Gaojia Opera
Gaojia Opera is one of local operas with the widest spread area and the most audiences among various kinds of operas in Southern Fujian. Its singing method includes "Southern Music", "Puppet Tune" and folk ditty, Southern Music being the main. It uses Wen and Wu musical instruments. The accompaniment of musical instruments includes wind instrument, suona, flute, two-stringed fiddle and three-stringed fiddle.
Recommended place: Jinliansheng Gaojia Opera Troupe (No.13, Yuqing Road, Siming District)
Xiang Opera
Xiang Opera is also called Taiwanese Opera which is a local opera performed in Southern Fujian dialect. It generally has male roles, female roles, painted roles and clown roles with nuanced performance in humorous and comical expressions. The formation of Xiang Opera is closely related to the development of Taiwan by people from Southern Fujian and the introduction of folk opera.
Recommended place: stage of Mazu Temple in Zengcuo'an (Zengcuo'an, Siming District)
Puppet Show
It is also called glove puppetry which flourished in Ming Dynasty and become an important type of show of puppetry in Qing Dynasty. The performers use their hands to control the state of the puppet and display the exquisite model of the puppet in their hands, thus it is called "show in hands". After Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty, the light and flexible, compact and exquisite puppet show flourished in Southern Fujian due to its small scale, cheap price and masterly skills. Till now, the glove puppetry is still popular in Xiamen and Zhangzhou.
Recommended place: Sea Heaven of Gulangyu (No.38, Fujian Road, Gulangyu)
Dazuigu
Dazuigu is a kind of comic talking and singing art popular in Xiamen and Southern Fujian. It is also called "Bickering in telling stories", "Paizuigu" or "Dazui song". Dazuigu is a verbal battle between two persons, similar to the cross talk of the north, but not the same. It adopts strictly rhyming dialogues with strong linguistic rhythm, skillfully uses rich and colorful, vivid and lively, comical and humorous Southern Fujian dialect and slang and fold adage, applies complex rhyme structure of Southern Fujian dialect with rhythmic and musical effect to constitute rhythmic language, focuses on the display of plots and the portrayal of figures, pays attention to the artistic means of "guessing" and "bursting out jokes" to achieve the comic artistic effect.
Recommended place: Xinglin Cultural Palace (No.36, Xinglin East Road, Jimei District)
Nanyin
Nanyin is also called "Southern Opera" and "Southern Music" which is honored as the "living fossil" of music culture. It originated from the pre-Qin period, flourished in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, formed in Song Dynasty, thus its singing method has reserved the old folk style before Tang Dynasty of the ethnic Han. The re-creation of singers and performers is free- style so the melodious and easy singing can make people lost in the sweetness and happiness of carefree life.
Recommended place: Nanyin Pavilion (No.18, Gongyuan West Road, Siming District)
Breast-Clapping Dance
Since the Song Dynasty, the breast-clapping dance is carried forward in Southern Fujian. The basic movement of the breast-clapping dance is mainly beat, clap, grip, stamp and squat by using the breast, elbows, legs and palms. The performers keep their heads high and chests out, and jump with vigorous squat step and comfortable head shaking to display rough, simple, comical and passionate styles.
Recommended place: Breast-clapping dance performance team (Jinbing Village, Xindian Town, Xiang'an District)
Mid-autumn Festival
The Mid-autumn Festival is of great importance to people in Xiamen. A great number of compatriots from HK, Macao, Taiwan and overseas Chinese come back for family reunion on that very day. Besides the prevalent customs of appreciating full moon and eating moon cakes that are popular throughout the country, there is also a unique custom in Xiamen in observing the festival: the moon-cake gambling.
The moon-cake gambling dates back to 300 years ago when the inventor, Zheng Chenggong, a general of the Ming Dynasty stationed his army in Xiamen. Zheng was determined to recover Taiwan, which was occupied by Dutch invaders since 1624. Since most of his soldiers were from other cities of Fujian or Guangdong Province, when every Mid-Autumn Festival came, the soldiers naturally missed their families far away from home. In order to keep the homesick troops occupied, General Zheng and his lower officer Hong Xu invented moon-cake gambling to help relieve the homesickness among the troops and enjoy the festival.
The game has 63 different sized mooncakes as prizes, which implies that seven times nine is sixty-three, for three and nine are the lucky numbers in the Chinese folk culture. For each set, there are one piece of Zhuang Yuan mooncake with a diameter of 6 inches, which are shaped like a crescent moon; two pieces of Duitang with a diameter of around 4 inches; three pieces of Sanhong with a diameter of two to three inches; eight pieces of Sijin with a diameter of around half a inch and a half; sixteen pieces of Erju with a diameter of nearly one inch; and thirty two pieces of Yixiu with a diameter of about half inch. These six ranks of rewards refer to six titles, which are named as winners in ancient imperial examinations: Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, Tanhua, Jinshi, Juren, Xiucai. With only six dice and one bowl, the means of mooncake games are very simple. Everybody takes turns to throw dice to see which kind of cakes they can get. He who throws six same dice will bag every moon cake on the table.
