Ditan Temple Fair is full crowds

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Source: CCTV.com | 02-10-2008 08:32

Every New Year Beijing's temples are opened to the public for days of celebration.

Every New Year Beijing's temples are opened to the  public for days of celebration.(CCTV.com)

The morning dawned crisp and clear - a good sign for the first day of the year.

Rested after a late night of dumplings and fireworks, I decided it was time to bundle up and head to the city temples.

Here at the Ditan temple fair, it seemed like all of Beijing woke up and had the same bright idea.

Zhang Runli, Temple Fair Visitor, said, Why would we come here so early in the morning? We live really far from here. But we heard this is the most exciting place every year, so we came just to see.

The more crowded these fairs are, the more "renao" -- literally, hot and noisy. And make no mistake -- Beijingers consider this a good thing:

Li Danyang, Beijing Resident, said, I think the temple fairs are especially ReNao, there's so much happening!

Tang Xiuying, Li Danyang's Grandmother, said, This is when we show off all our lucky objects and put our New Year's excitement on display for everyone to see. This is why we come -

Q: have you come every year?

Yes, every year and I'm over sixty!

The Ditan Temple fair is one of the largest and oldest in the capital. Ditan means "the Temple of Earth" - this used to be where emperors offered sacrifices to the earth gods.

Temple fairs started when vendors gathered to sell their wares to worshipping pilgrims.

Now, though people still come to the altars to burn incense and make offerings - the vendors have become one of the main attractions.

Here there's something for everyone - traditional carvings and intricate silk knots? You'll find them here.

And if your style runs toward masks and rockstar wigs, well, those are for sale too.

You can find flowers bright with the colors of spring -- real... fake... even stuffed.

And of course there are the pinwheels and noisemakers: the louder the clickety clack, the better to chase away demons.

Some say the fairs are so focused on selling these days, they've become way too commercial. But as one Beijing family says, liveliness - not commerce - is the point:

Yang Caoxing, Beijing Resident, said, If you just walked around and around and there were no vendors, nothing happening, how dull that would be! I mean, you just couldn't do it that way!

The fair is a riot for all five senses. You can't separate the taste of the food from the the cries of the hawkers.

Steaming bowls of tripe come with hearty shouts. Xinjiang lamb kebabs are grilled with a side serving of rhythm.

And as far as the eye can see - bursts of vibrant red -- red for love, red for luck, red because it's just the prettiest especially when you've got matching new boots.

It's a holiday celebrating all kinds of new: fresh clothes, shiny trinkets, the bright big eyes of babies seeing their first fair.

But it's also a time for remembering traditions. One little girl makes riding in an imperial litter look so fun, this reporter had to try it. No one warned me how bumpy the road was for a Qing dynasty empress I think I'll stick to walking.

On the main stage play, the emperor Qianlong also moves by foot; but with dignity, and a stately entourage of dancers wielding ceremonial bows and staffs.

It's an old story everyone knows, but they watch like it's the very first time. For old and young, strangers and neighbors, the play is a reminder -- that nowhere do past and future collide in a more hopeful way than here in Beijing on New Year's Day.

The temple fairs are about food and fun, plays and music. But more than anything else, they're about coming together - as family, and as a community - under this lucky red canopy of the new year.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei