During the Spring Festival, the bustling and lively Hedong District of Linyi City is crowded with people. The rural dramas are being sung, and the traditional Yangge dancers are happily preforming with gongs and drums around the scenic spots and markets.
“Every house hangs red lanterns and posts Spring Festival couplets. Every village offers a good show. So go back to the hometown to celebrate the New Year!” During the 2024 New Year time, Shandong Rural Culture Tourism Festival is lasting until the beginning of the lunar February. The festival is focusing on organizing the New Year’s goods fair, village program performances, urban cultural shows in the countryside, and rural tours for seeking tradition and customs. The goal is clear: to create a happy and festive atmosphere, to vitalize the rural culture and the rural lifestyle, and to promote the economic highlights plus the development of the local social condition.
Hedong District successfully encouraged the villagers to write, direct and perform their own art pieces with local flavors for the “village evenings”. Taking the tourism festival as an opportunity, more locals have been encouraged to the stage to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The “village evenings” have launched a number of excellent programs including the production of the short videos that help expand the local cultures to different regions.
The charm of “Village Evenings” is in the style of farmers. There are folk cultural events such as looking for Laba Congee, going to the big market fair, bidding farewell to the old year, celebrating the Lantern Festival, and raising the dragon’s head on the second day of lunar February. There are also performances like “Three Going to the Countryside” which combine the folk culture with science and technology, health and sport. Stilt walking, ironsmith working, dragon and lion dancing, folk singing, martial arts performing are not to be missed either. More than 30 cultural activities before, during and after the Spring Festival have been enriching the life of the locals and the visitors alike in the region.
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