To welcome the upcoming Spring Festival, a giant couplet was hung on the 650-year-old Ming city wall of Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, Feb. 2nd. (Photo by Lang Congliu)
This is the third consecutive year for Nanjing’s ancient gates to be dressed with spring festival couplets. Fifteen meters in height and two meters in width for each piece, the giant couplet was instilled with gold foil for the first time. Known for its ultra-thin layer of 0.1 micrometer, gold foil is a national intangible cultural heritage.
Zhou Yuemin, chairman of Xinhua Daily Media Group, delivered a speech at the ceremony. To welcome the upcoming Spring Festival, a giant couplet was hung on the 650-year-old Ming city wall of Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, Feb. 2nd. (Photo by Lang Congliu)
According to Zhou Yuemin, chairman of Xinhua Daily Media Group, the couplet soliciting initiative this year attracted a record high of more than 5000 participants and over 6000 pairs of couplets in 20 days. Twelve renowned calligraphers were later invited to write the 12 selected couplets.
Another 11 pairs of giant couplets will be respectively hung on 11 other ancient gates of Nanjing, namely, Zhongshan Gate, Xuanwu Gate, Jiefang Gate, Taiping Gate, Biaoying Gate, Wuding Gate, Jiqing Gate, Qingliang Gate, Yifeng Gate, Yijiang Gate and Shence Gate.
To welcome the upcoming Spring Festival, a giant couplet was hung on the 650-year-old Ming city wall of Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, Feb. 2nd. (Photo by Lang Congliu)
Couplet on front door is one of the traditional cultural customs during Spring Festival or Chinese Lunar New Year, expressing wish of life renewal and the return of spring.
Built in the Ming Dynasty, the existing city wall of Nanjing is 35km long, boasting No.1 well-preserved city wall in China and the whole world.
To welcome the upcoming Spring Festival, a giant couplet was hung on the 650-year-old Ming city wall of Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, Feb. 2nd. (Photo by Shao Dan)
