Raoping – the Custom of “Caiqing”

135.Raoping – the Custom of “Caiqing”

Nominating Unit: Raoping County, Chaozhou City

The custom of “Caiqing” in Raoping County is also called “Bai Zhuowan” (which means setting the dishes and bowls in order on the table), which is one of the traditional folk customs on the Lantern Festival in such places as Sanrao, Xinfeng, Tangxi, Qiandong in Raoping County. With a history of nearly 700 years, the custom of “Caiqing” evolved from Dou Ding in the central plains in ancient times.

Every Lantern Festival (lunar January 12th-16th), the local people will try to show their own talent, placing a traditional Chinese table for eight or a round table, on which some quaintly-made delicious food is put. Every family tries to make their dishes more inviting in order to win the competition.(https://www.daowen.com)

The materials of “Caiqing” mainly come from corn, fl our, tubers, Chinese dates, mushrooms, and all kinds of fresh fruit or from pork, chicken, geese, duck, and internal organs. In design, it can be divided into two types—“bowls” and “dishes”. “Bowls” are made of rice or beans of different colors, which are stuck to the paste layer by layer and made into the cone shape. Later, they are arranged into the shape of such Chinese idioms as “Five Blessings Befalling on Your Home”, “An Abundant Harvest of All Food Crops”,“Everything is Smooth All the Year Round” to express people’s prayer for good luck. ‘Dishes’ are made of paste of different designs, such as people and animals. (Mainly ancient people, flowers, birds, fish and insects)

Since the custom of “Caiqing” was introduced into the east of Guangdong, it has continuously absorbed and drawn lessons from the local folk art. After blending the craftsmanship of different historical periods, history, and fine art, it has formed its unique art style and matching characteristics of folk-custom culture, which are of great value to the study of the vicissitude of the custom of Dou Ding in the east of Guangdong.

Recently, with the popularization of such forms of art as movies and TV progrems, people’s aesthetic taste has been greatly challenged by the exotic culture. Therefore, the traditional folk customs gradually lose their intrinsic significance. In addition, the making of “Caiqing” is rather complicated, so the custom is in the danger of extinction. Measures should be taken to rescue and protect it.