Longhe 5th of Lunar May

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Boat racing always the event on the Duanwu festival day, but here in Longhe, a small township northeast from Napo in Guangxi, the Zhuang people celebrate it in their own way on the Lunar 5th day of May, for the last 230 years or so they shot canon up to the sky that carry a small matel ring, it was an act to praised the almighty their Lord. People would fought their way to catch the ring when it falling back down from the sky that'd been carry the blessing from above. Everywhere in China Duanwujie is dedicated to the patriotic poet Quyuan, but in Longhe only the patriotism is related, they dedicated the day to a Shima King and a temple had been built over 200 years ago, for his effort to defended the country's border. and every year on the 5th of Lunar May people would honor him by shooting 5 canons up to the sky. prize would be reward to those who'd caught the ring, and the first canon gave the biggest prize(this year the prize for the 1st canon is 380 yuan).The whole celebration began from the temple of Shima King, 5 decorated canons had been prepared and honored in front of the temple's altar, by noon everyone help to mounted the canon on wooden carrier, that was headed by the main shrine with the image of Shima King.leading by 2 vigorous dancing lions, drumming their way into every street in Longhe, giving bless while receiving praised and offering together with thundering explosion from fire crackers, the parade mostly drift through war-zone like mist, fireworks came off from nowhere now and then, it deafening my ear and I wondered would one would survived with a weak heart? It was a long process of more than 3 hours parade before the troop finally reach the festival ground for the shooting event, where entertaining performance had been provided for the last few hours. the most rewarding show was the brilliant lion dance on the pillars, which I hadn't seen in a long time, it is a very tradition and unique Cantonese art! It was a good and intersting festival, without any none sense government speeches and bullshit, the only thing I could complaint should be the heat of the midday sun!

Napo is a small town build inside a narrow valley, and the town expand rather long from what I had last seen. anyways...the no.1 bus could nelp you solve the walking problem though. The main sight in town...the Taigan cave now turn into a swimming pool for local to bath themselve after sunset, quite a lot of people swim there.

I wouldn't miss the chances to revisited some of the market along the Vietnamese border since I was nearby, places are the same but I couldn't find the dressed minority scene anymore. when was it??? 6 years ago it was! After Baisheng and Bainan, with the fact about more road construction work ahead, I gave up the idea of more market hunting, like a deflated balloon.like Forest Gump awkwardly stop from his long running....

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