Celebrating new year, Shanxi-style
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 22, 2012
What is She Huo Jie?
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Practiced during the Yuan Xiao Jie [Lantern Festival], the end of the lunar New Year holiday, She Huo Jie ["Community Fire" Festival] is rooted from the primitive sacrificial activities in which ancient people prayed for harvest and affluence with songs and dances. The earliest record of She Huo Jie is found in the documents of the Spring and Autumn Period (770- 476 BC). Today, it is still prevailing in the countryside of north China. In February 2012, a reporting team headed by China International Publishing Group (CIPG) vice president Lu Cairong went to Jinzhong, a city in Shanxi Province, to cover the festive event. Journalists from the U.S., Japan and South Korea saw a Spring Festival celebration in unique Shanxi style. |
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Exploring the cultural value of Shanxi's She Huo Festival >>
China International Publishing Group's (CIPG) journalists visited culturally rich Jinzhong City in Shanxi Province during the Lantern Festival holiday to observe the region's renowned She Huo Festival.
Ending the New Year holiday, Shanxi-style >>
Throughout the year, Jinzhong is mostly known for its agriculture and production of Shanxi vinegar, but during the Lantern Festival the prefecture-level city with roughly 3.3 million inhabitants (530,000 in the urban district) comes together for She Huo Jie ["Community Fire" Festival], a spectacular New Year sendoff that is steeped in tradition.
After living in Beijing for 10 years, I have gotten used to seeing people send off the Chinese Spring Festival with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar. At the Lantern Festival, people usually eat rice dumplings, watch fireworks and appreciate lanterns. In this way, they end the Spring Festival holiday and start a new year.
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