The Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a new group of national-level intangible cultural heritage items yesterday with Suzhou Shengtang Temple Fair on the list.
Photo by Zhou Jian’gen
The city now has a total of 33 national-level intangible cultural heritages.
Shengtang Temple Fair, also known as Chun Hui (Spring Fair) in history, was included in the city-level intangible cultural heritage list and the provincial-level intangible cultural heritage list on June, 2013 and January, 2016 respectively. Last month, it was added to the national-level intangible cultural heritage list.
With a history of more than 500 years, Shengtang Temple Fair could date back to the early period of the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD).
Photo by Zhou Jian’gen
It is a major folk culture event in Yangcheng Lake area and one of the important carriers of folk ceremonies and folk arts.
Shengtang Temple Fair is normally held from March 26 to 28 of the lunar calendar, during which street pedlars and performers will gather and the site will be bustling with activity.
Photo by Zhou Jian’gen
