The Qinglong Temple Festival in Chaozhou, a forest of giant incense you've never seen before 134

Without visiting Chaoshan and Minnan, you would never know that there is a region of China that preserves so many folk traditions. In the first month of the year, the Chaoshan region is definitely the liveliest time of the year, with temple fairs, god tours, lantern tours, camping lords, big pig races, fire dun dancing, fire dragon dances, torch festivals, up the knife and ladder, mixing nail balls ...... From villages to cities, you can see as much as you are interested, you can watch the whole month without repeating. Today we start by showing you one of the more peaceful and traditional temple fairs. During the first month, the annual Chaozhou Qinglong Temple Fair is held at the Anji Wang Temple on the south embankment at the west end of the Han River Bridge. The temple is a small one, but the deity enshrined in it is a very important one. The people of Chaoshan call the deity "the lord", and there are countless lords in the region, but this is the lord of lords, the highest-ranking "grand lord" in Chaozhou. "The highest-ranking lord in Chaozhou.
In the past, every year in the first month, the King of Anji would go on a trip, and "more than 100,000 people would visit him, and the whole city would be enthralled", and those who went abroad and did business would especially regard him as the protector of their businesses. The 2014 "Ying An Ji Sheng Wang" was the first time it was revived after a 64-year hiatus, and then there was no more. So nowadays, the Qinglong Temple Fair is just about burning incense and worshipping the gods, which seems to be nothing to see, but it is not. An exquisite ancient temple with rows and rows of giant incense forest formations, which are one of the best in China, will definitely blow your mind.

You've seen incense burning before, but not necessarily like this, and you've probably never seen this huge array of incense before either, and you'll probably only see this array of hundreds of sticks lined up along the river during the Qinglong Temple Festival in Chaozhou.

The Qinglong Temple, or the Anji King Temple, is a protected cultural heritage unit in Chaozhou. You may be wondering who this King Anji is and why he lives in the Qinglong Temple, but let me tell you.

The temple was built in the Northern Song Dynasty. The ancient temple was originally built to worship the Green Snake (known as the Little Dragon among the people) as the Chiu Chow people had a snake worship culture since ancient times.

It is said that during the reign of Emperor Shenzong Xining of the Northern Song Dynasty, when the imperial court sent troops to the south, the snake protected the armaments with its oars.

By the time the Qing Dynasty Kangxi "Chiu Chow Prefecture" recorded the Anji Temple: "In the South Gate Causeway, when the villagers prayed, the green snake repeatedly saw on the Liang Festival, drinking wine and eating meat, but only not hurting people."

But why is it that the Anji Sage King lives in the ancient temple of the Green Dragon now, without the snake god? It turns out that around the time of the Ming Dynasty, the snake god had completed its transformation into a human god.

According to legend, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Xie Shaoxing, a scholar from the southern gate of Chaozhou City, was an official in Yongchang Prefecture, Yunnan Province, in the year of a long drought and a famine in the area.

Xie Shaocang opened a government warehouse to relieve the disaster without consulting the court, which was punishable by death according to the laws of the time.

The local practice was to hang prisoners on death row from a tree high in the mountains for three days and nights and to pardon them if they did not die.

But with the heat and miasma in Yunnan and the mosquitoes and animals, the prisoner would not have been spared. But during his execution, Xie Shaocang would always see dark clouds flying in the distance to cover the sun, and in a trance, he would see an old man sitting on the clouds.

Three days later, when Xie Shaocang was on his way back to his hometown after being pardoned, he found an ancient temple dedicated to the same old man on the clouds.

On enquiry, he found that the old man was Wang Jiu, the governor of Yongchang during the Three Kingdoms, who died in a battle to defend the city.

Xie Shaocang then welcomed him back to Chaozhou to serve him. One year, when the Han River flooded, the villagers invited the statue of Wang Ju to the riverbank to stop the flooding, and the floodwaters receded.

Afterwards, the townspeople thanked the god for his kindness and rebuilt the ancient temple of Qinglong, worshipping Wang Jiu as the King of Anji to hold back the floods, and it is said that Chaozhou has been flood-free ever since.

This is how the temple, which is located next to the Han River, was transformed from an ancient temple dedicated to a green snake to a cult of water.

