A series of activities will be held at the Longhua Tourism City near the thousand-year-old Longhua Temple to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival.
The New Year's temple fair is a very important event in the countryside, where many old traditions still prevail. At the fair, people buy various articles to decorate their homes for the Spring Festival.
Now Shanghai people will have the opportunity to savor their ancestors' lifestyle by visiting the fair, where 2,888 red lanterns are hanging.
Highlight of the temple fair is the West China Folk Art exhibition (February 1-18).
On display are 1,400 articles, including frescoes from the tombs of the Tang Dynasty (AD617-907), printed New Year's pictures, pottery, and colored clay sculptures.
Traditional New Year's pictures feature symbols of a happy and comfortable life, such as fish, bats, merry children and the gods of Fortune, Emolument and Longevity. Skillful housewives cut beautiful figures out of red paper and they paste them on the window as decoration.
Many of these New Year pictures and paper cutting pieces are creations of farmers in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
At the same time, a New Year's food fair is being held at Longhua Tourism City until Saturday. Special local products from all over the country will be on sale.
There is also an exhibition of children's pictures on show until March 10.
( Shanghai Star February 11, 2002)