The Moon Cake Game of with 300-year-old custom has been handed down generation by generation and has become a popular activity as it is a game well combining culture, folk custom and recreation.
Gongfu Tea in South Fujian
There was ever a famous saying like this: Enjoy three of the best things in life—Gongfu tea, Nanyin music and water pipe. In the book Contribution of Caixiang to the Oolong Tea, the famous tea expert Professor Zhuang Wanfang ever described like this: "In memory of the contribution of Xiacang, the oolong tea was named after "Jun Mo" in Wuyi Mountain. Now the oolong tea is quite popular in south Fujian, Chaohou in Gudong and Taiwan Province..."
The quintessence of Xiamen's tea culture is the teaism (Chadao). Some people think the teaism originated in Japan but in fact, the ancient Chinese tea ceremony is well kept in Xiamen, which lays emphasis on decency of five components—tea leaves, water, tea set, the duration and degree of heating and the environment. Most of the Xiamen people love to drink Oolong tea. When the boiled water is poured into the teacup, the tea leaves are green in the center and red in the edge, and the tea liquid turns yellowish red with fragrant in smell and sweet in taste. Many people in Xiamen are also fond of the Tikuanyin Tea (Iron Goddess Tea), which is produced originally in Anxi County of Fujian Province. Due to the shortage of fresh water in Xiamen, people in the past used the well water to brew the tea, among which the spring water in the Mountain of Five Old Men of South Nanpu Temple and the "Sanbuzheng" well water in Gulang Island rank the best. But now most of the people choose the household filtered water.When drinking the oolong tea, one must choose the appropriate tea set carefully. The Xiamen people prefer to use the pottery tea set with cover so as to "preserve aroma" and "retain the taste", "Menggong" teapot and "Ruoshen" Cup are their favorite. At the same time, the water for making tea should be boiled, but should not be over-boiled. For most Xiamen people’s point of view, only with appropriately boiled water can we prepare a cup of mellow tea. The duration and degree of heating should be strictly controlled, three to five minutes will be appropriate. It is universally acknowledge that the tea ceremony is particular about the environment. People in Xiamen like to decorate the sitting room with ornaments, vases, antiques, burn incenses and broad-cast music, making the tea ceremony become a lofty spiritual pursuance and a high-quality leisure way.
Worship of the Color Red
The color red is of great significance for people in South Fujian Province and it is traditionally used as a symbol of happiness and good luck.
When festival comes, red is found everywhere in Xiamen. During the Chinese New Year, people paste red couplet on both sides of the doors. A barrel of rice with red spring flower on are also prepared on the New Year’s Eve. For the pronunciation of the word "spring" sounds like "surplus" in dialect, the spring flower symbolizes the abundance of harvest or prosperity. Meanwhile, the red dates and red flower are usually decorated when people make “Fagao” (a steamed cake). On the New Year’s Eve, children were given New year gifts of cash wrapped in red paper, but now the money are usually stuffed in the red envelop with "Gong Xi Fa Cai" in gold letters on.
Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the Lunar Calendar. It is almost customary for the local residents to have sweet dumplings on lunar June 15th, or during the annual the winter Solstice Festival and the Lantern Festival.
The traditional Chinese wedding was even full of red color in the past. The red couplets were pasted on windows and doors at wedding ceremonies. When a baby turns one month old, the family would prepare the red cake called "Moon Round", the oil rice and the two red eggs for relatives and close friends to celebrate the first month of the baby's life. for the birthday of the elderly, besides the birthday peaches and red tortoise cake, the birthday couplets are also prepared, which are composed of a pair of poetry lines such as "Heaven attains greater age and people live to longer year; spring fills the earth and every hearth procures more happiness".
Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, is also called "Fifth Month Festival". At the Dragon Boat Festival, the local people of Xiamen are accustomed to eating zongzi and holding the dragon boat race, the same as that of other cities. They also have such celebration activities as duck-catching race and pick-catching race with its own characteristics.
During the Dragon Boat Festival, dragon boat racing is an activity prevailed in the whole country, while Xiamen is famous for its large scale and the Jimei Dragon-boat Pool with 1800 meters in girth are just customized to the dragon boat race. In June 1987, the International Dragon-Boat Race was held in Jimei Dragon-boat Pool, where the competitors from different countries showed their wonderful racing skills rowing skills and it was quite a thrilling scene.
