The Fifth Beijing Folk Culture Festival will begin on January 28, one day before Spring Festival, at the Dongyue Temple in Beijing.

For the first time in the festival's history, locals will be invited to talk about their experiences of Spring Festival.

Gao Chunli, director of the Administrative Office of Dongyue Temple, said that locals will discuss how Spring Festival was celebrated in old Peking and tell stories related with the Year of the Dog, which begins on January 29.

Like previous festivals, experts in folk customs will give lectures about the most important festival for the Chinese people.

The festival coincides with the Eighth Dongyue Temple Spring Festival Cultural Temple Fair, which begins on January 22, the 23rd day of the last month of the Year of Rooster and known as the Preliminary Year (Xiao Nian).

Calligraphers will come to the Dongyue Temple to write and present Spring Festival couplets that people can paste on gateposts or door panels.

The temple has prepared a special exhibition of some 100 items related to the theme of our canine friends. In different materials and forms, they will demonstrate the close relationships between dogs and humans.

Another exhibition at the temple features cultural relics such as Spring Festival paintings that the ancient Chinese used to celebrate various festivals.

The Wuqiao Xinxing Acrobatic Troupe from North China's Hebei Province will bring their new programmes to the Beijing audience at the Dongyue Temple.

Located at the Shenlu Street of Chaoyangmen Waidajie, Dongyue Temple was founded in 1319 during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and enshrines the God of Mount Tai, also known as Dongyue (Eastern Mountain). Listed as a national important cultural relic protection unit, it is the largest temple of the Zhengyi Sect in Taoism in North China.

Over 1,000 statues of deities, nearly 100 steles with carved characters and couplets on the front gates of grand halls are three treasures of the temple.

Historically, many imperial sacrificial ceremonies were held here and common people also came here for various religious activities. It was one of the most famous temple fairs during Spring Festival in old Peking.

Since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), tea and congee (rice soup) specially made at the temple were offered to deities and pilgrims. At this year's cultural festival, visitors can also enjoy fragrant tea and delicious congee while admiring tea sets made in the Qing Dynasty and listening to the religious music.

The temple is now the Beijing Folk Arts Museum where old Peking folk customs are on display throughout the year.

(China Daily January 16, 2006)