*Xiaolan Chrysanthemum Fair

128.*Xiaolan Chrysanthemum Fair

Nominating Unit: City of Zhongshan

Xiaolan Town, which is situated in the middle of the Pearl River Delta, is an important town in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province. People in Xiaolan are good at making potted chrysanthemum. In history, whenever the chrysanthemum blossoms, all families would put various chrysanthemums together and judge them. This is called “the Chrysanthemum Trial”, and then it is developed into the Chrysanthemum Fair. The Fair lasts uncertainly from a couple of days to more than ten days and the main activities include appreciating chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum contest, rhyming on chrysanthemum, drawing chrysanthemum, tasting chrysanthemum, Shuishang Piaose (a show which combines drama and acrobatics and takes place on boat with the performers dressing in Chinese opera costumes), chrysanthemum drama and so on. Xiaolan Chrysanthemum Fair uses flower as a bridge to meet friends, the delicate display and grand scale of which has composed a unique traditional and comprehensive folk flower fair.(https://www.daowen.com)

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Xiaolan people began to grow chrysanthemum. In the Ming Dynasty, the trend became more and more popular and the planting method changed from chrysanthemum planting to cultivating potted chrysanthemum. In 1782 and 1791, big families in Xiaolan together held two grand chrysanthemum fairs successively. The large-scale fair was held again in the year of Jiaxu during the reign of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1814), and the squires then made a promise to hold a grand fair in every Jiaxu Year for commemorating the settling down of their ancestors in the year of Jiaxu during the reign of Xianchun in the Southern Song Dynasty. Up to 1934, the local people held altogether three grand fairs, during which they held small-scale fairs every year or every few years. In 1994, conforming to the old tradition, villagers in Xiaolan held again the Jiaxu chrysanthemum fair.

The fair is of rather high historical and cultural value for it is the essence of Chinese chrysanthemum culture and is extensively attended by common people and has a profound cultural connotation. Meanwhile, the nobleness of chrysanthemum is deeply-rooted in people’s heart. With the purpose of passing on the chrysanthemum culture, Xiaolan Chrysanthemum Fair has played an important role in edifying people, improving people’ cultural quality, promoting external cultural exchanges and building a harmonious society.

Xiaolan Chrysanthemum Fair was listed into the list of the first batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006.