than 25000 overseas Chinese who have traveled to the United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong and Macao. They all recognize that Pan village is their ancestral home, and people often return to Pan village to worship their ancestors.

On the country road, hardworking and honest villagers and antique village houses can be seen everywhere. According to reports, Pancun Lantern Festival started on the 13th of the first month of the eighth year of emperor Zong Tianshun (1464) in the Ming Dynasty, and has lasted 547 years (2011). During this period, it once stopped for war and special reasons.

History of the Lantern Festival

In 2008, it was selected into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list approved by the State Council and determined by the Ministry of culture

As a kind of folk culture. According to legend, Pancun lantern festival began in the Ming Dynasty (January 13, 1464) and has a history of 547 years. On the 13th day of the first lunar month, the villagers of Pan village carried three sacrificial offerings and opened the way with colorful flags. Three big lanterns took different directions and routes to travel all over the 48 natural villages of Pan village. Every village was accompanied by firecrackers. The villagers danced lion or golden dragon to welcome and see off at the entrance of the village and toured the village together. From morning to dusk, travel all over the country.

Pan Village, belonging to Shuikou Town of Kaiping, is located in the plain area of the Pearl River Delta and the North Bank of Tanjiang River. It is located at the intersection of Kaiping, Taishan, Xinhui and Heshan, the hometown of overseas Chinese in Wuyi. It is adjacent to Xinhui in the East, Taishan in the south, Kaiping in the West and Heshan in the north, covering a total area of 16 square kilometers. It is connected by land and water, accompanied by Tanjiang River. It has rich water resources and is an agricultural village Adequate irrigation is provided. There are Shuikou foreign trade wharf on both sides of the river and public trade wharf in the south. They are facing each other across the river and echoing each other. Foreign trade cargo ships and passenger catamaran hydrofoil ships shuttle by. They are open ports to the outside world.

Pancun Lantern Festival was once stopped due to war and special reasons. After the reform and opening up, the first Pancun Lantern Festival in the new era began to dance in 1985. On the 13th of the first month of the lunar calendar, every household in Pancun village, decorated with lanterns, firecrackers, dragon and lion dances, accompanied by four meter high lanterns, toured 42 natural villages with the surname Kuang from morning to night. Since 2004, Pancun Lantern Festival has held a small dance every year and a big dance every three years, with a grand celebration every 60 years (the year of Jiashen). The purpose is to further promote Pancun Lantern Festival, so that this traditional culture can be developed and inherited. Because the whole process includes lighting up, delivering, lighting up, dancing and playing, it is named "Pancun Lantern Festival".

Inheritance of the Lantern Festival

Since 2004, "Pancun Lantern Festival" has a small dance every year, a big dance every three years, and a grand celebration every 60 years (the year of fanjiashen). It is the year of dance, and the first dance Lantern Festival since Pancun Lantern Festival was selected into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list in June 2008. Therefore, it is much more lively than in previous years. In addition to the participation of nearly 20000 people from Pancun at home and abroad, it also attracts many admirers and photographers from Wuyi of Jiangmen and even the border cities of the Pearl River Delta, as well as from Hong Kong and Macao.

The parade marched from village to village. From afar, the 3-kilometer-long procession is like a huge ribbon dotted on the vast field; from a close look, the 2000 faces of the parade are like a thought-provoking poem: there are white haired old people, mature and stable middle-aged men, rigid and soft Kuang's daughter-in-law, high spirited young men, lively and dignified young girls, and childish children. They are in step and valiant. Look at the Pancun dance team composed of Pancun's daughter-in-law. Under the command of the leader's rhythmic whistle, they are dancing with waist twists.

"Pancun Lantern Festival" used to be the Lantern Festival of a few rich people. Now it is not only the Lantern Festival of the whole Pancun village, but also a bridge and link to unite people, overseas Chinese and inspire people. In order to participate in the lantern dance, the villagers who worked outside the village came back, the relatives from other places came back, and the overseas relatives who had not seen them for many years came back. On the 13th of the first month, some of the men and women in each village took part in the lion dance team and dragon dance team, while others stayed in the village to take part in the lion dance team, or joined the reception group to welcome the guests from all over the village and organize the whole village to have a centralized meal. We all gathered together to talk about the changes of our hometown, and began to brew a new plan to invest in our hometown. Therefore, many overseas Chinese prefer not to come back for the Spring Festival, but also choose to come back and reunite with their relatives on the day of the Lantern Festival.

Significance of inheritance

In November 2019, the list of national intangible cultural heritage representative project protection units was announced, and Kaiping cultural center obtained the qualification of "Pancun Lantern Festival" project protection unit.

Address: Pan Village, Shuikou Town, Kaiping City, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province

Longitude: 112.798408

Latitude: 22.448674

Chinese PinYin : Pan Cun Deng Hui