Chinese New Year
People living in the rural and urban areas have different ways to spend the New Year. Customs in rural areas of South Fujian Province has its own characteristics. In the village, the traditional sayings on red paper are pasted up on both sides of doors. Beside the doors lay the sugarcanes with circle of red paper pasted. That is the "door sugarcane", which is called "men zhe" in modern Chinese. As the word "zhe" in dialect have the same pronunciation as "good", it is believed that this will ensure the best of all. At the same time, such ritual offerings as new-year rice, long-life vegetable and “Fagao” are laid on the table in the center of the room. Many people would insert the "spring branches" made of the red and yellow paper into those offerings in the hope of perfect health and lasting prosperity. Meanwhile, Each family lights the dried vine branches stacked outside the house. Males take turns to leap over the flame and read, "Jump inside, may prosperity be with you; jump outside, may all unhappiness goes away; jump to the east side, may you always get more than you wish; jump to the west side, will you a more prosperous year". This is what we call "the fire walking ritual", a symbol of a new beginning. After that, some of the ash remaining in the fire jumping ritual are added to the furnace to sustain a large enough flame, the process of which is called "Tain Wang", a symbol of more prosperity in the coming year. The parents and children sit around the furnace on the New Year's Eve to wait for the New Year's arrival (It would be better to stay up all night). Then comes the "Fenyuan" process where parents and grandparents give the red envelopes with money inside to their kids. As the pace of life today has speeded up, some of the trivial customs in South Fujian Province have been abolished gradually. However, people in rural areas still hold to the traditional blessing for a good year. Just image all the family members sitting together around the stove at the deep winter night, what a warm picture it is!
Festival for Ancestor Worship
It is a tradition in Xiamen and its neighboring cities that Festival for Ancestor Worship (Jingzu Festival) is seen as one of the largest folk festivals. It falls on the 3rd day of the third lunar month in Chinese lunar calendar and baobing are offered on this very day as sacrifices to worship the passed ancestors.
"Baobing", is also called "runbing" in Mandarin and spring roll in Taiwanese. There are two main components of "Baobing", the skin made mostly from the fine flour and fillings made from precooked ingredients such as dried tofu, pork, bean sprouts, bamboo shoot, carrot, ternip and fragrant-flowered garlic. Those deep-fried ingredients are wrapped fully in the shape of bamboo tube. You can dip the Baobing in chili sauce or mustard to make it much more flavorful.
Although we fail to trace the history of "Bobing", there is an old saying goes like this: after Zheng Chenggong recapturing Taiwan from the Dutch colonialists, great efforts have been made by this famous general in Ming Dynasty for Taiwan's development. After his death, his son Zhengjing followed his father's wishes and continued defending Qing army against invasion. When he called out his troops to the southern Fujian province, they met fierce resistance from the Qing army and his troops suffered heavy casualties. Finally they won the battle after several times' stalemate. The local masses were so excited about this news and they welcomed Zheng army’s coming with great hospitality. At the same time, people made the "Baobing" to pay respect to the deceased. Thereafter, it becomes a common practice for the local people to offer Baobing as sacrifice in memory of the ancestors on March 3rd of the Chinese lunar calendar.
Red and White Affairs
Happy activities such as wedding, birthday and having a new baby are called as "red affairs" in Xiamen whereas the funeral rite is called as "white affairs".
Wedding The current marriage customs is not as complicated as the traditional ones. In most cases, the wedding dates are carefully chosen according to the Chinese horoscope and it is the seniors in both families that preside over the wedding. Traditionally, the bride's family sends dowry to the groom's family and decorates the bridal chamber for the new couple on the day before marriage. Early on the wedding day, the bridegroom fetches the bride and the bridegroom's family holds a banquet for guests that evening. After the feast, guests regardless of their status in the family would crowd in the bridal chamber playing all kinds of games to add more joy to the wedding .On the third day, the bride and groom return to the bride’s family, where the bride’s relatives and friends attend the feast to celebrate the wedding. Nowadays, many lovebirds choose a honeymoon trip or a wedding banquet instead of the traditional wedding feast.
Birthday Birthdays are of greater significance for residents in Xiamen after one reaches the age of 16, 50 and 60. The 16th birthday is regarded as a quite important point to enter into adult life, for which the typical birthday presents from the relatives are chickens alive, thin noodles and clothes. Usually, the parents will hold a feast to express their thanks. While for the elderly parents' birthdays, especially the 60th birthday of the father or the 50th birthday of the mother, the grownup sons and daughters will offer food with happy symbolic implications such as pork knuckle, "long-life" noodles wine and egg to show their thanks for what the parents have done for their children. Some families even invite their relatives and friends to the celebration to make the occasion grand.
Having a New Baby Having a new baby is an exciting event according to local customs .On the "Third Chao" when a baby turns three days old, the paternal grandparents prepare a barrel of "oil rice" for the bride's family to announce this good news. Then a month after the baby arrives, the "oil rice" is prepared by the paternal grandparents again and handed out to close friends and neighbors as a celebration for the baby’s first full month of life (the Chinese term translates as "Full Moon"). It is also celebrated with a large feast when the baby is 4 months and a year old.
Funeral Rituals In the present days, more people reject the traditional ostentatious burial ritual as attitudes and lifestyles change. To streamline the mortuary ritual, the dead are often cremated rather than buried and all aspects of the arrangements are undertaken by the Funeral Management Office.
Religious Belief
In Xiamen, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam are together form the basis of the city's religious practices and beliefs, among which Buddhism is the main religion with tens of thousands of believers. Here, the South Putuo Temple and the Buddhist Institute of South Fujian are well-known at home and abroad, the Xinjie Church Christian is regarded as the first church of China and the Xiamen Catholic Church lying at Gulang Island presents a desirable exchange stage for the Catholics.
