Temple fairs, which are the inseparable part of Chinese Spring
Festival celebrations, have always varied year upon year.
There are no more martial arts films on Chinese screens this
year. The Chinese film masters are all preparing for their own
projects starring such many big names as Chow Yun-Fat, Andy Lau and
Tony Leung.
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As one of the Royal gardens in Beijing, Di Tan, or Temple of Earth
(Di Tan) will host a temple fair this year highlighting traditional
folk arts, including Qing Dynasty ritual performances. In addition,
there will be exhibitions of old Beijing objects rarely seen today,
such as the sedan chair and rickshaw.
A worker at Di Tan, Cao Qi, says it is a good chance for people
to learn more about Beijing culture.
"In the Old Beijing Objects Exhibition, you can see a lot of
things which are rare nowadays. Probably the young people won't
even be able to tell what some of those objects are used for."
On the other hand, the temple fair in Chaoyang Park in
northeastern Beijing will be more a mingling of East-west style,
attracting tourists from both home and abroad.
One of the organizers of the Chaoyang Park temple fair, Li
Youping, explains how they've organized the temple fair this
year.
"We have invited artists from Greece, Portugal, Britain and
France. They will show us examples of European 'street culture',
actually quite comparable with the 'street culture' of
Beijing."
Spring Festival temple fairs in China usually last seven days
starting from the Lunar New Year's Day, which falls on Sunday this
year.
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(CRI.cn February 16, 2007)