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TAIZHOU, China, Jan. 30, 2023 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

Not long after the start of 2023, the moment for bidding farewell to the past

and embracing the future for Chinese people came. Since January 22, China has

entered the Year of the Rabbit, a year of vitality in the lunar calendar. The

week-long period from January 21 to January 27 is China's 2023 Spring Festival

holiday, which is the most festive period of the lunar year for Chinese people.

Like Christmas, the Spring Festival is the most lively annual festival for

Chinese people. In addition to the grand family reunion, there are also

traditional local customs, delicious food full of regional characteristics,

impressive central and local Spring Festival gala performances and diversified

folk culture activities. A series of festive elements together constitute a

happy and auspicious Chinese New Year.

China has a vast territory and boasts abundant resources. In the national

celebration of the festival, in addition to the Spring Festival Eve dinner,

pasting couplets, sending greetings and other common customs, each place has

its own unique ways to usher in the lunar new year. If one wants to experience

as many aspects of the Chinese New Year as possible at one stop, Taizhou City

in east China's coastal Zhejiang Province is the place to go.

Official statistics show that during the Spring Festival holiday, the Ancient

City of Taizhou received 712,600 visits, including 138,000 visits on the fourth

day of the first lunar month, a new daily record high. Its total number of

tourist visits during the holiday ranked the second among the 5A-level scenic

spots of ancient towns in China, second only to the ancient town of Lijiang in

southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Home to many mountains and facing the sea, Taizhou enjoys a unique geographical

position, so the Spring Festival culture here combines the elements of both

inland and coastal areas. As a city in the central area of the Yangtze River

Delta, the local economy is developed. During the Spring Festival, various

activities have been staged to add to the festive atmosphere.

Food is the centerpiece of China's Spring Festival, and Taizhou's cuisine will

live up to the expectations of diners.

Compared with many places in the north whose residents eat dumplings during the

Spring Festival, Taizhou locals eat more rice cakes. This pastry made of rice

or glutinous rice has the auspicious meaning of longevity for the elderly,

growing taller for children and better development for young and middle-aged

people.

Like rice cakes, many delicious foods in Taizhou are made of glutinous rice as

the main raw material, giving people a kind of glutinous feel, such as plum

blossom cake, wheat cake, orange cake and mochi made with oriental blueberry

leaves. Hehe burritos, which could wrap various ingredients, are also the

special cuisine of Taizhou during the Spring Festival. Costal Taizhou is not

short of seafood, and all kinds of blue crabs, yellow croaker and mudskippers

are popular local Chinese New Year's purchases.

To learn about Taizhou's development this year, one could watch the annual

local Spring Festival Gala on TV or online. This year's gala continued to tell

Taizhou stories via locals, featuring 20 programs such as song and dance,

crosstalk, sketch, Yue Opera, magic and acrobatics. These impressive

performances covered all aspects of Taizhou's development in the past year. For

example, Taizhou was rated among the happiest cities in China for the seventh

time, the S1 line of Taizhou municipal railway was officially opened to

traffic, the workshop for common prosperity helped farmers increase their

income, and the city worked together to fight the COVID-19 epidemic, according

to Global Communication Center of Hehe Culture.

In Taizhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall, the local folk culture

and old customs are well combined, enabling people to taste the profound Spring

Festival cultural feast. One could learn about the shell carvings in Yuhuan

City, Taizhou, and try to make a beautiful "Blessing" - pendant with shells.

While learning about the characteristics of Taizhou embroidery, one could try

to make an embroidered rabbit sachet.

Lion dance and hanging up lanterns are old customs in many places in China. The

Huangsha Lion Dance in Taizhou is entrusted with the expectations of the

working people for a better future. Artists will go from village to village to

perform the lion dance from the Chinese New Year Eve to the second day of lunar

February, giving good luck to the local people, reducing disasters and sharing

blessings. Xianju County's boneless lanterns have a history of over one

thousand years, and red lanterns made with their unique skills could create a

unique festive atmosphere for the Spring Festival.

In addition to watching the Spring Festival Gala and enjoying folk customs,

another activity in the holiday is to go to various fairs, where food, drink

and entertainment are abundant. This Spring Festival, Taizhou organized a

lively characteristic cultural tourism market combined with local cultural

tourism resources.

In the Central CBD Square of Hehe Park in Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, one

could enjoy band performances, watch open-air movies and taste authentic

specialties. In Luqiao District, Taizhou City, a time-honored old commercial

street invited provincial and municipal famous food shops and specialty snack

bars to entertain visitors.

Ziyang Street, an ancient street in Linhai City, focused on Song Dynasty

culture, drawing lessons from the entertainment life of Song people to hold

various activities such as fairs, stage performances, and Song apparel

experience. Meanwhile, the cultural experience was enhanced through digital

technology, and the intangible culture and various handmade products are

integrated into the fair, so that the Song Dynasty culture is visible,

sensible, experiential and consumable.

Taizhou is not as cold in winter as northern cities in China, and it is also a

well-known tourist destination, attracting many locals and tourists to spend

the holiday. This year, Taizhou rolled out a preferential policy to benefit

visitors, offering free first-stop tickets for 74 tourist attractions in the

city during the week-long holiday.

In Taizhou, one could climb the Tiantai Mountain and enjoy the rime covered in

snow at the main peak. One could walk into the Guoqing Temple, the birthplace

of the Tiantai Sect of Chinese Buddhism, and enjoy the elegant fragrance of the

Sui Dynasty plum blossom. One could go to Dachen Island and Jishan Island to

have a look of the romantic island scenery, and taste the delicious seafood.

One could explore the streets of Taizhou to feel the profound Hehe culture. One

also could visit many characteristic villages near the mountains and the sea in

Taizhou, and taste local unique custom culture and farm life in the new era.

On the first day of the first lunar month, Shenxianju Scenic area welcomed the

first sea of clouds in the Year of the Rabbit. The overlapping sea of clouds

and peaks formed a beautiful ink painting scroll. Visitors walked in the

clouds, as if they were in a fairyland.

Among the Twelve Earthly Branches in China, the smart and flexible rabbit

represents dawn, spring, infinite vigor and vitality. In the Year of the

Rabbit, if people want to feel the vitality of China's economy, they must come

to Taizhou, because it is the birthplace of joint-stock cooperative economy and

the most active area of private economy, known as the "capital of

manufacturing".

Come on, in this Year of the Rabbit in the post-epidemic era, start a trip to

Taizhou to experience Chinese culture, enjoy the beautiful landscape and feel

China's development.

Source: Global Communication Center of Hehe Culture

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=437580

   Caption: A view of Ziyang Street, an ancient street in Linhai City, Taizhou.