On April 17, the press conference of the 2023 Foshan (Chancheng) Folk Culture and Tourism Week announced that from April 22 to 24, the 2023 Foshan Ancestral Temple Fair will restart after three years! This year's fair will focus on the theme of "Lingnan Wonder Land and Colourful Intangible Culture", carrying out diverse folk cultural events.

The fair will last for three days, including the traditional spring blessing ritual, a huge parade for the God of the North, special performances from Guizhou and Tibet, Chaozhou Yingge dance, and Hanfu performance. In addition, there will be other events, like Cantonese Opera at Wanfutai, calligraphy and painting exhibition, intangible cultural heritage skills exhibition, and gourmet market.

The spring blessing ritual of Foshan Ancestral Temple is the most traditional and the only left ritual dedicated to the God of the North in the Pearl River Delta. With a long history of nearly 600 years, it's the only national ritual in the Greater Bay Area. At 9:30 am on April 22, the ritual will be held according to ancient patterns, with a full set of ritual vessels and oblations presented. It is to express the wishing for peace, harmony and prosperity.

After the ritual, the parade for the God of the North will start from the entrance of Ancestral Temple, pass through Zumiao Road, Renmin Road, Fuxian Road, Jianxin Road, and finally return to three performance areas at the front gate of Ancestral Temple, where the audience can enjoy wonderful performances brought by each parade phalanx.

This year's fair will also set up an intangible cultural heritage exhibition area to display the song and dance performances with ethnic characteristics from Guizhou and Tibet, showing the diversity in Chinese culture. And the intangible cultural heritage themed market will focus on national and provincial intangible cultural heritages in Foshan, including colored woven mat, paper cutting, New Year painting and Shiwan pottery.

"There will be 14 national-level and 8 provincial-level intangible cultural heritage items shown in this year's fair. Through this fair, it is to promote local cultures and spread them to broader stages," commented Mo Yan, deputy director of Foshan Zumiao Temple Museum.