Yingxu Temple Fair

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"room rate for today will be 100 yuan!" I asked why in a Hotel in Wuming ? The man behind the counter said "it is Valentine Day my friend"! then added in a rather serious tone "it is a tradition here "(woah...what kind of tradition???Valentine Day in China here???) also said room will be hard to get by evening! haha...so they only have sex one a year here?!? then I heard the news in the evening about similar matter in India and Cambodia that forbid hotel let room to people younger than 18 year old, in Thailand they even put up a curfew for youngters stay out of street after dark. Well...Valentine Day sure mean something here in Asia!
Wuming is a little north from Nanning, a satelite city on the backyard, with more than enough shops, reataurants and nightlife. I came here for a Temple Fair in a small village Yingxu. A temple dedicated to the ancester of all the Pan families in the area. The Pan family originally came from Shandong Province during Ming Dynasty, The Yinqing Miao Temple is for memorial of their ancester Panmei, a hero and great politcian in Song Dynasty. The temple fair had been more than 500 year in tradition, only stopped between 1950 till 1984. The main event is carry the statue of Panmei around town to all the villages, recieved offering and gave bless. The family wanted to get blessing only need to put a table of offering in front of their house, and the parade of lion troop with the statue will come calling, then the family would replied by thundering explosion of fire cracker, some even lited up an huge fire-work for thank! Although it was a Pan's family ancester memoral, but all or Family praticipated too, other lion team come calling, performance show, singing contest. I like the lion dance they did here, reminded me a lot from Hongkong in the old day, the Datou(big-head) with the lion, it gave a loy of laughter to the audience. And the Cai-qing, a prize for the lion that was on the tip of a long bamboo pole hanging in mid-air. That was all almost disappear in Hongkong. It feel great to see it here again. The event also a time for relatives and friends visiting, many families held banquet for guests, and of course merchandiser wouldn't miss the chance, beer promotion in bargaining price which sure will send many people leaning on the wall at street corner by the end of the day.

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