As a foreign visitor, if you are in Beijing during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), visiting a temple fair is definitely a good choice to experience the traditonal Beijing custom and Chinese culture.
Like elsewhere in the world, temple fairs (Miao Hui)originated and developed as groups of vendors did business near temples when many pilgrimes came to pay tribute to the gods during traditional festivals.
Now there are over 10 major temple fairs held each year in Beijing during Chinese New Year. Most of them are in the parks, wide streets and other non-temple areas. Though some commercialization is greatly reinventing the essence of the Beijing’temple fairs, and old Beijing culture is becoming a smaller part of the fairs, going to a temple fair is still one of the opportunities to know something about our Spring Festival traditions, why we do, what we do, and how Chinese culture makes us Chinese.
If you want to know what to see and do in a temple fair in Beijing during Chinese New Year, then please follow me to the Longtanhu Temple Fair. Each temple fair has its own unqiue features, but much of the content is similar: four parts – Eating, Buying, Playing and Family Outing
Eating at a temple fair
Each temple fair in Beijing will put on “Eating Olypic Games”. Longtanhu Temple fair is no exception. In addition, it does the best among all the temple fairs in terms of offering numerous kinds of Beijing traditional snacks and food.
The connected food booths selling various kinds of local food as well from eleswhere in China.
A huge crowd of eaters
Sugar Coated haws on a stick
Lamb kebab sticks
Fried cake
Chatang - Miancha - Youcha
Wheaten cake boiled in meat broth
Steamed buns with fillings
She sells "scaring" snacks - scorpion, centipede,silkworm and a grasshopper!
Stuffed Sausage - Ingredient - wheat flour, cloves, nutmeg, garlic sauce, starch, tofu pulp
Fried Scentipede!!
Shopping at a temple fair
Most peole go to a temple fair in Beijing to buy gifts or crafts for the new year celebrations. Many goods sold in the temple fair have typical northern features, such as toys like diabolo, pinwheel, knife, spear, sword and halberd…
A long string of booths selling numerous kinds of Beijing giftd and crafts
Selling pinwheels
Selling plasticine
Entertaining and playing at a temple fair
Family members, especially the kids are excited to play various games offered in temple fairs and watch folk performances.
Catch the bottleneck with a loop and get prize
Catch a toy with a loop and get it
Put the ball into the rim and get a toy
Fish what you want
Acrobatics Show on the stage
On a forest train
More activities for kids
Entertainment area for kids
Family Outing
Going to a temple fair is also family outing, a pleasant break from the non-stop eating and family events that characterize much of the holiday.
A temple fair through a baby carrier
A new world seen on Dad's shoulders
I'm taller.
A family outing
A family outing 2
Double enjoyment
Tags: Beijing temple fairs, longtanhu temple fair, Temple fairs Beijing
This entry was posted
on Friday, February 4th, 2011 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Beijing Winter Tour, Chinese New Year.
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