Fuzhou folk traditions

Traditional arts - Fujian Opera, Pinghua, Shifan Fujian Opera is also called "Fuzhou Opera". In the Ming Dynasty, Kunshan tune, Yiyang tune, etc. were introduced to Fuzhou, and Fuzhou dialect opera gradually emerged. Around the time when Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty came to the Revolution of 1911, they were called "Fujian Class". In 1924, Mr. Zheng Zhenduo published the traditional play "Purple Jade Hairpin" and other traditional plays, officially replacing the title of "Fujian Troupe" with "Fujian Opera". Pinghua is the main folk art variety in Fuzhou area. It pays attention to singing, speaking, acting and performance. It has the reputation of "living fossil of humanities". The original name of Shifan is "Xie Huan", which means harmony of sounds brings joy. It is one of the main local music in Fuzhou. It evolved from the folk dragon lantern dance and has melodious and beautiful tunes. Fuzhou folk customs can be divided into five categories: festival customs, wedding and funeral customs, local customs, food customs, and clothing customs. The main folk activities include making lanterns, walking on stilts, dragon lantern dancing, lion dancing, dragon boat racing, climbing and other folk activities. Since modern times, Fuzhou’s lifestyle has also been influenced by Catholicism and Christianity. Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, etc. vividly reflect the tradition of Fuzhou people being good at absorbing foreign cultural customs. All folk customs are “passed down by the ancestors and passed on to future generations” (Fuzhou proverb). On the one hand, we inherit the folk cultural heritage of our ancestors, and on the other hand, we create new folk culture for the next generation. In addition, various cultures, including folk culture, are unprecedentedly active today, and old and new folk customs are constantly changing. We in Fuzhou are no exception. For example: Taiping eggs get smaller the more you eat them. Because duck eggs have the same pronunciation as "pressure", Fuzhou people call them "peace eggs". On occasions such as wedding banquets, birthdays, farewells, and celebrations of the ninth year (those who meet the ninth year of life when they are not old enough), they should eat too much. But with the improvement of living standards, people's appetites are getting smaller and smaller, and they feel that they can't swallow the giant eggs at the banquet. For this reason, the chefs racked their brains and finally replaced them with quail eggs and pigeon eggs. This was both elegant and original, and gradually became a new custom. Moreover, quail is a homophone for safety, which is quite meaningful and was quickly accepted by the masses. There is a traditional "Aojiu Festival" in Fuzhou. Married daughters must cook "Aojiu porridge" on the 29th day of the first lunar month and send them back to their parents' homes as early as possible to honor their parents. So far, the suburban counties of Fuzhou still maintain this custom, but the "Aojiu Festival" in urban areas has gradually been replaced by "Mother's Day". On this festival, flower shop business is particularly good. Banquets for parents can also be seen in restaurants. The "longer one" needs to become a regular employee. At traditional banquets, the eldest person sits "one elder". Take the Eight Immortals (table) banquet in the hall (front hall) of an old residential house as an example. The table on the left is a table, and the table on the left and inside is a table with one person, that is, the "eldest one". Only the eldest and senior person Only the person with the largest share is eligible to sit. But now the "longer one" has become a regular employee. No matter what kind of residence, whether it is an Eight Immortals table or a round table, the person on the middle table facing the door has the highest seat. The person who sits in the highest seat is the host, the second is the person with the highest position, and the third is the "headman" among the distinguished guests. Those who sit in the "biggest seat" according to age and seniority are only found at family banquets and folk activities. From one table on the left to the "middle" one in the middle, it is easy for young people to understand. Of course, you have to go all the way. Rebates replace wine packages. Fuzhou's traditional banquet has the custom of "bringing wine bags", that is, the host of the banquet not only makes the guests full and drunk (Fuzhou custom), but also asks you to bring back a large wine bag for your parents, wife and children to enjoy Enjoyment, which is very meaningful in an era of food scarcity. But in today's Rich Day Festival (a common saying in Fuzhou), the wine bag has become a burden when going to the banquet. No one will eat it when you bring it back, so you have to throw it away. For this reason, people have come up with many reform methods. First, they replaced wine bags with aluminum buckets, thermos bottles, etc., which caused such wine bags to become a disaster in the homes of frequent banquet guests. However, the custom of wine packages cannot be abolished, so in desperation, we had to replace it with cash rebates. Now when you go to a wedding banquet, you give a big red envelope, and the host returns you a small red envelope, which contains 10 yuan or 30 yuan. The guest is freed from the burden of the old wine bag and has a "wine bag" that can be put in his pocket. Happy but not doing it? For all these reasons, many new folk customs are replacing old folk customs, and there is a situation where old and new folk customs alternate and coexist, and many of them contain innovative content. Fuzhou dialect is commonly spoken in Fuzhou, and the locals call it Pinghua. Fuzhou dialect is one of the eight major dialects of Chinese. It was finalized during the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and occupies an important position among Fujian dialects. Fuzhou dialect is the official dialect of the "Shi Yi" of the old Fuzhou Prefecture in the lower reaches of the Min River, and is the representative dialect of the entire eastern Fujian region.

Fuzhou dialect is mainly spoken in the area from the middle and lower reaches of the Minjiang River Basin (including its tributaries Dazhang River and Gutian River basins) to the estuary in Fujian, covering 11 counties and cities, namely Gutian, Pingnan, Minhou, Yongtai, Minqing, Changle, Fuqing, Pingtan, Luoyuan, Lianjiang and Fuzhou have a population of about 6.4 million. Fuzhou dialect is also spoken in some towns and villages in Taishun County, Pingyang County, and Cangnan County in Zhejiang Province outside the Fujian dialect area. As for areas in northern Fujian, such as Youxi, Jianou, Shaxian, Shunchang, Jiangle, etc., Fuzhou dialect is the second dialect. Overseas Chinese from the eastern Fujian dialect area spread Fuzhou dialect to all parts of the world. Fuzhou dialect has many origins. The bottom layer should be the language of the ancient Minyue people. The early immigrants before the Wei and Jin Dynasties brought the ancient Wu language and the ancient Chu language, and the ancient Chinese and medieval Chinese also obviously survived in the Fuzhou dialect.