It does not matter who the temple was originally dedicated to, nor what the deity did, but rather that the deity met the growing spiritual needs of the people. The successful transformation of Anji Shengwang reflects the basic prayers of the people of Chaozhou for good winds and rain.

On either side of the temple are two pairs of murals depicting the very legendary story of the ancient temple of Qing Long. There are of course many legends and stories, and the above is just one of the most prevalent ones.

This mural depicts a scene from ancient times when the King of Anji was on a journey, with thousands of people rushing to welcome the god, a spectacle that was last seen in 2014.

The Qinglong Temple is not a big place, but it takes some time to look at it in detail, especially if you want to make out the meaning of each carving.

The main deity worshipped at the temple is of course the Anji Sage King, with two ladies sitting next to him. I don't think it's possible to find out the origin of each of the deities in the Chaoshan area.

For example, there is another shrine in the Anji King temple dedicated to Hua Gong and Hua Ma, but it doesn't matter who they are or why they are here, what matters is that you know they are the protectors of children.

The scented candles in the temple are rather giant, as you can see when you compare them with the normal cup of water next to them.

There is also a worshipping pavilion in front of Anji Temple, which is packed every day during the Qinglong Temple Festival, where believers from the Chaoshan area come to worship the gods.

The pavilion is not as beautiful as the old Qinglong Temple, but the sculpture on the roof is no less impressive.

In terms of deity worship, the Chaoshan region is definitely one of the best in the Han Chinese region.

Every family has its own deity, and it is not clear whether it is good or bad to spend a lot of money and time worshipping them every year.

The amount of money spent on worshipping the gods each year is not a small amount, and incense and candles are not a problem to sell.

You have seen scented candles before, but you may not have seen one that can be carried by two people like this.

Isn't this an impressive display?

These giant incense sticks are 2-3 metres high, and there is not much difference between the material used for giant incense and ordinary incense.

It is said that more than 3,000 of these giant incense sticks are burnt at the Green Dragon Temple every year, with the climax being during the temple fair.

The minivan can only pull about ten incense sticks at a time, so the incense is basically transported non-stop during the temple festival.

From carrying to placing to erecting and lighting the incense, it is all handled by specialised incense and candle workers, who are very busy during this time.

At first, I thought the incense would be very expensive, but when I asked, it was about 300 to 400 yuan apiece, which seems to be a conscientious price, and it must not be easy to make a giant incense.

It is not an easy task to erect and light incense. The incense is first drizzled with some oil and then lit on fire.

All the giant incense is personally funded and will be labelled with your name. Presumably, Chiu Chow people would like to be able to burn a pillar of incense during the temple fair to keep them safe.

Along the riverside of the Qinglong Temple is a neat forest of giant incense, which is rare outside of Chaoshan and is lit for important events in some Chaoshan villages.

But I am afraid that such a huge array of giant incense can only be seen during the Qinglong Temple Festival in Chaozhou.

You should also be careful when walking through the giant incense grove, as the burning temperature is quite high, so don't let any unextinguished ashes fall on you.

How many incense sticks are here? It is simply impossible to count them all, and it is estimated that there will be nearly a thousand giant incense sticks on site today.

The whole area around the ancient temple of Qinglong is so drenched in the incense that at times you can't keep your eyes open, a gust of wind blows and it's full of incense ashes, stay for a while and your whole body is covered in white ashes.

The wide Han River flows south into the sea, the mother river of Chaozhou, named after Han Yu, which nourishes the ancient city day and night.

The ancient temple of Qinglong is the place where the river is lined with smoke, and the ancient deity blesses the land and comforts the hearts of the people of Chaoshan.
The worship of the gods in Chaoshan is one of the best in the Han Chinese region, why is this? Personally, I think there are three main reasons for this, one is that the ancestors of the Chaoshan people came from the Central Plains, and they have well preserved and developed the Chinese custom of worshipping the gods in the Central Plains; two is that most of the people living in the Chaoshan area are sea people and mountain people, and they rely mainly on fishing and hunting, which is very dangerous and fortuitous, so it is only natural that they pray for the protection of the gods; three is that Chaoshan is a small area with many people, and since ancient times many men have gone away to make a living. The only way to protect them is to ask the gods to protect them. If you have the chance to spend a Chinese New Year in Chaoshan, you may want to check out the list of folklore activities around Chaoshan and look for a few of them that will definitely open your eyes.